A preliminary report by MIT researchers examines how subway subsidies affect the rates of MBTA ridership among low-income residents, reports Crystal Haynes for Boston 25 News. “Researchers also found low-income riders took more trips to health care and social services than they would without the subsidized Charlie Card,” Haynes explains.
Bloomberg News spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a fleet of autonomous boats that can automatically latch onto one another. Bloomberg notes that the boats will be able to “transport goods and people, collect trash and assemble into floating stages and bridges.”
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explores how services such as meal kits and delivery apps appeal to younger and older consumers. “Innovations developed to respond to the demands of what, on the surface, appears to be distinctly younger lifestyles may, in fact, be both a market opportunity for business and an emerging critical resource to support older consumers,” writes Coughlin.
Graduate student Michael Freedman writes for The Washington Post about how growing religious polarization in Israel contributes to an unstable political environment. “Growing polarization in Israel may lead to electoral instability as it becomes harder to make political coalitions in Israel,” posits Freedman.
Boston Globe reporter Alison Kuznitz writes that during MIT’s Commencement, former mayor Michael Bloomberg detailed plans for a new initiative aimed at tackling climate change. “This has gone from a scientific challenge to a political problem,” said Bloomberg, “and it’s time for everyone to recognize that climate change is the challenge of our time.”
Researchers from a number of institutions, including MIT, are exploring the feasibility of cold fusion, reports Steven Salzberg for Forbes. The researchers explained that while they were unable to successfully produce cold fusion, their exploration of this topic “is likely to have a substantial impact on future energy technologies.”
Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane writes that MIT researchers have developed an automated latching system that could enable a fleet of autonomous boats to connect to docking stations and other boats. Finucane explains that in turbulent water, “after a missed first attempt, the system can autonomously adapt, repositioning the roboat and latching.”
Boston Magazine reporter Asia Bradlee spotlights Maelove, a beauty company founded by two MIT graduates that is aimed at providing luxury skincare products at affordable prices. Bradlee writes that the Maelove team “used clinical research, collaborated with dermatologists and medical researchers, and analyzed over three million product reviews to get a better idea of what ingredients made consumers the happiest.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Stuart Madnick examines the security vulnerabilities in blockchain systems. Madnick writes that his research is intended to dispel the notion that “blockchain technology can protect data from misuse. In fact, human actions or inactions still have significant consequences for blockchain security.”
During a Times Higher Ed summit, Prof. Shigeru Miyagawa, senior associate dean for open learning, emphasized the importance of integrating attention to ethical implications into AI education, reports Paul Baskin. “My plan is to educate a new generation of young people who will have intuition behind computational thinking,” says Miyagawa.
STAT reporter Sharon Begley writes that Prof. Feng Zhang and his colleagues have turned “a jumping gene — aka a transposon, or mobile genetic element — into a mini TaskRabbit gig worker: With an assist from CRISPR enzymes, it zips over to the part of the genome whose address it is given and delivers a package of DNA, pronto.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Daisy Hernandez writes that MIT researchers have developed an autonomous aquatic boat that can target and latch onto one another to form new structures. Hernandez writes that the boats were conceived “as a way to explore new modes of transportation and help improve traffic flow.”
Boston Business Journal reporter Hilary Burns spotlights the diligent preparation that goes into the reading of graduates’ names and ensuring that MIT’s Commencement ceremony runs smoothly. “We practice. It can be too slow or too fast,” explains Sarah Gallop, one of eight readers. “There is a magic sweet spot in the pace.”
Prof. Amy Glasmeier speaks with New York Times reporter Eric Ravenscraft about the Living Wage Calculator, which uses specific data to estimate the cost of living in different areas of the country. “The question is, can you live on a minimum wage? And the answer is basically, no,” explains Glasmeier.
Mashable highlights how MIT researchers have developed a new system of computationally simple robots inspired by biological cells that can connect in large groups to move around, transport objects and complete tasks. Mashable explains that robots made up of simplistic components, “could enable more scalable, flexible and robust systems.”