MIT alumnus Murray Gell-Mann, a Nobel laureate known for his work conceiving the idea of quarks, died on May 24, reports Martin Weil for The Washington Post. Gell-Mann, who earned a doctorate in physics at MIT, was a “pioneer in the development of what is called the ‘standard model’ of particle physics, a guide to the fundamental behavior of the constituents of the universe.”
Yorai Shaoul, a second-year student at MIT, won the men’s triple jump at the NCAA Division 3 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, helping the Engineers secure a second-place finish, reports The Boston Globe.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, visiting lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger highlights how MIT researchers have proposed a new method for measuring the value of digital goods to consumers. Using this new metric, researchers found that “the digital economy is contributing more consumer value than we’ve realized,” Wladawsky-Berger writes.
Researchers from MIT and a number of other institutions have found that grammar-enriched deep learning models had a better understanding of key linguistic rules, reports Kyle Wiggers for VentureBeat. The researchers found that an AI system provided with knowledge of basic grammar, “consistently performed better than systems trained on little-to-no grammar using a fraction of the data, and that it could comprehend ‘fairly sophisticated’ rules.”
Graduate student John Urschel appears on Good Morning America to discuss his new book chronicling his career and passion for football and math. “Math is something that I have loved ever since I was very little,” explains Urschel. “I love puzzles, I love problem solving. Math, truly, is just a set of tools to try to solve problems in this world.
In this video, Mashable highlights how CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that can help lift heavy objects by mirroring human activity. The system uses sensors that monitor muscle activity and detect changes in the user’s arm.
Smithsonian reporter Rachael Lallensack spotlights how MIT alumnus Anirudh Sharma developed a commercial ink from air pollution. Sharma explains that he hopes the ink, which is now on display at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, inspires others “to start looking at new forms of waste that are lying outside, unutilized.”
A new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that factories in China have been emitting a compound banned under the Montreal Protocol that destroys the Earth’s ozone layer, reports Yen Nee Lee for CNBC. The researchers found that “China accounted for 40% to 60% of the global increase in trichlorofluoromethane, or CFC-11, emissions between 2014 and 2017.”
In an article for Gizmodo, Dell Cameron writes that graduate student Joy Buolamwini testified before Congress about the inherent biases of facial recognition systems. Buolamwini’s research on face recognition tools “identified a 35-percent error rate for photos of darker skinned women, as opposed to database searches using photos of white men, which proved accurate 99 percent of the time.”
Wired reporter Lily Hay Newman highlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s Congressional testimony about the bias of facial recognition systems. “New research is showing bias in the use of facial analysis technology for health care purposes, and facial recognition is being sold to schools,” said Buolamwini. “Our faces may well be the final frontier of privacy.”
Technology Review reporter James Temple spotlights a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that finds factories in China are using a banned compound. The finding underscores the need for monitoring adherence to pollution accords, explains Prof. Ronald Prinn. “At the end of the day, any treaty that doesn’t have an independent verification mechanism isn’t going to be successful,” he explains.
In an article for the Financial Times, research affiliate Ashley Nunes explores how drivers for ride-sharing services are protesting low pay by banding together to temporarily raise prices. Nunes argues that based off the lack of earnings clarity, “company execs shouldn’t be surprised when workers are willing to game the system for a pay hike.”
Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle speaks with Bloomberg columnist Faye Flam about the recently redefined standard of measurement for the kilogram and the importance of making the change understandable to the general public. “Not everyone is explaining the new kilogram as a quantity of light, but MIT physicist Wolfgang Ketterle makes a convincing case that this is the best and simplest way to understand it,” writes Flam.
Axios reporter Andrew Freeman writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that factories in northern China have been using the banned CFC-11 compound, which eats away at the Earth’s ozone layer. Prof. Ronald Prinn explains that CFC-11 stays in the atmosphere for 52 years and even “with no emissions, it still lingers on and on and on.”
Popular Science reporter Rob Verger writes that MIT researchers have developed a new mechanical system that can help humans lift heavy objects. “Overall the system aims to make it easier for people and robots to work together as a team on physical tasks,” explains graduate student Joseph DelPreto.