La República reporter David Luna speaks with 15 MIT researchers, postdoctoral fellows and students from Colombia about their work and experience at MIT. Luna writes that “what sets the Institute apart is its commitment to open, borderless, shared learning,” adding that “MIT understands the true meaning of education: mind and hand to move forward.”
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. David Rand examines what makes people susceptible to believing false or misleading information. Rand and his co-author write that their research “suggests that the solution to politically charged misinformation should involve devoting resources to the spread of accurate information and to training or encouraging people to think more critically.”
Popular Mechanics reporter David Grossman writes that MIT researchers have developed a new imaging technique that allows entire neural circuits in the brain to be explored at speeds 1,000 times faster than currently available methods. The new technique could allow scientists to “spot where brain diseases originate or even the basics of how behavior works.”
Fast Company reporter Jeremy Deaton highlights Prof. Jessika Trancik’s research showing that electric vehicles are often cheaper than comparable gas-powered vehicles. “The reason is that the lower fuel costs of EVs relative to gasoline-fueled cars compensate for the higher vehicle costs of EVs,” Trancik explains.
Researchers from seven universities, including MIT, have teamed up to create “a digital currency that they hope can achieve speeds Bitcoin users can only dream of without compromising on its core tenant of decentralization,” reports Alastair Marsh for Bloomberg News.
Quartz reporter Dan Kopf writes that a new study by MIT researchers demonstrates how the lack of jobs for workers without college degrees in American cities is contributing to income inequality. “Gentrification in some major cities may be as much a result of the decline in opportunities for people without college degrees as it is an influx of highly educated, highly paid workers,” writes Kopf.
MIT researchers have developed a new high-resolution technique to image the brain that could be used to create more precise maps of the brain and identify the causes of brain disease, reports Megan Thielking for STAT. “If we can figure out exactly where diseases begin,” explains Prof. Edward Boyden, “that could be pretty powerful.”
Guardian reporter Ian Sample writes that MIT startup Synlogic are developing a “living” medicine” made from genetically modified bugs. “By engineering these bacteria, we are able to control how they operate in the human gastrointestinal tract,” says Caroline Kurtz of Synlogic. “It allows us to think about many other diseases where you may need to produce something beneficial, or remove something that is toxic for the patient.”
Tanzina Vega of The Takeaway speaks with WGBH reporter Kirk Carapezza about how MIT is training workers in the field of integrated photonics to help fill a labor gap. “MIT has been working with community college students, helping them get internships,” explains Carapezza, “and trying to simultaneously develop the technology and train people how to use it.”
MIT researchers have found that a small gelatinous structure, called the tectorial membrane, gives the human ear its extraordinary ability to detect faint sounds, reports the Xinhua news agency. The findings “could help devise ways to treat hearing impairment via medical interventions that alter the pores or the properties of the fluid in the membrane.”
HealthDay reporter Robert Preidt writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that long stays in space can cause spinal muscles to shrink and become fatty. “As NASA plans for future missions to Mars and beyond, these results can be used to guide future countermeasures,” says graduate student Katelyn Burkhart.
An excerpt published in National Geographic from a book by Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, examines how Henry Heinz’s push to improve the quality of his company’s ketchup helped usher in new food safety regulations. Blum writes that Heinz realized “consumer distrust of the food supply would be far more expensive to manufacturers like him than the cost of improving the food itself.”
Prof. David Autor speaks with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money about his new research on employment trends in the U.S. showing that cities are no longer meccas of opportunity for workers without college degrees. “We need to carefully examine our assumptions that superstar cities are the land of opportunity for everyone,” says Autor.
Writing for Inside Higher Ed, research scientist Felice Frankel explains the importance of scientists learning how to communicate their work. “I am convinced that learning how to make technically accurate, interesting and honest images and graphics of science should be part of every scientist’s education,” writes Frankel.
Writing for the Financial Times, graduate student Daniel Aronoff highlights Prof. David Autor’s research showing the bleak economic outlook for Americans without college degrees. Aronoff argues the most important less from this work is that, “the economic issue that matters most — maybe the only issue that really matters at all — is education.”