Prof. Pattie Maes writes for Wired about how wearable medical technology is becoming an increasingly mainstream component of therapeutic intervention. “While we need to be careful to make sure these designs safeguard privacy, give complete control to the user and avoid dependency whenever possible,” writes Maes, “there are countless possibilities for digital, wearable technologies to supplement and even replace traditional drugs and therapy.”
A new study by MIT researchers shows that the Sahara desert and North Africa alternate between wet and dry conditions every 20,000 years, reports the Xinhua news agency. The researchers found that the “climatic pendulum was mainly driven by changes to the Earth's axis as the planet orbits the sun, which in turn affect the distribution of sunlight between seasons.”
Writing for Wired, Prof. Carlo Ratti predicts that in 2019 researchers will develop new methods for allowing people to use the internet in less intrusive ways. “The internet of things will continue to grow, and we will work out more ways to develop ‘things’ that allow us to enjoy the internet without being overwhelmed by it,” writes Ratti.
Nature reporter Elizabeth Gibney spotlights Prof. Pablo Jarillo-Herrero’s discovery that graphene can act as a superconductor when twisted to a magic angle. “I haven’t seen this much excitement in the graphene field since its initial discovery,” said ChunNing Jeanie Lau, a professor at Ohio State University, of the impact of Jarillo-Herrero’s findings.
TechCrunch reporter John Biggs writes that MIT researchers have developed a system for 3-D printing glass that offers users more control over the material and final product. “The system is interesting because it actually produces clear glass structures that can be used for decoration or building,” Biggs notes.
Former postdoctoral associate Pinar Yanardag speaks with STAT reporter Elizabeth Preston about her work developing an immersive virtual reality app that aims to make it easier to pump breast milk. With virtual reality, “you can basically teleport yourself into a nice baby nursery,” says Yanardag. “You don’t need to see this environment, see all these pumps and wires and everything.”
Forbes contributor David DiSalvo highlights Prof. Alan Jasanoff’s book, “The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are” on his list of the must-read brain books of 2018. “Rather than being another assessment of what the brain does, this one is about what it is—and more interestingly what it is not,” writes DiSalvo.
Gizmodo reporter Maddie Stone writes that a new study by MIT researchers provides evidence that chloroform emissions rose 3.5 percent per year from 2010 to 2015 in East Asia. “If emissions continue to grow at 2010-2015 rates,” Stone writes, “the researchers estimate recovery of the ozone hole could be delayed by up to 8 years.”
Prof. Daniela Rus and R. David Eldeman, director of the Project on Technology, Economy, and National Security at MIT speak with Matt Simon at Wired about working with robots. “The robots have a fixed architecture and they have a fixed vocabulary,” explains Rus. “So, people will continue to have to learn that and understand what the tool is useful for.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti speaks with David Freeman and Gwen Aviles of NBC Mach about his predictions for science and technology in 2019. “Next year will see more innovations that make technology less intrusive — a kind of screen detox,” says Ratti.
Prof. Yoel Fink speaks with Scott Kirsner at The Boston Globe about the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America and the future of smart fabrics. “The basic ingredient of modern technology is semiconductors,” says Fink, CEO of AFFOA. “And the reason there aren’t any smart fabrics out there right now is nobody had figured out how to put a semiconductor into fibers.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig examines the investment strategies of former Institute Prof. Paul Samuelson, including his purchases of Berkshire Hathaway stock in the early 1970s. Zweig notes, “In an interview this week, [Warren] Buffett says Prof. Samuelson believed the same thing he does: that markets are 'generally very efficient but not perfectly efficient.'”
MIT spin-off Gingko Bioworks was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 List for using “genetic engineering to design and print new DNA for a variety of organisms…that can then be used for anything from killing antibiotic-resistant germs to producing artificial sweetener and cheaper perfume,” reports Tom Huddleston Jr. for CNBC.
Fortune cites the work of Prof. Esther Duflo in their special report on the shrinking middle class and what can be done to fix it. “Duflo has shaken up the economics world with a radical premise: Aid programs should be tested and evaluated with the same rigor as prescription drugs, through randomized controlled trials.”
Cristina Quinn writes for WGBH about the MIT Instrumentation Lab, which was “tasked with creating code the astronauts would use to navigate the moon without the help of ground control in Houston” for NASA’s 1968 Apollo 8 mission. “The Apollo Guidance Computer was a milestone in computing technology in many ways,” explains Debbie Douglas, director of collections at the MIT Museum.