In the Media

MIT researchers have developed a pill that could potentially deliver insulin, which the BBC’s Adrienne Bernhard describes as “a kind of edible Swiss Army knife that can deliver life-saving medicine without the pain of needle injection.”

MIT postdoc Nataliya Kosmyna demonstrated a device dubbed the “Thinking Cap” at the MIT Computing Expo, part of the Institute’s celebration of the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. Kosmyna explains that the “Thinking Cap” aims to help students build self-esteem and improve their academic performance, writes Steve Annear of The Boston Globe.

MIT spinoff Ginkgo Bioworks has launched Motif Ingredients, a food ingredients company that uses yeast to mimic flavors or textures found in food, report Chloe Sorvino and Alex Knapp for Forbes. Motif Ingredients is “a potential game-changer for the budding industry of plant-based foods,” Sorvino and Knapp write. 

Hiawatha Bray of the Boston Globe writes about the celebration of the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, which featured a demonstration of the Mini Cheetah robot. Learning how machines can simulate the behavior of living organisms like the cheetah “is just the kind of problem the new College of Computing is intended to solve,” writes Bray.

Prof. Nergis Mavalvala speaks with Ira Flatow of Science Friday about how she and her colleagues are working on a new technology called squeezed light, which could enable LIGO to see even more of the cosmos. Mavalvala explains that squeezed light is “a somewhat exotic quantum state of light that we engineer in our labs to improve the sensitivity of LIGO.”

Forbes reporter Jessica Baron writes that MIT researchers have developed a platform that “addresses the key issue in cloud computing, which is that the data (or “breadcrumbs”) we leave behind online when we search the web, sign up for subscriptions, use social media, make purchases, etc. is stored on remote data servers where the information is then combined and sold to advertisers.”

WHDH-TV spotlights how research engineer Dane Kouttron has created a self-driving snow blower “powered by a lithium battery that can keep the robot running for four hours continuously.”

Boston Globe reporter Cate McQuaid writes that a new exhibit of Otto Piene’s work at the Fitchburg Art Museum spotlights the late artist’s work with light and fire. McQuaid writes that through his art Piene, who served as director of MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, “insisted on a better, more hopeful future.”

Boston Globe reporter Murray Whyte spotlights Kapwani Kiwanga’s new exhibit, “Safe Passage,” which is on display at the MIT List Visual Arts Center. Whyte writes that “‘Safe Passage’ is about a moment, not so long ago, when high art opted out of a divisive national argument.”

CBS Boston highlights how research engineer Dane Kouttron has developed a snow blower that can be operated remotely. Kouttron explains that the idea behind the machine is to, “sit out with your cup of tea and remotely pilot your snow moving machine from the comfort of your own home.”

New York Times reporter Janet Morrissey spotlights Prof. Regina Barzilay and Prof. Dina Katabi’s work developing new AI systems aimed at improving health care. “It’s absolutely the future; it’s even the present,” says Barzilay. “The question is how fast do we adopt it?”

A study by MIT researchers finds that climate change is causing pollution to linger longer over cities and making summer thunderstorms more powerful, reports Tanya Rivero for CBS News. “We found a way to connect changes in temperature in humidity from climate change to changing summer weather patterns that we are experiencing at our latitude,” explains graduate student Charles Gertler.

ABC News spotlights how MIT researchers have found that a lobster’s membrane could serve as inspiration for developing new forms of body armor. “The membrane on a lobster’s underbelly is as strong as the rubber on car tires. It could be used as a guide for body armor that allows more mobility without sacrificing protection.”

A storytelling robot developed by MIT researchers could be used to help boost language skills in young children and could help prepare children for learning in school, report Donna Lu for New Scientist. “If a child doesn’t start kindergarten ready to learn, it is very difficult and very expensive for them to catch up,” explains Prof. Cynthia Breazeal.

Newsweek reporter Hannah Osborne writes that MIT researchers have found that a lobster’s membrane, which protects its underbelly, is made of one of the toughest hydrogels in the world. “Its strength and flexibility,” Osborne explains, could “make it an ideal material to use as a blueprint for body armor.”