Boston Globe reporter Andy Rosen writes that MIT is establishing a college of computing as part of an effort to examine the impact computer science and AI is having on all disciplines. “We have to move much faster educating the next generation for the new economy,” explains President L. Rafael Reif. “The way to do that is to come up with integrated curriculum.”
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that MIT is establishing a college of computing to help students and researchers use computing and AI to advance their work. President L. Rafael Reif explains that the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing “will constitute both a global centre for computing research and education, and an intellectual foundry for powerful new AI tools.”
The New York Times writes about the new MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, calling MIT’s move “a particularly ambitious step.” President Reif says the College will “educate the bilinguals of the future,” people in fields like biology, chemistry, politics, history, and linguistics who are also skilled in the techniques of modern computing that can be applied to them.
Prof. Simon Johnson reviews Adam Tooze’s new book, “Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World” for The Washington Post. Johnson writes that the book, “is an impressive narrative history, weaving together events from around the world with a light touch and a great deal of helpful explanation.”
A new video from MIT spinout Boston Dynamics shows their Atlas robot effortlessly jumping over logs and leaping onto ascending boxes, writes Andy McDonald for HuffPost. “From heavy lifting in factories or warehouses to search and rescue operations to missions on the battlefield, these robots can potentially do things that humans can’t or shouldn’t do,” writes McDonald.
MIT researchers have developed a gel-like polymer that uses carbon dioxide from the air to grow, strengthen, and repair itself, reports Mu Xuequan for the Xinhua News Agency. “Although, it is not yet strong enough to be used as a building material, it could function as a crack filling or coating material,” Xuequan notes.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, and research associate Lucas Yoquinto write that companies are increasingly designing aesthetically-pleasing and user-friendly technology for the elderly. “As the focus on older consumers’ preferences goes beyond the development of better products to the creation of new product categories, the experience of later life may improve substantially,” they explain.
As part of Wired’s 25 anniversary festival, Prof. Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, leads a conversation with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman about “blitzscaling,” which encourages new companies to prioritize speed over efficiency. Ito points out that blitzscaling technology “accelerates you in the direction you are already going,” making it hard to correct any issues that arise early on.
CBS News reporter Kate Gibson writes that Atlas, the robot developed by MIT spinoff Boston Dynamics, can now tackle a parkour-style obstacle course. “The robot's control software uses its whole body -- legs, arms and torso -- to jump over a log and then leap up steps more than a foot high each, all without breaking pace,” Gibson explains.
Quartz reporter Zoë Schlanger writes that a new study by MIT researchers demonstrates how climate change can negatively impact a person’s mental health. The researchers found that “on average, the mental health of low-income people was most harmed by hotter temperatures. Women, on average, were also harmed more than men.”
Former MIT visiting artist Pedro Reyes speaks with Forbes reporter Ann Binlot about his time at MIT. “MIT was an amazing experience. Everyday is saturated with hundreds of encounters,” recounts Reyes. “And yet, one of the beautiful things about MIT is that they want people to think outside the box.”
CNBC reporter Lorie Konish speaks with Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, about some key questions around autonomous vehicles for retirees. “The older people who can't drive — whether it is a cognition issue, health issue, physical disability issue — who gets them in the car?” says Coughlin. “And if your mom’s not cognitively well enough to drive, does she ride in the robot car by herself?”
Forbes contributor Howard Gleckman highlights a study by Prof. Amy Finkelstein that shows only five percent of Medicare spending goes toward end-of-life costs. Gleckman writes that the study supports the argument that “using spending in the last year of life as a proxy for futile care is deeply flawed—because we are very bad at predicting who is going to die and who is not.”
Prof. Linda Griffith speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Mark Ellwood about her work developing a new device that allows researchers to test how a drug affects the human body. Ellwood notes that the technology that Griffith and her team have created “could prove vital for rapidly releasing new vaccines.”
While playing the popular video game Fortnite, graduate student Henri Drake and the Climate Fortnite Squad battle for glory and chat about climate science in an effort to make information about climate change accessible to Fortnite fans. “The squad hopes their streams will be watched by climate-curious gamers who can send in questions for them to answer midgame,” Andrews explains.