Prof. Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, has announced the launch of his new company Inrupt. The startup will use an open-source project called Solid, which Berners-Lee developed with colleagues at MIT, to “reshape the web and ‘restore the power and agency of the individuals’ using it,” writes Jason Evangelho for Forbes.
MIT Media Lab graduate student Artem Dementyev has created a palm-sized robot with suction-cup feet, known as SkinBot, which can crawl along the body, writes Douglas Heaven of New Scientist. The robot was designed to “carry out a medical inspection of a patient when there is no doctor nearby or when it would be too dangerous for a doctor to approach,” explains Heaven.
Padma Lalshmi, host of Bravo’s Top Chef, delivered remarks at MIT’s fourth annual Open Endoscopy Forum. Ahead of her speech, Lakshmi spent the day at MIT touring labs and engaging with students, reports Olivia Vanni for The Boston Herald.
MIT’s Mediated Matter Group has developed small robots that can turn fiberglass filament into large 3-D structures, writes Jesus Diaz of Fast Company. The Fiberbots could eventually be used to build structures “in extreme situations, such as after natural disasters,” suggests Diaz.
TechCrunch’s Ziad Reslan highlights aspects of MIT’s Solve innovation challenge, including appointing multiple winners and maintaining a relationship after the challenge, that distinguish it among a crowded field of similar competitions. “Our value-add is providing a network, from MIT and beyond, and then brokering partnerships,” says Hala Hanna, managing director of community for Solve.
MIT researchers have developed neural networks that can recognize speech patterns that are indicative of depression, writes Anna Powers for Forbes. “Because the model is generalized and does not rely on specific questions to be asked,” explains Powers, “the hope is that this model can be implemented into mobile apps that will allow people to detect depression through natural conversation.”
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi spoke at MIT’s Open Endoscopy Forum, where she discussed her past experience with sexual assault and her personal fight with endometriosis. Lakshmi “has been a longtime advocate of raising awareness for endometriosis since being diagnosed as a teen,” write Megan Johnson and Joelle Goldstein for People.
Prof. Tim Berners-Lee discusses his new startup Inrupt, which is “the first major commercial venture built off of Solid, a decentralized web platform he and others at MIT have spent years building,” writes Katrina Brooker for Fast Company. Inrupt’s mission is “to decentralize the web and take back power from the forces that have profited from centralizing it,” says Brooker.
Forbes reporter Amy Feldman highlights Desktop Metal, a company started by MIT graduate Ric Fulop and a number of MIT researchers, that has developed 3-D metal printers that are intended to “print fast enough and at a low enough cost to replace casting and CNC machining for numerous metal parts.”
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Yasheng Huang examines what Jack Ma stepping down as executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. signals about the future of China’s economy. Huang writes that Ma’s departure “adds to a gathering sense that China’s private sector, the engine of the economy, is losing steam — and faith.”
MIT spinout Affectiva Inc. has developed a new system that can study a driver’s face to help assess their mental state, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. Bray explains that the system “analyzes facial expressions to determine if a driver is distracted, angry, scared, sleepy, or drunk.”
A study by MIT and Yale researchers finds that the number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. may be two times greater than current estimates, reports Andres Picon for The Boston Globe. “Our goal was not to do anything political or policy-oriented; it was just to provide a better number, so that policy makers can debate over policies using it,” explains Senior Lecturer Mohammad Fazel-Zarandi.
A new book by Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program, focuses on Harvey Washington Wiley’s “fight for pure food,” explains Joshua Johnson, host of NPR’s 1A. While food safety has improved, Blum believes “it’s not safe enough and that our safety mechanisms have been – as they were in Wiley’s time – weakened over the years.”
Forbes reporter Maribel Lopez writes about how researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab are tackling a variety of AI challenges with real-world applications. Lopez notes that it’s great to see organizations like MIT and IBM coming together to “bridge the gap between science and practical AI solutions that can be used for both commercial and social good.”
Bloomberg reporter Faye Flam writes about a study by Prof. Pierre Azoulay that examines how the death of a superstar scientist impacts intellectual progress. Azoulay and his colleagues found that, “a star's death is followed by an influx of new people into the field, coming from related fields, with different ideas,” Flam explains.