In the Media

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.

WGBH reporter Kirk Carapezza spotlights how MIT is providing free training for community college students in the advanced manufacturing field of integrated photonics. "There is a demand for photonics jobs, and it is moving quickly," explains Principal Research Scientist Anuradha Agarwal.

Los Angeles Times reporter Melissa Healy writes that a study by Prof. Adam Berinksy examines how fact-checking impacts how voters view politicians who lie. Healy writes that in a study of Australian voters, Berinksy found that, “fact-checking changed subjects’ views about which politicians they supported, but only slightly.”

Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane writes that MIT researchers have developed a new way to fabricate tiny objects. “The researchers are currently able to create objects that are around 1 cubic millimeter, with features as small as 50 nanometers,” Finucane explains. “The tiny structures could be useful in fields from optics to medicine to robotics.”

Prof. Brad Skow speaks with WCVB-TV’s Chronicle about the concept of time and the “block universe” theory of time, which states that time does not pass by but is instead part of the larger fabric of the universe. “The future is a place just like Australia,” says Skow. “Australia is far away spatially and the future is also far away temporally.”

Writing for The Washington Post, Alexander Agadjanian of the MIT Election and Data Science Lab examines how the Trump administration impacts the image of the U.S. abroad. “Trump does not unconditionally shape foreign opinion of the United States. Instead, citizens abroad react more to the content of a U.S. policy message — whether it is cooperative or uncooperative in nature,” notes Agadjanian.

Fast Company reporter Katharine Schwab writes that MIT startup Ministry of Supply worked with researchers at the MIT Self-Assembly Lab to develop a new sweater that can be adjusted for an individual’s specific size using heat. “The fabric shrinks when exposed to heat, thanks to both the structure of the knit and the combination of materials used,” explains Schwab.

Inc. has named Boston to its list of the 50 best places in America for starting a business thanks to the MIT AgeLab’s work developing a “Silicon Valley for the octogenarian set.” Inc. notes that the AgeLab has helped spawn “a cluster of age-tech startups launching products like wireless headphones (Eversound) and virtual reality headsets (Rendever) that are optimized for seniors.”

MIT researchers have developed a new technique that can shrink objects to the nanoscale using a laser, reports Lauren Kent for CNN. Kent explains that the technology “could be applied to anything from developing smaller microscope and cell phone lenses to creating tiny robots that improve everyday life.”

Writing for Smithsonian, Leila McNeill spotlights Ellen Swallow Richards, the first female student at MIT, who was known for her work using chemistry as a tool to help empower women. “By harnessing the knowledge that women in the home already had and then applying scientific principles,” writes McNeill, “Richards believed women would spark a change that would resonate beyond the kitchen table and transform society.”

Popular Mechanics reporter David Grossman writes about a new fabrication technique developed by MIT researchers that allows for regular-sized objects to be shrunk down to the nanoscale. Grossman explains that the new method, “takes a technique currently used to make images of brain tissue larger and reverses it.”

In a piece about the growing field of origami, The Economist highlights Prof. Erik Demaine’s work proving that “any straight-sided figure—an octagon, a cityscape silhouette or a blocky Bart Simpson—can be extracted with exactly one straight cut if you fold the paper up the right way first.”