Science reporter Jeffrey Mervis notes that the $350 million gift from Stephen Schwarzman, which will help establish a new college of computing at MIT, will enable the Institute to hire 50 new faculty members. Provost Martin Schmidt notes that the college will be instrumental in “linking computation to all disciplines on campus.”
Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Lee Gardner notes that MIT is making a $1 billion investment in furthering the study of computation and AI. “The institute’s project will support the search for solutions to two other daunting challenges,” Gardner explains, “how to handle the ethical and philosophical implications of AI for the societies it will transform, and how to break down institutional silos in academe.”
WGBH reporter Maggie Penn examines how the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will integrate the study of computer science and AI into every academic discipline. "Much of higher education is silo-ed, a lot of universities are dealing with that," explains Melissa Nobles, dean of SHASS. "This is a really creative way of getting around that and creating something new that is truly collaborative."
BBC Click spotlights a new semi-autonomous, wearable robot developed by MIT researchers that takes different types of measurements from the skin to identify conditions such as skin cancer. “The doctor can see your whole body, but the doctor doesn’t pick up the small changes in your skin conditions, which the robot can do,” says graduate student Artem Dementyev.
Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe writes that fake news articles are destined for the same fate as spam emails thanks to research from MIT postdoc Ramy Baly, who is developing software to flag fake news sites. Baly hopes to “create a consumer news app that would direct users to reliable news sources from every point on the political compass.”
A new study by MIT researchers has confirmed that light melts matter differently than heat, writes UPI reporter Brooks Hays. Hays explains that in the future, the researchers “hope to engineer or manipulate the phase change process. The mechanism could be used to power new types of optoelectronic devices, such as a data storage device.”
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?”