In an article for The Boston Globe, Amy Carleton, a lecturer in the comparative media studies/writing program, writes about the jacket First Lady Melanie Trump wore to visit a shelter for migrant children. Carleton posits that the First Lady, “has demonstrated that she is well-versed in the rhetorical power that fashion possesses.”
Research Engineer Bryan Reimer speaks with Bloomberg Radio about autonomous vehicle safety following the announcement that nuTonomy will soon test its vehicles on Boston streets. Citing the successful partnership between city officials and autonomous vehicle startups, Reimer stresses the importance of companies demonstrating “that they can walk before they can run.”
Fast Company reporter Steven Melendez writes that CSAIL researchers have created a new system that allows a robot to detect human brainwave patterns so it knows when it made a mistake. Melendez explains that, “Teaching robots to understand human nonverbal cues and signals could make them safer and more efficient at working with people.”
In an article for The New York Times, graduate student Joy Buolamwini writes about how AI systems can often reinforce existing racial biases and exclusions. Buolamwini writes that, “Everyday people should support lawmakers, activists and public-interest technologists in demanding transparency, equity and accountability in the use of artificial intelligence that governs our lives.”
Autonomous vehicle company nuTonomy, an MIT startup, has been given permission to test their cars throughout Boston, writes The Boston Herald’s Jordan Graham. “They are going to encounter things on the road they’ve never seen before,” says MIT research engineer Bryan Reimer. “The only way to progress is to do it.”
MIT researchers have developed a system that allows people to use a combination of brain waves and muscle signals to stop and redirect a robot, writes John Biggs for TechCrunch. “The machine adapts to you, and not the other way around,” explains graduate student Joseph DelPreto.
Sloan senior lecturer Robert Pozen and undergraduate Ming Lu contributed this article to Fortune about the dangers of having too much employer stock in your 401(k). “[P]ast performance is not a good predictor of future performance—especially in this era of disruptive innovation,” they explain.
MIT startup nuTonomy has received permission from Boston city officials to test run its autonomous vehicles citywide, reports Zeninjor Enwemeka for WBUR. “We are excited to have access to some of the most complex roads in North America as we continue to focus on improving the safety and efficiency of transportation,” said MIT alumnus and nuTonomy president Karl Iagnemma.
STAT reporter Justin Chen writes about a new study that examines why patients with pancreatic cancer often experience significant weight loss. Prof. Matt Vander Heiden explains that the findings show, “pancreatic cancer patients clearly have a lot of tissue wasting and whether it’s good or bad, we can now say that it’s not necessarily bad at diagnosis.”
Prof. Xuanhe Zhao and his colleagues have designed a 3D printer that can create shape-shifting soft materials. The group purposefully created the “materials and the method to be user friendly to enable a wide range of applications,” reports Fiona McMillan for Forbes.
MIT researchers have developed a system that “lets a person control a robotic arm with brainwaves and subtle hand gestures,” reports Jesus Diaz for Co.Design. According to Prof. Daniela Rus, the goal is “to develop robotic systems that are a more natural and intuitive extension of us.”
Engadget reporter Jon Fingas writes that MIT researchers have developed a tiny computer chip small enough to fit on a honeybee-sized drone that can help the drone navigate. The technology could eventually be applied to, “smart pills that navigate to where they're needed, or virtually any vehicle that may need to last for a very long time on one battery charge.”
A new system developed by MIT researchers analyzes radio signals that bounce off of human bodies to track their movement and posture from behind walls, write Saqib Shah for Fox News. Shah suggests that the system could allow military personal “to ‘see’ hidden enemies by wearing augmented reality headsets.”
A team of researchers, including MIT physicists, has detected evidence of a new elementary particle called a “sterile” neutrino, writes Natalie Wolchover for The Washington Post. “The existence of a sterile neutrino would revolutionize physics from the smallest to the largest scales.” Wolchover explains.
Boston Globe reporter Jonathan Saltzman writes about how MIT alumnus Bernat Olle’s startup, Vedanta Biosciences, Inc., is looking to “collect a sample of every type of bacteria that lives in the gut.” The hope is to one day use what’s learned from this ‘library’ to help treat diseases.