The late Institute Prof. Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus is featured on MSNBC Live with Velshi & Ruhle’s “Monumental Americans” series, which highlights Americans they believe should be honored with a statue. “Known as ‘the Queen of Carbon Science,’ the electrical engineer worked at MIT for 57 years and was a pioneer for women in science leadership positions.”
Chris Mooney at The Washington Post writes about a new study from Prof. Kerry Emanuel, which suggests that the extreme rains during Hurricane Harvey were made more likely by climate change, and “such extreme flooding events will only become more frequent as the globe continues to warm.”
According to Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post, MIT and Harvard are set to receive funding for a new foreign policy program from the Charles Koch Foundation. Prof. Barry Posen, who will lead the effort for MIT, notes, “This is not about politics. This is about policy and training graduate students and scholarship.”
In light of President Trump’s recent trip to China, research fellow Audrey Jiajia Li writes in The Boston Globe about the similarities he shares with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “President Trump actually shares more values with President Xi than many observers might have predicted. And the affinity between the two men may very well result in a thaw in diplomatic relations, particularly on the economic front.”
In an article for The Atlantic, Joe Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes that tech companies often mistakenly view older adults “as a singular, homogenous population that depends on the largesse of others to survive because it can’t provide for itself.” If companies treated older adults like they treat other consumers, they could live not only longer lives, but better lives, suggests Coughlin.
Martin Finucane of The Boston Globe reports that MIT researchers are developing a method to allow oil and water to mix. Using a combination of a surfactant and condensation, “tiny water droplets form on the surface that sink into the oil and stay mixed for months, rather than separating in just a few minutes,” explains Finucane.
A new study co-authored by Prof. Ariel White finds that news outlets can impact the issues Americans talk about, reports Deborah Netburn of the Los Angeles Times. As the authors note in the study, “The decisions made in the nation’s editorial boardrooms have remarkably large effects on the character and composition of the national conversation.”
The Economist reviews Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, a new book by Prof. Kieran Setiya, which attempts to demonstrate how philosophy can help people going through a midlife crisis. The book “may change preconceptions about the dryness of philosophy” as well as “make readers think and smile, which is not a bad therapy in itself,” the review concludes.
Kate Baggaley of NBC News highlights a team of MIT researchers who have developed a computer model to explain how albatrosses fly so efficiently. “Unlike other birds that flap their wings frequently, the albatross rides the wind,” which researchers are hoping to duplicate as they attempt to create drones that fly by harnessing power from the wind and sun, she explains.
Writing for The Boston Globe, President L. Rafael Reif issues a call for allies to help address the changing nature of work in the age of automation. “Automation will transform our work, our lives, our society," writes Reif. "Whether the outcome is inclusive or exclusive, fair or laissez-faire, is up to us.”
Vanu Bose, a member of the MIT Corporation who earned three degrees from the Institute, passed away suddenly. Bose was the founder of the communications company Vanu Inc., which “uses cellular base stations to provide cell phone coverage to remote areas around the world,” writes WBUR’s Bob Shaffer.
MIT alum and Corporation member, Vanu Bose, passed away suddenly at age 52, writes Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. “We’ve really lost a beautiful human… a warm and valuable member of our community,” said Robert B. Millard, chairman of the MIT Corporation.
MIT postdoc Ritu Raman is one of five recipients of the 2017 For Women in Science Fellowship from L’Oreal USA, writes Claire Hansen of U.S. News & World Report. The $60,000 grants are awarded to the women “based on the strength of their research and scientific excellence, but also on their commitment to supporting other women and girls in science,” explains Hansen.
Joe Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes about the need to rethink how people live as they age. “An older America done right will improve quality of life across the board. After all, if we’re lucky, the future of old age is the future for everyone,” said Coughlin in Time magazine.
MIT researchers have developed a new sensor that can be applied to the leaf of a plant and could be used to help predict droughts, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. Prof. Michael Strano explains that in the future, “One of the most useful ways of using this sensor is to design more stress-tolerant crops.”