Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee addresses problems with job growth in the U.S. and the belief that robots will take jobs from humans on WBUR’s Radio Boston. “The problem that we’re facing in this country is not that we stopped creating jobs,” McAfee says. “We’re creating more lower-middle class jobs that are less well paid, more precarious.”
During an appearance on WGBH’s Greater Boston, Prof. Regina Barzilay speaks with Jim Braude about her research and the experience of winning a MacArthur grant. Barzilay explains that the techniques she and her colleagues are developing to apply machine learning to medicine, “can be applied to many other areas. In fact, we have started collaborating and expanding.”
By analyzing images from Google Street View, researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have created a new database to calculate the total percentage of trees in a city, writes Matthew Reynolds for Wired. The database can potentially provide health data as cities with, “lower amounts of city greenery have been linked with higher stress levels,” explains Reynolds.
Prof. Regina Barzilay, recipient of a 2017 MacArthur grant, speaks to Radio Boston’s Meghna Chakrabarti about her research. Barzilay explains that data is not currently used in the medical field “to select treatments, to personalize it, or to help the patients reduce their uncertainty about the outcomes. I really strongly felt it has to be changed.”
CBS Boston’s Paula Ebben reports on MIT’s Innovation Playground, a space created for HUBweek to showcase the science, art and technological breakthroughs happening in Kendall Square. “We want people to go away and say, yup, that’s what’s going on in Kendall Square,” says Sarah Gallop of MIT’s Office of Government and Community Relations.
A new study by MIT researchers shows that different types of learning correspond with different brainwave frequencies, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. The findings, “could help doctors diagnose and treat learning disabilities and cognitive diseases.”
Prof. Regina Barzilay has been named a MacArthur grant recipient for her work in computational linguistics and with applying machine learning to the field of oncology, reports Ellen Gamerman for The Wall Street Journal. “I firmly believe there is a lot of really important information and patterns that are hidden in the data of cancer patients,” said Barzilay.
Boston Globe reporter Laura Crimaldi writes that Prof. Regina Barzilay has been awarded a Macarthur “genius grant” in recognition of her work in the field of computational linguistics. Barzilay said she plans to use the prize, “to continue to work on improving cancer care using machine learning and natural language processing.”
Prof. Pierre Azoulay discusses with Bloomberg reporter Peter Coy his research on how new ideas gain traction in science. “Azoulay found that the death of a star scientist is like the fall of a huge tree. It lets sunshine reach the forest floor through a hole in the leaf canopy, enabling new kinds of vegetation to flourish,” explains Coy.
Jeanna Smialek of Bloomberg News highlights a new study co-authored by Profs. David Autor, Christopher Palmer, and Parag Pathak that shows a link between crime reduction and gentrification. According to the study, in Cambridge “a sudden end to rent control in 1995 caused overall crime to fall by 16 percent, a drop driven by property crime,” explains Smialek.
Prof. Richard Nielsen writes for The Washington Post that while women in Saudi Arabia have been granted the authority to issue state-sanctioned Islamic legal rulings, this move will probably not improve women’s rights. “It is likely that the fatwas coming from female Salafi muftis will be just as restricting to women as those from their male counterparts,” writes Nielsen.
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that detects objects and people hidden around blind corners, writes Anthony Cuthbertson for Newsweek. “We show that walls and other obstructions with edges can be exploited as naturally occurring ‘cameras’ that reveal the hidden scenes beyond them,” says lead author and MIT graduate Katherine Bouman.
MIT researchers have developed a new system that can spot moving objects hidden from view by corners, reports Douglas Heaven for New Scientist. “A lot of our work involves finding hidden signals you wouldn’t think would be there,” explains lead author and MIT graduate Katie Bouman.
This CNN video highlights tattoo ink developed by Media Lab researchers that changes colors when it detects changes in biochemistry. The researchers hope the technology could eventually be used to, “help people better monitor their health.”
Wired reporter Matt Simon writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that analyzes the light at the edges of walls to see around corners. Simon notes that the technology could be used to improve self-driving cars, autonomous wheelchairs, health care robots and more.