In an obituary for The New York Times, Jessica Silver-Greenberg writes that the late Vanu Bose “reimagined cellular networks and extended service to people living in remote regions of the world.” A desire to help motivated much of Bose’s work, according to friends and colleagues.
A tax bill under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives would particularly impact graduate students, reports Kirk Carapezza for WGBH’s Education Desk, tripling their tax bills – or worse. Carapezza spoke with Sarah Goodman, president of MIT’s Graduate Student Council, who explained the proposal would put graduate studies out of reach for many students, warning that would be detrimental: “Graduate students are the ones being trained to become the future engineers and leaders of scientific development.”
NPR’s Chris Arnold reports that graduate students are anxious about being hit with a massive tax increase being considered in Congress. Arnold speaks with a number of PhD candidates at MIT, including Ryan Hill. “Hill and other MIT students say the tax proposal is ill-conceived. So do economists, who say it would discourage Americans from seeking advanced degrees at a time when the country badly needs a better educated workforce,” says Arnold.
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.”
A study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel finds that climate change will triple the likelihood of storms with 20 inches of rainfall hitting Texas, writes Doyle Rice for USA Today. Using computer models of past, present, and future storms, Emanuel “hurried the study to help Houston officials think about what conditions they should consider when they rebuild,” Rice explains.
A study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel finds that storms like Hurricane Harvey, which produced 20 inches of rain, are six times more likely to occur as a result of global warming, reports Robinson Meyers of The Atlantic. Rainfall will worsen because “storms of all types—not just hurricanes—will retain more moisture in a warmer climate,” explains Meyers.
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.”
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.”