In an article for Forbes, graduate student Jai Padmakumar discusses whether allergies are a sign of a weak immune system. Allergies occur when your immune system responds too strongly because “your body mistakenly recognizes something that really isn’t bad for you as a pathogen and attacks it,” explains Padmakumar.
CNN reporter Matt McFarland highlights the impact of the Executive Order on immigration on American universities. He notes that 40% of MIT faculty and graduate students come from outside the U.S. and that, as President L. Rafael Reif wrote, “a great many stay in this country for life, repaying the American promise of freedom with their energy and their ideas.”
Rick Shaffer highlights WiTricity, an MIT spinout, in a Boston Herald article about affordable, easily accessible alternative energy. The company is developing wireless charging pads for electric and hybrid vehicles, which will prevent people from “forgetting to plug a charging cord into their vehicle when they return home.”
Boston Globe reporter Laura Krantz writes that MIT students, faculty and staff gathered on Sunday in response to the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration. “It’s certainly ill-judged and likely counterproductive,” said Associate Provost Richard Lester. “Our community is here because they are contributing research and new knowledge creation that benefits this country.”
Prof. Robert Langer speaks with Kathryn Nave of Wired about the future of drug delivery. Langer explains that a problem facing medical professionals is that many drugs are not taken regularly or as prescribed, and describes how he is developing a “long-acting pill that you could swallow to release the right drug dosage for weeks.”
In an article for USA Today, research associate James Walsh writes about the Trump administration’s executive order on immigration. Walsh writes that he believes the order will “make international cooperation more difficult, increase animosity towards the United States, and strengthen the hands of ISIS to recruit followers and make the case that the US is anti-Islam.”
AP reporter Mark Pratt writes that MIT researchers have developed a platform to map the tree canopy in cities around the world, in an effort to identify locations where more trees are needed. "We as humans have a natural willingness and desire to be in green spaces," explains Prof. Carlo Ratti.
Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism Program, stresses the importance of citizen participation in science in a book review for The Washington Post. Blum writes that direct participation in gathering data, “makes science more accessible to Americans who, many worry, are becoming alienated from the research process.”
Broad Institute research affiliate Theresa Oei, who is also a cheerleader for the Patriots, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear about her passion for science and for dance. Oei, who currently works in Prof. Feng Zhang’s lab developing genome editing techniques, explains that while she has enjoyed cheerleading, “in the end, I see science as my vocation.”
An algorithm developed by MIT researchers helps extract the correct answer from a large group of people even when the majority of people answer incorrectly, writes Erin Ross for Nature. While previous assumptions viewed the average opinion of a crowd as correct, the algorithm identifies “specialists with special knowledge, like doctors,” explains Prof. Dražen Prelec.
In an article for Slate, Prof. Kevin Esvelt argues for the importance of keeping scientific research open and publically accessible, in particular when it comes to gene editing. “Scientific journals, funders, policymakers, and intellectual property holders should change the incentives to ensure that all proposed gene drive experiments are open and responsive,” writes Esvelt.
Scientific American reporter Simon Makin writes that MIT researchers have developed a new approach to extract correct answers from a crowd. “The new method performed better than majority or confidence-based methods alone, reducing errors by between 21 and 35 percent,” Makin explains.
MIT researchers have developed a sensor capable of detecting single protein molecules, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. The sensor could be used “to aid efforts to better understand disease and develop drugs. The array could even help scientists engineer human cells to produce therapeutic proteins.”
Forbes contributor David Worrell speaks with Nick Majer, a participant in a Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship startup incubator. Majer explains that at MIT, “innovation is contagious and inescapable, and with innovation being a major part of entrepreneurship, it makes sense that MIT students become effective entrepreneurs.”
Wall Street Journal reporter David Harrison writes that a study by Prof. Daron Acemoglu shows that aging populations have not had a negative effect on economic growth. The researchers found that investments in robotics “make it easier for firms to replace departing workers even when there are fewer younger workers to take the retirees’ place.”