In an article for The Guardian about the importance of trees, Dyani Lewis highlights Treepedia, a project by researchers in MIT’s Senseable City Lab, which maps the number of trees in cities around the world. Prof. Carlo Ratti explains that the project will hopefully “put pressure on government to plant more trees.”
A study by MIT researchers finds that robots have negatively impacted American employment and wages, reports Andrew Soergel for U.S. News & World Report. After accounting for enhancements in productivity and growth in other sectors, researchers found that “automation's rise isn't entirely a bad thing for the labor market,” explains Soergel.
Paul Parravano, co-director of the Office of Government and Community Relations, speaks with Careers & the disABLED about working at MIT. Parravano notes that MIT works “hard to hire people who come from different backgrounds. There’s a clear benefit when you have people from different backgrounds and experiences. That’s how you best solve problems.”
STAT reporter Kate Sheridan spotlights the 2017 Koch Institute Image Awards, which aim to recognize visual images produced through life sciences and biomedical research. Sheridan notes that the competition shows “everyone how beautiful biology can be — no microscope required.”
Bruce Gellerman of WBUR spotlights Ambri, an MIT startup co-founded by Prof. Donald Sadoway and alumnus David Bradwell that creates liquid metal batteries. Ambri’s “molten metal technology is at the cutting edge of the emerging energy storage industry,” writes Gellerman.
MIT researchers have observed a black hole devouring a star, reports Torah Kachur for CBC News. After looking at about a year’s worth of data, researchers found that the “star was getting pulled apart and literally shredded into a debris stream that spiraled around the center of this black hole,” writes Kachur.
MIT students participating in the Masters of Architecture Options Studio have developed a prototype portable shelter that self-assembles in mid-air, reports Alexandra Simon-Lewis for Wired. Graduate student MyDung Nguyen explains that the goal of the project was to "defy the constraints" that can often impede architectural projects, particularly in areas where space and time are limited.
WBUR reporter Asma Khalid reports on how The Engine could help the Boston-area innovation ecosystem. Katie Rae, president and CEO of The Engine, explains that The Engine will support startups focused on tough technologies, which “take longer than most venture capital firms want to take bets on."
President L. Rafael Reif writes for Foreign Affairs that funding for fundamental research is key to cultivating growth. “The breakthroughs today were built on the hard work and generous funding of past generations. If today’s Americans want to leave similar legacies, they need to refill the research pipelines and invest more in the nation’s scientific infrastructure.”
Elizabeth Howell writes for Scientific American that a team of researchers, including scientists from MIT, have observed that when a black hole consumes a star there is a burst of electromagnetic activity. Howell explains that the “new research suggests that interactions among the debris could generate the optical and UV emission.”
President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Ellie Bothwell of Times Higher Education about MIT’s efforts to study how people learn and the future of education. Reif notes that at MIT, education is interdisciplinary and focused on bringing “knowledge from different areas…Problems are problems. You have to solve them with whatever knowledge you can get.”
In this video, WCVB Chronicle host Anthony Everett visits Prof. Neil Gershenfeld at the Center for Bits and Atoms to learn about the global network of Fab Labs. Everett explains that Gershenfeld sees Fab Labs as places of “collaboration and networking and mentoring where ideas can literally take form. Where you don’t borrow, but make what you want.”
Graduate student Maimuna Majumder writes for NPR about her research examining what caused an outbreak of the mumps in Arkansas in 2016. Majumder writes that her research shows, “why herd immunity is so important. When we vaccinate, we protect not only ourselves but the most vulnerable members of our communities, too.”
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. David Singer examines how an overhaul of the H-1B visa program could impact the American job market. Singer writes that “restricting visas for highly skilled foreign workers could prompt high-tech firms in the United States to shift operations overseas in search of skilled labor.”
In an article for The New York Times about why people believe false information, Amanda Taub and Brendan Nyhan highlight a study by Prof. Adam Berinsky that examines political myths. Berinsky found that “a surprising co-partisan source (a Republican member of Congress) was the most effective in reducing belief in the ‘death panel’ myth about the Affordable Care Act.”