Greentech Media reporter Julian Spector writes that during the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E Summit, President L. Rafael Reif made the case for the necessity of government funding for basic science. Reif explained that support for scientific research is “an investment in our future.”
Joshua Cassidy of KQED highlights an MIT study about how cats use their tongues to drink. The researchers created a model that mimics how cats drink and determined that “house cats tend to lap water about four times a second while larger species of cats, like lions and tigers, lap slower as their body mass increases.”
The Copenhagen Wheel, created by Senseable City Lab researchers, transforms a regular bicycle into a semi-autonomous mode of transport, writes Bob Woods for CNBC. “We realized that unless you somehow change the bike, it's hard to imagine it as a solution for transportation, and that means increasing its capacity to go farther,” explains Assaf Biderman, the lab’s associate director.
Steven Rosenbaum of Forbes writes about the Media Lab’s MisInfoCon, which was aimed at using technology to find a solution for fake news. “MisInfoCon set out with high expectations - to gather, share ideas, brainstorm and then engage in a marathon two-day hackathon,” writes Rosebaum. “The goal was to do more than talk, but rather to build things.”
Nima, a startup founded by alumni Shireen Yates and Scott Sundvor, has been named to CNBC’s list of 25 promising start-ups for its portable food allergy detector, reports Ashley McHugh-Chiappone. “I just wanted a quick, easy way to test a piece of the dish and see for myself if it was gluten-free," says Yates of her inspiration for the device.
In an article for The New York Times, Shefali Luthra writes about innovative solutions to combat rising prescription drug prices. Luthra speaks with Jose Gomez-Marquez, an instructor at MIT, about his lab, which promotes do-it-yourself medical technology. “If you have extreme health care circumstances, you will find extreme health care ingenuity,” Gomez-Marquez explains.
In an article for Governing, Quentin Palfrey, executive director of J-PAL North America, outlines five strategies for creating evidence-based policymaking. “Replacing hunches with facts has dramatic consequences for the efficacy of government programs, particularly those that deliver services to assist the poorest in our society,” Palfrey advises.
NPR reporter Colin Dwyer writes about the life and work of Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, who died at 86. Dwyer writes that “during her celebrated career, she sought to prepare a path for potential successors — the female scientists whom she mentored and opened doors for across decades.”
Lilly Chin, a senior at MIT majoring in electrical engineering and computer science, won the 2017 Jeopardy! College Championship, reports Kenneth Singletary for The Boston Globe. Singletary notes that “for her efforts, Chin won $100,000 and a chance to play on the Tournament of Champions.”
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research, outlines how the U.S. can reduce coal emissions without “declaring war on coal communities.” Zuber argues that the U.S. must “commit to helping the workers and communities that are hurt when coal mines and coal plants reduce their operations or shut down.”
Writing for Fortune, Sloan Senior Lecturer Neal Hartman, explains that Uber must follow up their initial statements with actions to regain the trust of consumers and employees after recent sexual harassment allegations. High-trust companies create an atmosphere where “employees tend to be engaged with the company and where it is ok to voice a dissenting view.”
Prof. Eran Egozy will debut NoteStream, an app that provides real-time information about performances, at an upcoming concert at MIT, writes The Boston Globe’s Zoë Madonna. “We want people who are listening to music, especially if they’re listening for the first time, to be able to appreciate more of it as they’re listening to it,” says Egozy.
Guardian reporter Max Galka writes about Treepedia, a visual database of the urban canopy in 16 cities, developed by researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab. The database, “accounts for the density of trees, and by analyzing panoramas from Google Street View, it considers how buildings and other obstructions affect how the trees are perceived at ground level.”
Daniel Akst of The Wall Street Journal writes about the wearable device developed by CSAIL researchers that can detect the emotional tone of a conversation. The researchers “are pushing the boundaries by training a computer to take account of such a wide range of factors in making judgments about emotion,” writes Akst.
Linda Poon of CityLab writes about Prof. Tod Machover’s latest project turning the sounds of Miami and Philadelphia into symphonies, using audio and video captured by local residents. “There's an incredible kind of liveliness, a combination of restaurants and people talking with the open ocean on one side and streets on the other,” says Machover of Miami’s sounds.