In the Media

MIT researchers have created a self-driving scooter that can be used both indoors and outdoors, reports Siyi Chen for Quartz. The scooter will “slow down or stop in order to calibrate a new route” when faced with an obstacle, explains Chen.

In an article for The Boston Globe Magazine about how the 2016 presidential election has been a source of anxiety for people around the country, James Sullivan highlights graduate student Maimuna Majumder’s research on post-election stress. “What we’re finding is that stress is not just limited to people that are liberal,” says Majumder. “It is all-encompassing.”

Stephanie Mlot reports for FOX News that MIT researchers have developed a new portable system that can monitor energy usage, and could be useful for both residential and military applications. The system could “not only generate major savings in fuel or power,” Mlot writes, “but it may also safeguard soldiers responsible for base resupply.”

New York Times reporter Paul Vitello writes that Prof. Emeritus Bruce Mazlish, a historian known for his psychoanalytical biographies of world leaders, died at age 93. Mazlish’s “experience teaching European history to young scientists and engineers inspired a lifelong interest in understanding the divide between science and the humanities.”

In this Atlantic video, Caleb Harper, a research scientist at the Media Lab, speaks about how farming will change as more people begin moving to cities. Harper explains that if individuals are enabled to grow fresh food, “then countries that import a lot of their own foods now can start to build up a capacity within their border.” 

WGBH reporter Kirk Carapezza explores MIT’s MicroMasters program in Supply Chain Management, which allows students to complete a master’s degree through online and on-campus courses. Student Danaka Porter explains that the program provides an opportunity to “get education from a fantastic university, as well as be able to continue to keep working.”

Writing for the Financial Times, Prof. Daron Acemoglu examines how a new administration in Washington, D.C. could impact Turkey’s growth. While the implications “are likely to be dire for the Turkish economy,” Acemoglu adds that “even modest attempts towards a more inclusive economy can spearhead rapid and relatively high-quality growth.”

Research affiliate Moshe Alamaro hopes to reduce smog in Delhi using a jet engine, according to The Economist. By placing a jet engine next to one of India’s coal-fired power plants, Alamaro hopes to create a “‘virtual chimney’ which would carry the trapped pollution above it, so that it could be dispersed in the wider atmosphere.”

In an article for Popular Science, Kate Baggaley speaks with Prof. Timothy Lu and postdoc César de la Fuente about strategies they are developing to tackle antibiotic resistance. Lu explains that researchers are attempting to develop an arsenal of treatments to “be able to come at the problem from a variety of different ways.”

New Scientist reporter Victoria Turk writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that can predict the future based off of a still image. Turk writes that the system could enable “an AI assistant to recognize when someone is about to fall, or help a self-driving car foresee an accident.”

Boston Globe reporter Janelle Nanos writes about Spoiler Alert, a platform developed by two MIT graduates that is aimed at connecting food distributors with food-rescue organizations. Nanos writes that the platform has been “adopted by 200 businesses and nonprofits in New England to cut down on waste and encourage donations by making them easier to track.”

A study co-authored by Prof. Christopher Knittel finds that technological advances are needed to reduce the use of oil in the car industry, according to The Economist. The researchers found that “the price of batteries to power EVs would need to fall by a factor of three, and they would need to charge much faster.”

A new drug delivery system developed by MIT researchers may help eradicate malaria and could boost medication adherence, writes Rachel Zimmerman for WBUR’s Bostonomix. "People don't take their medicines and this might be a way, someday, for Alzheimer's patients to have much better treatments and people with mental health diseases to have much better treatments," says Prof. Langer.

Writing for Fortune, Professors Juanjuan Zhang and T. Tony Ke provide tips for making the most out of holiday sales. For big-ticket items, Profs. Zhang and Ke suggest “price checks throughout the year so that you have a better sense of the market.” 

Prof. Michel DeGraff speaks with WGBH reporter Judith Kogan about why people around the world use different words to describe animal sounds, such as a turkey’s distinctive “gobble.” “Your native language formats your mind to perceive animal sounds based on your own native language," DeGraff explains.