Brian Sullivan writes for Bloomberg about research affiliate Judah Cohen’s “Siberian Snow Theory,” which is based on the concept that the amount of snow covering the ground in northern Eurasia can be used to predict how cold winter will be in the northern hemisphere. Sullivan writes that Cohen “spies all the makings of an early, cold winter,” this year.
Chris Bourg, director of the MIT Libraries, speaks with Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Ed about the MIT report on the future of libraries, which presents a “vision of the library as an ‘open global platform’.” Bourg notes that “providing access to credible information and the tools to assess, use, understand and exploit it…is more important than ever now.”
FOX 25 reporter Elizabeth Hopkins visited the lab of Prof. Michael Strano to learn more about his nanobionic spinach plant research. "What we've done is we've transformed a living plant into a chemical sensor,” Strano says.
Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz spotlights the work of Margaret Hamilton, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom who led the development of software for the Apollo missions while at MIT. President Barack Obama noted that Hamilton, “symbolizes that generation of unsung women who helped send humankind into space.”
Prof. Thomas Kochan writes for The Huffington Post that a new social contract is needed in America to ensure that the economy works for everyone. Kochan writes that “America needs to build a new social contract based on mutual respect and attuned to the needs of today’s workforce and economy.”
CNN’s Jessica Ravitz describes how MIT researchers are working with surgeons from Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital to outfit a patient with a prosthetic limb that can be controlled by the brain. The patient will have “wireless sensors implanted in his muscles, which will integrate with the robotic prosthetic being created for him.”
A study co-authored by Prof. David Autor shows that voters living in regions of the country that saw an increase in Chinese imports were more receptive to President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-free trade message, writes Bob Davis for The Wall Street Journal. The researchers found “import competition from China damaged local economies and undermined employment and wages.”
Wired reporter Brian Barrett writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that allows virtual reality headsets to operate wirelessly. The system uses “millimeter wave (mm wave) technology, a large band of spectrum whose potential has gone largely untapped,” Barrett explains.
Reuters reporter Yiming Woo highlights a new autonomous scooter developed by researchers from MIT, the National University of Singapore and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). The scooter should be able to help “improve mobility for all ages, cut down on the need for cars and also lower accident rates.”
MIT researchers are developing a bionic prosthesis that can be controlled by the wearer’s brain waves, reports Marie Szaniszlo for The Boston Herald. Graduate student Tyler Clites explains that the limb’s “versatility goes far beyond the technology that is currently available.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Tim Higgins writes that nuTonomy, an MIT startup, will begin testing driverless cars in Boston by the end of the year. The tests in Boston will help the company “sharpen its software’s ability to recognize signage and road markings and gain experience with the complexities of urban driving,” Higgins explains.
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Jessika Trancik examines how federal policy could impact global progress on responding to climate change. “We estimate that the U.S. can achieve the majority share of its original 2025 emissions reduction target even with federal policy changes,” Trancik explains.
Pimploy Phongsirivech of Boston Magazine writes about MIT’s Hacking Arts Festival, which brought together artists, entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and scientists working at the intersection of art and technology. Phongsirivech writes that the event was a “collaborative effort to not only envision but also to actualize the future.”
Bryan Marquard writes for The Boston Globe about the legacy of Prof. Emeritus Jay Forrester, a computing pioneer who died at age 98. Marquard writes that Forrester was a “trailblazer in computers in the years after World War II,” then “pivoted from computers into another new field and founded the discipline of system dynamics modeling.”
Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz writes that MIT researchers are developing a prosthetic limb that can be controlled by the user’s brain waves. Researchers in Prof. High Herr’s lab collaborated with surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to “devise an amputation surgery that could prepare a limb for a brain-controlled prosthetic.”