The curved origami sculptures created by Prof. Erik Demaine and his father Martin Demaine are featured in the exhibit “Above the Fold: New Expressions in Origami,” writes Solvej Schou for the Associated Press. The father-son duo use math algorithms to solve paper-folding problems. "Our work grows directly out of our decades collaborating together in mathematics and sculpture," explains Prof. Demaine.
Prof. Nergis Mavalvala speaks with Scientific American about black holes, gravitational waves, and attracting more women and minorities to STEM fields. She explains that studying the building blocks of the universe is important for understanding the “big questions: What are we made of? Where do we come from?”
April Glasper writes for Wired about the robot Prof. Cynthia Breazeal created specifically for domestic purposes. Glasper explains that robot, dubbed Jibo “learns by listening and asking questions. Jibo uses machine learning, speech and facial recognition, and natural language processing to learn from its interactions with people.”
MIT researchers have developed a new water-based material that could be used to make artificial skin, long-lasting contact lenses and drug-delivering bandages, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. “It’s interesting to imagine a world where your medicine cabinet is stocked with hydrogel-elastomer hybrids instead of contact lenses and Band-Aids,” writes Ducharme.
By watching TV shows and video clips, CSAIL researchers show that artificially intelligent systems can learn and predict human behavior, writes Tim Moynihan for Wired. Researchers say these findings could lead to analyzing hospital video feeds to alert emergency responders or allow robots to respond.
Tamara Dietrich of The Washington Post writes that MIT physicists will lead a team at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in searching for evidence of dark photons. The DarkLight experiment is “going to be very pioneering,” says Prof. Richard Milner.
Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports would impact millions of American jobs that support goods and services, writes Prof. Simon Johnson in The Boston Globe. “[E]xports to China in 2014 supported nearly 1 million jobs directly — and at least that many jobs again in terms of indirect effects,” explains Johnson.
As part of the Underworlds program, MIT researchers are testing sewage samples for insight into disease outbreaks, superbugs and other health issues in communities. “By testing raw sewage, public-health officials may be able to conduct a health checkup on a city or neighborhood in real time,” writes Lisa Ward for The Wall Street Journal.
Prof. Neil Gershenfeld speaks with Adam Shaw of BBC Horizons about how the fabrication labs he started at the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms have spread around the world. Gershenfeld explains that Fab Labs “are places where ordinary people can go and they can turn data into things and things into data,” adding that they are part of the maker revolution.
WBUR’s Will Sullivan spoke with Research Scientist Felice Frankel about the new MIT Museum exhibit on science photography, which features images by Frankel, the late MIT Prof. Harold "Doc" Edgerton and Berenice Abbott. Frankel explains that to her science photography is “an art of discovery.”
Ian Sample of The Guardian writes that a new study co-authored by Prof. Iyad Rahwan highlights forthcoming issues for autonomous vehicles. “[D]riverless cars that occasionally sacrificed their drivers for the greater good were a fine idea, but only for other people,” says Sample.
John Markoff writes for The New York Times that a new study co-authored by MIT Prof. Iyad Rahwan finds that drivers are conflicted when it comes to the ethics of autonomous vehicles. Prof. Rahwan and his colleagues found that “what people really want to ride in is an autonomous vehicle that puts its passengers first.”
Prof. David Autor spoke with The Economist about the impact of artificial intelligence and automation on jobs. “This notion that there’s only a finite amount of work to do, and therefore that if you automate some of it there’s less for people to do, is just totally wrong,” he says.
A study by Prof. Iyad Rahwan of the Media Lab finds that while people want autonomous vehicles that minimize casualties, they ultimately want the car they’re driving in to prioritize passengers over pedestrians, writes Amy Dockser Marcus of The Wall Street Journal.
Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill spoke with The Boston Globe’s Michael Levenson about the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold affirmative action. The decision “reaffirms the value of diversity in higher education and our ability to achieve that diversity,” said Schmill.