Engadget’s Timpthy Seppala reports that MIT researchers have developed a model for estimating gas and electricity for every building in Boston. Seppla explains that, “the idea here is to use the model as a way of making Beantown more energy efficient across the board.”
Wired reporter Sarah Zhang writes about a new proposal from Prof. Andrew Lo to use Wall Street to help lower health care costs. Zhang explains that Lo’s proposal would “theoretically make cures available to more patients, incentivizing the drug industry to make those instead of mitigators.”
A new study by MIT researchers suggests that sea sponges may have been the first animal on Earth, CBS Boston reports. “Based on new genetic tests, researchers can say with confidence that molecules produced by sea sponges have been found in 640 million-year-old rocks.”
In an article for The Washington Post, Lydia DePillis speaks with Prof. David Autor about how a large part of the labor force has been left out of job market growth in recent years. "Our main labor market challenge is not a lack of high wage jobs; it’s rather the weak or non-existent wage growth in non-college jobs," says Autor.
Inside Higher Ed's Carl Straumsheim speaks with Dr. Peter Fritschel about how LIGO researchers selected Physical Review Letters to publish the team’s discovery of gravitational waves. After LIGO members cast their votes, Fritschel explained that PRL was a “pretty clear winner,” citing its reputation as a “premier journals for physics results.”
Wendy Koch of National Geographic spoke with members of the MIT Hyperloop team about their work transforming their design for a levitating pod that could transport people at hundreds of miles an hour into an operational prototype. “It’s a great opportunity to learn and possibly to change the future of transportation,” says project manager and graduate student John Mayo.
In a Forbes piece about historical technology developments that occurred during the week of February 22nd, Gil Press highlights how Prof. Emeritus Jay Forrester received a patent on Feb. 28, 1956 for magnetic core memory. Forrester’s invention “became the standard for computer memory until it was supplanted by solid state RAM in the mid-seventies.”
In an NPR piece about diversity in sci-fi, Jeff Young highlights a study by Prof. Edward Schiappa that found TV viewers became more accepting after watching shows that introduce them to different cultures. "At this point, it's a pretty unequivocal finding that TV can affect how people feel and think about others," says Schiappa.
In an article for Slate, Madeleine Clare Elish highlights a study by Prof. Frank Levy that found that only certain tasks in the field of law could be automated. Levy and his colleagues found that “dramatic impacts are unlikely due to technical limitations of machine intelligence as well as social expectations of a lawyer’s value.”
Postdoc Heather Lee speaks with NPR’s Maria Godoy about how a law that allowed Chinese business owners to travel to China and bring back employees fueled a rise in the number of Chinese restaurants in America. "The number of Chinese restaurants in the U.S. doubles from 1910 to 1920, and doubles again from 1920 to 1930," explains Lee.
In an article for The New York Times, Austin Frakt speaks with Prof. Benjamin Roin about how to encourage drug companies to undertake studies examining whether medications may have multiple uses. Roin suggests that to make such studies feasible, there could be a “universal electronic prescribing system that tracks prescriptions and conditions for which they’re intended.”
Huffington Post reporter Damon Beres writes about the 2016 MIT Tech Conference, which focused on the rise of artificial intelligence. During an address by Rob High, IBM’s chief technology officer, Beres writes that High urged the audience to “consider how artificial intelligence technology should improve -- rather than replace -- the human experience.”
MIT researchers have found that genetic engineering could be used to reverse some of the symptoms of autism, reports Carolyn Gregoire for The Huffington Post. The researchers found that turning on the Shank3 gene, “could reverse symptoms associated with autism, such as repetitive behaviors and social avoidance.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Jill Terreri Ramos explores research by MIT political scientists into the political leanings of all 50 states over the past eight decades. “To understand national politics, we can learn about state politics,” explains Prof. Chris Warshaw.
Tech Insider’s Chris Weller reports on a new study by MIT researchers that examines how sneezes travel and spread viruses. The findings could help researchers “predict and prevent disease spread,” Weller explains. “If they know how quickly a pathogen spreads via sneeze, then they can learn more about the risks posed by the viruses themselves.”