A new study co-authored by Prof. Xavier Giroud finds that startups that receive more attention from their investors tend to be more innovative, reports Eilene Zimmerman for Forbes. The researchers found that those startups that investors could reach via a direct flight “produced higher quality innovation and were more likely to go public or be acquired.”
Prof. Andrew Lo speaks with Michael Regan of Bloomberg News about the recent volatility in the stock market. “We have a number of different forces that are all coming to a head,” explains Lo. Due to automated trading “we’re seeing much choppier markets than we otherwise would have five or 10 years ago.”
Marcelo Gleiser of The Chronicle of Higher Education reviews “A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design” by Prof. Frank Wilczek, which examines the mathematical symmetry of the physical world. “The book is an ode to Nature’s beauty, as seen by a physicist’s mathematical eye: beauty equated with symmetry and symmetry with truth,” writes Gleiser.
WBUR’s Fred Thys reports on MIT’s new Integrated Design and Management program. Thys explains that the program is aimed at students who want to do “something meaningful for people around them and for society at large.”
Richard Waters of The Financial Times reports that Toyota is funding new research centers at MIT and Stanford to research technologies that could enable computer-assisted driving. Waters explains that the goal behind the new centers is to give “drivers the choice one day of handing over full control to the AI ‘brains’ in their vehicles.”
In an article for Wired, Liz Stinson writes about how the new technique MIT researchers developed for 3-D printing glass could be used in building design. Stinson writes that Prof. Neri Oxman believes, “3-D printed glass eventually will make building facades far more dynamic.”
In an effort to spur breakthroughs in autonomous driving technology, Toyota is funding new research centers at MIT and Stanford, the Associated Press reports. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that MIT researchers will be working on developing technology that would make it possible to build a car, “that is never responsible for a collision.”
Barb Darrow writes for Fortune about MIT’s new Integrated Design and Management program. Darrow explains that the program is aimed at tackling the problem of how “the design and manufacture of a product and the subsequent sales strategy are too often separate processes when they should all be part of a holistic approach.”
Toyota has announced that it is funding new research centers at MIT and at Stanford dedicated to developing “intelligent” cars, reports John Markoff for The New York Times. “We see this as basic computer science, A.I. and robotics that will make a difference in transportation,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
Forbes contributor TJ McCue writes about how MIT researchers have developed a 3-D printer that can manufacture glass. McCue explains that the printer uses, “many of the same controllers and parts that existing Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers use.”
A new center at MIT, a collaborative effort with Toyota, will be focused on broadening artificial intelligence technologies for cars, writes Eric Adams for Popular Science. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that the MIT center will dedicated to “helping reduce traffic casualties, and potentially even helping us develop a vehicle incapable of getting into a collision.”
Toyota is partnering with MIT and Stanford to research autonomous-vehicle technology, reports Marco della Cava for USA Today. “Toyota will use its MIT and Stanford investment dollars to develop on-board systems that will improve an automobile's ability to make smart driving decisions in split seconds when the driver is either unaware or too slow.”
Laura Krantz of The Boston Globe reports on the launch of the MindHandHeart initiative. “We really view this as the next logical step for us in our continuing process to address mental health and well-being on our campus,” says Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart.
MIT researchers have developed a robot called Hermes that is controlled by the motions of an exoskeleton-wearing human, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. “What’s unique about Hermes is that Ramos is able to sense the robot’s balance through the harness,” writes Subbaraman.
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston reports on how MIT researchers have developed a fleet of self-driving golf carts. “The group road-tested a fleet of self-driving golf carts at a park in Singapore over six days,” writes Subbaraman.