“A team of researchers from MIT has created sensitive metallic polymers that change color in response to chemical or physical variations in their surroundings,” writes Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. “The gel could be used as a litmus test to detect if particular pollutants are present in an environment.”
Graduate student Sydney Do speaks with Huffington Post Live about the technological shortfalls that currently make the Mars One plan for colonizing the Red Planet unrealistic. “Our finding is the Mars One plan is inherently unsustainable and is hence infeasible,” explains Do. “The technology that’s required is just not there yet.”
An article in The Economist highlights how a number of researchers at MIT are developing new devices to regulate the delivery of drugs within the body. Prof Michael Cima is working on a drug-delivery technology that could be used to treat ovarian cancer.
Tech reporter Kath Xu writes about MIT’s new MindHandHeart initiative. “What we’re trying to do with the MindHandHeart Initiative is to help students manage stress, manage time, manage MIT,” explains Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart.
Don Willmott writes for The Huffington Post about a theoretical design for a compact fusion reactor created by MIT researchers. “The MIT reactor should ultimately be able to produce five to six times the energy it consumes, MIT's scientists say, about 190 megawatts,” explains Willmott.
New research by Prof. Andrew Lo shows that the criteria currently used to evaluate whether drugs are safe and effective is too strict, reports Carolyn Johnson for The Washington Post. The study suggests that, “for many devastating diseases, the current standards are too risk-averse, erring on the side of keeping drugs off the market.”
Kelsey Atherton reports for Popular Science that MIT researcher have developed and tested a self-driving golf cart in a public garden in Singapore. Atherton writes that one potential use for the self-driving golf carts is a shared vehicle system where the carts would “drive people to their destination, and then either return or seek new riders.”
Scott Broom reports for Washington Post TV that a team of high school students from Frederick County, Maryland has been selected as national finalists for the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeen grant for their invention to help people without access to running water transport water more efficiently.
Prof. Thomas Kochan writes for Fortune about wage stagnation in the U.S. “This Labor Day, let’s not only chant that America needs a raise but also rally around a simple norm that all workers should share fairly in the economic growth they help produce,” writes Kochan.
Principal Research Scientist Ethan Zuckerman writes for Fortune about whether the rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft could portend a revival of hitchhiking. “Social serendipity is too important an activity to be left to the advertising slogans of sharing-economy startups in the hope that they will make it happen as a side benefit,” Zuckerman writes.
According to a new study co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanual, “cities such as Tampa and Dubai will become increasingly vulnerable to rare, global-warming-fueled superstorms in the future,” writes Doyle Rice for USA Today. The study found that warmer seawaters will increase the probability of major storms.
A new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel found an increased probability of major storms over the coming century, writes Andrea Thompson for Scientific American. “The increase in odds of extreme storms found in the study stems both from a shift toward more intense hurricanes as well as an overall increase in hurricane frequency,” Thompson explains.
Prof. Robert Horvitz speaks with Bloomberg TV’s Caroline Hyde about new developments in creating more effective treatments for cancer. Horvitz explains that “biologists have figured out what it is that keeps the immune system from, in general, attacking cancer cells and have learned to unleash that innate ability and attack a cancer in a patient.”
In an article for The Washington Post about foster care, Max Ehrenfreund highlights Prof. Joseph J. Doyle’s study examining the long-term impacts of foster care. Doyle found that “while many children must be removed for their safety, investigators often do better by kids when they give parents the benefit of the doubt.”
John Farrell writes for Forbes about Prof. Frank Wilczek’s new book, “A Beautiful Question.” In his book, Wilczek argues that, “the world was created to embody beautiful ideas, and if there is a Creator, he’s an artist above all.”