MIT researchers have engineered viruses that take advantage of quantum physics, mimicking the process of photosynthesis, to enhance energy transfer, reports Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. The work could result in “solar panels that transmit energy with unprecedented efficiency,” writes Ossola.
John Charles, vice president of IS&T, speaks with Josephine Wolff of The Atlantic about the need to protect computer security on university campuses, while still maintaining academic openness. “To support high-velocity collaboration, high-velocity innovation, high-velocity research and do it at scale…we have to make sure we don’t put barriers in place that make it more difficult,” explains Charles.
Prof. Daron Acemoglu discusses the work of Angus Deaton, who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics, with Washington Post reporter Ana Swanson. “I think his understanding of how the world worked at the micro level made him extremely suspicious of these get-rich-quick schemes that some people peddled at the development level,” says Acemoglu.
In an effort to help students master physics, postdoc Zhongzhou Chen is developing teaching techniques that break down physics concepts into specific skills, reports Jill Barshay for U.S. News & World Report. Chen tested his approach in one of MIT’s physics MOOCs. "If we're going to find ways to use technology to have breakthroughs in learning, it's probably going to come from educators like Chen,” says Barshay.
Vijee Venkatraman writes for BetaBoston about Cake, a startup founded by MIT alumnus Suelin Chen that aims to simplify end-of-life planning. “We wanted to focus on the fact that the only reason to plan for end of life is to make living better,” says Chen.
Robert McMillan writes for Wired about Margaret Hamilton, whose work as an MIT computer scientist on the Apollo program helped to lay the foundations for modern software. “Software engineering, a concept Hamilton pioneered, has found its way from the moon landing to nearly every human endeavor,” McMillan explains.
In an article for New Scientist, Lisa Grossman writes that Prof. Paulo Lozano is developing a miniature propulsion system for steering CubeSats, a type of tiny satellite, around in space. “We want to offer space access to people who don’t currently have space access,” explains Lozano.
Wired reporter Margaret Rhodes writes about Transatomic Power, an energy company founded by MIT alumnae Mark Massie and Leslie Dewan. Rhodes explains that, “The two MIT nuclear science graduates have sweeping ambitions—to bring back a nuclear reactor design first prototyped in the 1960s, and in doing so, change the landscape of clean energy in the 21st century.”
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that detects tax evasion, writes Lynnley Browning for The New York Times. “The goal is to give the I.R.S. a better way to investigate sophisticated tax shelters that strip tens of billions of dollars from federal coffers each year,” writes Browning.
Kyle Clauss reports for Boston Magazine on an algorithm, created by MIT researchers, which can detect efforts by corporations to evade taxes. “The findings are a promising development in the ongoing struggle against tax evasion of the most sophisticated sort,” writes Clauss.
Bill Griffith writes for Boston.com ahead of the MIT Car and Vehicle Show, which features vehicles designed by MIT researchers and several outside groups.
In an article for The Huffington Post, Kristie Wang writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that “cotton clothing is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving to the sun and back more than 1,000 times, or removing about 10% of the US's passenger vehicles off the road.”
Prof. Heidi Williams speaks with Callie Crossley as part of WGBH’s “Genius Next Door” series, which features local winners of the MacArthur “genius grant.” Williams explains that her work focuses on “whether we're getting the right kinds of medical technologies developed.”
Prof. Tomasz Mrowka, head of the Department of Mathematics, speaks with U.S. News & World Report’s Delece Smith-Barrow about options for graduate students participating in MIT’s mathematics program. "We span the gamut of what happens in mathematics," says Mrowka.
Amanda Hoover writes for Boston.com about how researchers from the MIT Media Lab demonstrated a drone-based drawing system during HUBweek. “This is more about the idea of how machine and man can be integrated and work together,” says graduate student Sang-won Leigh. “What I want to do is show what kind of future is possible.”