Los Angeles Times reporter Jenn Harris writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that allows teams of robots to deliver items. Harris explains that the researchers hope their technique could be used to allow robots to aid in situations like “getting supplies and medicine across a battlefield in a war-torn country.”
Doctoral researcher Daniel Goodwin writes for Scientific American about the need for hackers to sort through the vast amount of neuroscience data. “Particularly in a field like neuroscience, helpers could be invaluable in exploring the daunting wilderness of newly revealed neural networks,” Goodwin explains.
Researchers at MIT and Harvard have developed a new device that can quickly detect Ebola, reports Robert Preidt for U.S. News & World Report. “The new paper-based test takes minutes and the device does not require electricity,” writes Preidt. “The test works in a similar manner to over-the-counter pregnancy tests.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique that can eliminate the washed-out spots found in overexposed images, reports Curt Woodward for BetaBoston. The technique could not only be used in photography, but could also be used for other applications like helping a “self-driving car stay on course despite quick light changes, such as entering a tunnel.”
MIT researchers have developed a new tool that could be used to predict dementia earlier than is currently possible and with greater accuracy, reports Liat Clark for Wired. The researchers hope the new technique could be used to cut down on the number of “hours spent diagnosing, or potentially misdiagnosing, a disorder.”
A new study co-authored by Prof. Andrew Lo shows that most hedge funds are not performing as well as people think they are, reports Michael P. Regan for Bloomberg News. The researchers found that “due to inherent biases in the way hedge-fund databases compile results, the industry's returns have been about half as strong as they appear.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Chad Autry and Beth Davis-Sramek highlight an MIT study examining corporate sustainability efforts. Autry and Davis-Sramek write that, “In a global survey of 2,500 executives, 90% of the respondents indicate that businesses need to collaborate to address sustainability challenges.”
Huffington Post contributor Derrick Crowe writes about a new MIT study that examines how increasing ocean acidification is impacting phytoplankton populations. The study showed how ocean acidification, “can throw off the balance of the plankton population, causing significant changes with profound implications for other species that depend on them.”
In an article for The New York Times, Phyllis Korkki writes about a new study co-authored by Prof. Christian Catalini that examines how free time impacts innovation. The researchers found innovation “requires time to carry out execution-oriented tasks that are not particularly creative but still necessary to transform an idea into a product.”
In a New York Times op-ed, MIT lecturer Robert Pozen argues for allowing baby boomers to remain in the work force for longer periods of time. Pozen writes that keeping older Americans on the job “is crucial to maintaining economic growth, and it will help the boomers to preserve and increase their savings if longevity continues to rise.”
WGBH reporter Mike Deehan writes that MIT will play a key role in a new public-private partnership aimed at expanding the use of photonics in manufacturing. Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet explains that MIT will coordinate the "education and workforce development program for the entire nation in this area.”
Writing for the Huffington Post, Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman highlights an MIT study that shows different mental processes peak at different ages. The study “examined a number of different brain processes that make up intelligence, rather than viewing intelligence as a single measure as has traditionally been done.”
MIT researchers have developed a program that allows a team of robots to work together to serve drinks, reports Lorenzo Ligato for the Huffington Post. The researchers, “programmed the robots with complex planning algorithms, which allowed the machines to engage in higher-level reasoning about their location, status and behavior -- similarly to they way humans perform tasks.”
Prof. Kenneth Oye speaks with NPR’s Michaeleen Doucleff about the need for government regulation for bioengineered microbes that could be used to produce drugs like heroin. "Once a robust, easy-to-grow, heroin-producing yeast strain is out there, its control would be, in my view, virtually possible," Oye says.
Thanks in part to free online courses offered through MIT, a farmer in Manitoba, Canada outfitted his tractor with remote control technology that can help him harvest his fields, according to CBC News. “With no computer programming background, Reimer took advantage of free online courses offered through MIT so that he would better understand the back end of the equipment.”