In the Media

Vijee Venkatraman writes for BetaBoston about the "Local Warming" exhibit developed by the MIT SENSEable City Lab. The system uses a WiFi-based tracking system that follows people and provides local heating through lamps.

“Researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and MIT studied data from a financial services company, and found that while referrals only made up about six percent of total applications, they resulted in more than a quarter of hires,” reports Max Nisen for The Atlantic.

MIT researchers have discovered that Earth’s early atmosphere may have been destroyed by thousands of small asteroids, writes Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post. Feltman explains that researchers found, “a real flurry of these small impacts…could have completely ejected the atmosphere.”

Caitlin Dewey writes for The Washington Post about MIT startup Charitweet, which aims to make supporting charitable causes easier. “Ecommerce has just made it so easy for me to send money, except when it comes to giving. … Why should donating to charity be harder than buying something on Amazon?” says Charitweet co-founder Charles Huang. 

Dr. Howard Shrobe speaks with New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth about his work at DARPA on Internet security. Shrobe explains that his goal was to “offer a menu of technical options that companies who make computers and computer software could introduce into the commercial stream.”

MIT researchers have designed a robotic cheetah that could possibly be used in search and rescue operations or as inspiration for the design of prosthetics, reports the Associated Press. “Our goal is we are trying to make this robot to save a life,” says Prof. Sangbae Kim.

Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Ed writes about the future of higher education at MIT and research universities across the country. Straumsheim writes that MIT plans to “modularize” education, “breaking courses down into smaller modules that can be taken on their own or shuffled and rearranged into a more personalized experience.”

In a piece for Fortune, Ryan Feit writes about the importance of education in a labor market where automation is becoming increasingly pervasive, highlighting Prof. David Autor’s research on income inequality and education.  

Liz Stinson reports for Wired on a new wearable device that can predict seizures developed by the MIT spinoff Empatica. The device, dubbed Embrace, is the product of years of research by Professor Rosalind Picard and her team. “Like fitness-focused wearables, the device tells time and keeps tabs on metrics like physical activity and sleep,” Stinson explains. 

The result of five years of testing, a robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers can run at speeds of 10 miles per hour and jump 16 inches high, reports the Associated Press. "In the next 10 years, our goal is we are trying to make this robot to save a life," explains Professor Sangbae Kim.

Henry Hanks of CNN writes that MIT researchers have found that a protective field around Earth blocks high-energy electrons. “The phenomenon challenges existing theories that these electrons drift into the upper atmosphere and are destroyed by air molecules,” writes Hanks.

Researchers at the MIT Haystack Observatory have discovered that a phenomenon called “plasmaspheric hiss” prevents radiation from reaching Earth, reports Flora Graham for New Scientist. Graham explains that the plasmaspheric hiss is comprised of “very low-frequency electromagnetic waves,” which act like a radiation barrier.

Jennifer Hicks of Forbes writes that MIT startup Empatica has developed a wearable device that can monitor for epileptic seizures. The device contains “an event detector which sends an alert when the user’s electrodermal response reaches a pre set level they customize based on their history and health profile; and a diary app which helps monitor and manage everyday routines.” 

Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports on how the gene-editing technique CRISPR is revolutionizing research at MIT and elsewhere. “The method is so powerful that virtually every project in my lab is now using this technique,” says Professor Tyler Jacks.

CNBC reporter Hailey Lee writes about the startup Saathi, which was founded by MIT alumna Amrita Saigal to empower rural women by giving them access to sanitary pads and economic opportunity. "We want to be invested in the entirety of the village—we want to see how Saathi improves socioeconomic status, girls' school attendance, female employment and income," explains Saigal.