Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post examines the new MIT algorithm that can reconstruct sound by examining the visual vibrations of sound waves. “This is a new dimension to how you can image objects,” explains graduate student Abe Davis.
In a piece for Popular Science, Douglas Main writes on the new technique developed by MIT researchers that can reconstruct speech from visual information. The researchers showed that, “an impressive amount of information about the audio (although not its content) could also be recorded with a regular DSLR that films at 60 frames per second.”
Writing for Slate, Elliot Hannon reports on the new technology developed by MIT researchers that allows audio to be extracted from visual information by processing the vibrations of sound waves as they move through objects.
Cynthia Graber of Scientific American reports on the new MIT technique to use solar energy to generate steam. Graber reports that the new system reaches, “85 percent efficiency in converting the solar energy into steam."
Hal Hodson of New Scientist reports on the new algorithm developed by MIT researchers that can turn visual images into sound. "We were able to recover intelligible speech from maybe 15 feet away, from a bag of chips behind soundproof glass," explains Abe Davis, a graduate student at MIT.
Andrea Timpano writes for Boston Magazine about how students at the Open Style Lab are designing fashionable and functional clothing for people with disabilities. “What we’ve noticed is even if you have the best intentions, the best product, the most helpful technology, if it doesn’t look great, people don’t want to wear it,” explains MIT graduate Grace Teo.
In an interview with The Guardian, Professor Sara Seager speaks about the search for extra-terrestrial life. "Our own galaxy has 100bn stars and our universe has upwards of 100bn galaxies – making the chance for life elsewhere seem inevitable based on sheer probability," explains Seager.
Michael Morisy writes for BetaBoston about an algorithm developed by MIT researchers that can recreate speech by analyzing material vibrations. “The sound re-creation technique typically required cameras shooting at thousands of frames per second,” writes Morisy.
Laura Baverman of USA Today writes about the MIT Media Lab’s record as a launch pad for innovators and entrepreneurs. “More than 100 companies have sprung from the lab since its founding in 1985,” writes Baverman.
In a piece for Slate about using smart phone to diagnose medical conditions, Aimee Swartz writes about work by MIT Media Lab Fellow Max Little on algorithms that could help smart phones diagnose Parkinson’s disease. The algorithm “will detect specific variations in voice quality, such as tremors, breathlessness, and vocal weakness,” writes Swartz.
In a piece about potential global catastrophes, Sarah Gray of Salon highlights new research from Prof. Colette Heald that indicates future global food production is threatened by climate change and air pollution. The study found that the impacts of climate change and ozone pollution on crop production could cause malnutrition rates to rise significantly in developing countries in the coming decades.
Brigid Schulte of The Washington Post interviews Kathy Simons, director of the Work-Life Center at MIT, about the importance of taking time off from work. Studies indicate that taking vacations from work yields tangible health benefits.
In a piece for The New York Times, Prof. Michel DeGraff and Molly Ruggles write of the need for Haitian students to learn in their native Creole, as opposed to French. “Creole holds the potential to democratize knowledge, and thus liberate the masses from extreme poverty,” DeGraff and Ruggles explain.
The Economist highlights a new study by Prof. Chris Warshaw that analyzed how accurately the policies of local leaders reflect their constituents’ views. “They found that the most ideologically liberal cities end up spending twice per capita as much as the most conservative cities, have higher taxes and less regressive tax systems,” The Economist reports.
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports that a device designed by MIT researchers to demonstrate that it is possible to produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere will be included on NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. “When humans go to Mars, we’d like to get them there, but we’d also like to get them home,” explains Dr. Michael Hecht.