Stephen Dowling writes for the BBC News about the legacy of former MIT professor of electrical engineering, Harold Edgerton. Edgerton’s pioneering photography work captured detailed images of moments occurring at speeds too high for the human eye to detect.
Kristine Wong reports for Takepart, a division of Participant Media, that "MIT scientists have invented a simple but ingenious device" to generate steam. Gang Chen, who heads MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering, explains what makes it work: "First, it’s black in color, so it absorbs the light very effectively. Secondly, it’s porous to allow water to come in. Third, it’s insulating, so it absorbs sunlight and turns it into heat."
Professor Thomas Kochan writes for WBUR’s Cognoscenti about the Market Basket grocery store chain employees striking on behalf of the recently ousted CEO and the lessons corporate America can take from the case. “This type of broad-based, collective action is unprecedented in modern U.S. labor history,” writes Kochan.
Writing for DNews, Tracy Staedter highlights a new spongelike structure developed by MIT's Gang Chen and Hadi Ghasemi to turn sunlight into steam. "The advance could one day lead to an efficient, inexpensive and emission-free way for creating steam that could be used to not only generate steam for energy but also for desalination and sterilization," reports Staedter.
In a piece for The New York Times, Claire Cain Miller writes about a new study showing how the recession accelerated the displacement of midwage jobs. Miller notes research by Professor David Autor highlighting the growing polarization of the workforce.
Los Angeles Times reporter Geoffrey Mohan writes about a new study, coauthored by researchers from the Broad Institute, that identifies over 100 regions in human DNA that correlate with schizophrenia. “The findings provide substantial support for a genetic root to the disorder and greatly narrow the search for genes that may cause the disease, the authors said,” writes Mohan.
The Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin is presenting Professor Emeritus Otto Piene’s large-scale slide installation The Proliferation of the Sun through Aug. 31, reports The Huffington Post. Piene, the former director of MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, died shortly after the exhibit opened.
“In the largest-ever donation to psychiatric research, Connecticut businessman Ted Stanley is giving $650 million to the Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,” reports Curt Nickisch for WBUR.
In a piece for USA Today, Karen Weintraub reports that scientists have identified more than 100 genes connected to schizophrenia. "Most importantly, the goal is not to end up with a list of genes, but with novel treatments,” explains Steven Hyman, director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute.
In a piece for WBUR, Caroline Erisman writes about a study from MIT researchers showing that elite male faculty tend to hire more men than women when compared to their female counterparts. “To right that imbalance, we must continue to prepare more women to assume leadership positions in the sciences (and math and engineering too, for that matter),” writes Erisman.
Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein writes that researchers have discovered more than 100 spots in our DNA tied to schizophrenia. "It's a genetic revelation; schizophrenia has been a mystery," says study co-author Steve McCarroll, director of genetics for the Broad Institute.
Writing for The New Yorker, Professor Seth Mnookin examines the struggles facing a young couple whose firstborn child was the only known patient with a specific genetic disorder. Mnookin explores how the parents were able to spur research into their son’s disorder by locating other patients with the disease.
Professor Seth Mnookin speaks with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan during the final segment of this episode of Boston Public Radio about his new article in The New Yorker on parents struggling to help their children with conditions new to science.
Steven Spear, a senior lecturer at the Sloan School of Management, writes for USA Today about General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra’s appearance before a Senate panel to discuss the flawed ignition switches on many of the company’s vehicles. Spear argues that GM must fundamentally change the way it tests products and reviews designs.
David Rose of the MIT Media Lab speaks at the Harvard Book Store to discuss his book “Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things” in this WGBH video. Future “smart objects” will be developed not only for utility, but for attributes that make them feel “friendly,” says Rose.