In the Media

In a piece for CNBC, Dan Margan reports that a new study by Professor Jonathan Gruber shows that individual health care premiums experienced large hikes and a high variability in rate hikes before the Affordable Care Act took effect.  

Boston Magazine reporter Steve Annear writes about Prof. Harry Asada’s Supernumerary Robotic Limbs. When strapped to a person’s shoulder’s the device, “operates autonomously to help conquer things like securing a ceiling panel or holding open a door,” Annear explains. 

“The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, which evaluates development projects, studied malaria medicines sold by pharmacies in four districts where BRAC and Living Goods work in Uganda,” writes Tina Rosenberg of The New York Times. J-PAL researchers found that efforts by non-governmental organizations are reducing the counterfeit drugs in Uganda.

“Economist David Autor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that the median woman with a college degree earned about $23,000 more a year than a woman who terminated her education once she earned her high school diploma,” writes Washington Post reporter Joann Weiner. 

Prof. John Lienhard, head of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS), discusses the new lab with Najlaa Habriri of Asharq Al-Awsat. Habriri calls J-WAFS an "ambitious project to tackle worldwide food and water insecurity."

“If it helps dispel the idea that women aren’t as good ‘Jeopardy!’ players as men, that would be great,” says MIT alumna Julia Collins in an interview with Gail Sullivan of The Washington Post. Collins holds the title for the second-longest winning streak in the history of ‘Jeopardy!’.  

Bloomberg Businessweek features Skylar Tibbits’ research on self-assembling materials. By exposing specially engineered materials to heat, moisture or light, Tibbits demonstrates how they can assemble into useful components.

IEEE Spectrum reporter Evan Ackerman writes about the robotic limbs developed by the MIT d'Arbeloff Laboratory. The Supernumerary Robotic Limbs are designed to assist in tasks where an extra hand is needed and function like an extension of the wearer’s own body, Ackerman explains. 

MIT alumna Julia Collins has recorded the second longest winning streak in the history of ‘Jeopardy!,’ reports CNN Money. After 20 consecutive wins, Collins’ earnings were $428,100. 

“The Media Lab’s Changing Places group has uploaded a video demonstration of CityHome, a transformable multi-purpose piece of furniture they designed to make your 200-square-foot apartment feel three times larger,” writes Eric Randall for Boston Magazine. CityHome responds to touch and voice control and includes appliances, furniture, and storage space.

Writing for Wired, Olivia Solon describes a new algorithm that can identify human action in video. “The activity-recognising algorithm is faster than previous versions and is able to make good guesses at partially completed actions, meaning it can handle streaming video,” Solon writes. 

Wired reporter Klint Finley writes about how a team of MIT and NASA researchers broke the networking speed record from the earth to the moon. “The technology could soon send scientific research data between earth and the moon far more quickly,” Finley explains. 

“Researchers at NASA and MIT have figured out how to beam wireless connectivity from a ground base in New Mexico to the moon using telescopes and lasers,” writes Timothy McGrath in a piece posted on Salon. 

“When it comes out of the 3D printer, the robot is just a sheet made of a polymer called polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. The sheet is sandwiched between two rigid polyester films. Slits cut into the films affect how the PVC sheet will fold when it is heated,” writes UPI reporter Brooks Hays of new work with self-assembling robots. 

New Scientist writer Aviva Rutkin reports that MIT researchers have developed a new process in which flat cut-outs are able to self-assemble into robots when heated. "What we would like is to provide design tools that allow people who are not experts to create their own machines," explains Prof. Daniela Rus.