In the Media

MIT Professor Alan Guth speaks with Here and Now’s Robin Young about recent findings that shed light on the origins of the universe and Guth’s work developing the theory of cosmic inflation.

WGBH reports on the health care hackfest held at MIT last weekend. The event brought together hundreds of participants from around the world to develop solutions to some of health care’s most pressing problems.

Writing for Scientific American, Geoffrey Giller explores a new device developed by MIT researchers that combines elements of both photovoltaic cells and solar-thermal thermal systems to generate power from the sun.

Scientific American reports on Professor Susan Lindquist’s research into how the protein HSP90, which binds to other proteins to keep them properly folded, can play into genetic variability during times of stress.  

“Researchers at MIT are giving plants super powers by placing tiny carbon nanotubes deep within their cells,” writes Deborah Netburn in a Los Angeles Times piece on bionic plants developed by MIT researchers.

Alan Neuhasuser reporting for U.S. News & World Report examines how MIT researchers have embedded carbon nanotubes in plants, helping them collect more sunlight. The bionic plants could be used to detect explosives, chemical weapons and more, Neuhasuser reports.

CNN reports on a new invention designed by researchers from MIT and Harvard that allows people to send specific scents to another person’s cell phone via text messaging.

Boston Magazine’s Steve Annear reports on the “‘Sesame Ring,’ a piece of wearable technology that has a CharlieCard’s RFID chip embedded inside.” The ring was designed by a team of MIT undergraduate students and the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

Nature reporter Ron Cowen explores Professor Alan Guth’s theory of cosmic inflation, which scientists may have confirmed by searching for gravitational waves from the seconds after the Universe’s formation.  “Guth’s idea was that the cosmos expanded at an exponential rate for a few tens of trillionths of trillionths of trillionths of seconds after the Big Bang, ballooning from subatomic to football size.”

“Cosmic inflation, meanwhile, was proposed by MIT’s Alan Guth (who attended the CfA press conference) in 1979 and explains why the universe appears to be bigger than its age suggests,” writes Paul Rodgers in Forbes of the announcement this week that scientists had discovered evidence that confirmed Guth’s seminal work.

MIT Professor Alan Guth talks to BBC News about the new scientific evidence that appears to support a Big Bang Theory for the origin of the universe. Guth was one of the first physicists to propose the theory of cosmic inflation.

Los Angeles Times reporter Amina Khan explores the new findings that appear to confirm MIT Professor Alan Guth’s theory of cosmic inflation.  “Guth's inflation theory became a cornerstone of our understanding of the early universe — but scientists had thought it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove,” writes Khan.

“A team of biologists and engineers want to turn plants into chemical warfare detectors that can sniff out sarin gas or explosives. For now, though, they've succeeded in turning the flowering Arabidopsis thaliana into a pollutant detector using carbon nanotubes,” writes Wired reporter Liat Clark of the new bionic plants developed at MIT.

New York Times reporter Dennis Overbye profiles Professor Alan Guth, one of the first physicists to set forth the theory of cosmic inflation. This week astronomers presented evidence that could confirm Guth’s work.

The Washington Post features the new soft robotic fish developed by MIT researchers. The fish echoes the movements of a real fish and is safe for humans to work with as it is made of soft materials, writes reporter Fred Barbash.