Writing for The Conversation, Profs. David Keith and Christopher Knittel examine why the transition to electric vehicles is proving difficult. Keith and Knittel write that drivers should be encouraged to “buy plug-in hybrid vehicles. These vehicles can go up to 50 miles or more without burning any gasoline…yet they still have a gasoline engine to overcome any range anxiety that drivers may experience.”
In an article about how the social messaging app WhatsApp could have a large influence on the upcoming election in India, the Financial Times spotlights postdoctoral associate Kiran Garimella’s work examining how misinformation spreads in India through platforms such as WhatsApp.
Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard memorializes the life of alumna Natalie Adelman Taub, known for her pioneering work in Boston’s construction field. “Why should construction be exclusively a man’s field?” said Taub in 1954, after founding her own firm. “There are many fine women architects, designers, and decorators, so why not women contractors?”
WCVB-TV’s Mike Wankum visits the Edgerton Center to learn more about the MIT Motorsports team, a group of students engineering an electric Formula SAE car. “We are here because we love it,” explains team captain and undergraduate Serena Grown-Haeberli. “Getting to see it drive, getting to see it race, sort of caps it off.”
In a column for The Boston Globe, Linda Rodriguez McRobbie spotlights MIT Solve, which connects innovators with leaders from business, the non-profit sector, education and government to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems. “Solve was founded to amplify good ideas, and so far, it’s working,” writes Rodriguez McRobbie.
Financial Times reporter Hugo Cox highlights how MIT researchers have developed robots that can be used to detect disease in specific regions by sampling sewage. “A local robot takes days to identify an outbreak of flu; the surge in attendance at local hospitals and surgeries typically takes weeks to register,” Cox explains. “And because the information is local, the response can be too.”
CNBC reporter Abigail Hess spotlights how MIT “is one of just a few schools in the country to be considered full-need and need-blind, meaning the school does not consider financial status during acceptance decisions and claims to meet all demonstrated financial need.”
Sky and Telescope editor Monica Young speaks with WBUR about how scientists from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave observatories, including MIT researchers, may have detected a black hole colliding with a neutron star. Young explains that upgrades made to both observatories should enable investigation of not only individual cosmic events, but also the study of neutron stars and black holes as populations.
Adrian Cho of Science magazine writes that the possible black hole-neutron star merger spotted by LIGO and Virgo would be a “gem for scientists,” but work remains to confirm the signal. Prof. Salvatore Vitale, a LIGO member from MIT, tells Cho: “If you ask me, ‘Would you bet a coffee, your car, or your house on this?’ I would say, ‘I’d bet your car.’”
Gizmodo reporter Ryan Mandelbaum explores the five potential gravitational wave detections made by the LIGO and Virgo observatories in the last month. Prof. Salvatore Vitale explained that the possible detection of a black hole colliding with a neutron star could provide scientists with a better way to measure how quickly the universe is expanding.
“LIGO/VIRGO has opened up its notification process to the public,” explains Ars Technica reporter John Zimmer. “In short, anyone who’s interested can find out what LIGO is seeing within a day of when the LIGO scientists themselves do.”
The LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have identified five new cosmic events since resuming operations last month, reports Sarah Lewin for Space.com. “The most exciting thing of the beginning of O3 [this third observation round] is that it's clear we are going from one event every few months to a few events every month," explains Prof. Salvatore Vitale.
Technology Review reporter Will Knight spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new chip that is many times more efficient than silicon chips and could help bring AI to a multitude of devices where power is limited. “We need new hardware because Moore’s law has slowed down,” explains Prof. Vivienne Sze.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, senior lecturer Robert Pozen argues that a new Medicare for All proposal “differs from Medicare in fundamental ways—with much broader coverage, no cost sharing, and fewer choices of health-care plans.”
In an article for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell examines the feasibility of using ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology to help improve the New York City subway system’s signaling troubles. “UWB is not a signaling system on its own,” writes Mindell. “For a large, complex system like New York, it will take many years to develop raw UWB into a full railway signaling system.”