In the Media

The Logarhythms, a student a capella group at MIT, have debuted “Log Log Land,” a movie that takes a musical journey through the experiences of students grappling with their interest in pursuing the arts, reports Emily Wyrwa for The Boston Globe. Undergraduate student Reuben Fuchs - who wrote, directed and edited the film - hopes “Log Log Land” serves as "a reminder to people that putting time toward their passions is always important, regardless of their careers,” writes Wyrwa. “I hope people see bits of themselves in the movie,” explains Fuchs.
 

Prof. Richard Binzel speaks with Washington Post reporter Lizette Ortega about Apophis – an asteroid estimated to fly past Earth in April 2029. “Nature is performing this once-per-several-thousand-years experiment for us,” says Binzel. “We have to figure out how to watch.”

By analyzing isotopes of potassium and rubidium in the lunar soil, Prof. Nicole Nie and her team have demonstrated that micrometeorite impacts are the main cause of the moon’s thin atmosphere, reports Isabel Swafford for National Geographic. “Understanding the space environments of different planetary bodies is essential for planning future missions and exploring the broader context of space weathering,” says Nie.

MIT scientists have solved a decades old mystery by demonstrating impact vaporization is the primary cause of the moon’s thin atmosphere, reports Eric Lagatta for USA Today.  The findings, “have implications far beyond determining the moon's atmospheric origins,” writes Lagatta. “In fact, it's not unthinkable that similar processes could potentially be taking place at other celestial bodies in the solar system.”

Prof. Simon Johnson and Prof. David Autor speak with New York Times reporter Emma Goldberg about the anticipated impact of AI on the job market. “We should be concerned about eliminating them,” says Prof. Simon Johnson, of the risks posed by automating jobs. “This is the hollowing out of the middle class.”

Bloomberg’s David Westin talks with Prof. Kristin Forbes at the Aspen Economic Strategy Group meetings focused on monetary and fiscal policy. Despite progress in the inflation fight, "we as economists forget that this price of a basket of goods matters to people. Things are more expensive," she says.

Amrita Saigal '10 is the founder and CEO of Kudos, a company that has developed a “sustainable diaper that uses some plastic but is 100% lined with cotton and incorporates other degradable materials like sugarcane and trees,” reports Gabrielle Fonrouge for CNBC. “I care so much about being premium, but accessible,” says Saigal. “That is exactly what I want to do, so that we are accessible to as many people, and cleaner materials are not out of reach.”

In an essay for Project Syndicate, Prof. Simon Johnson underscores for the need for countries around the world to “make strategic investments in key technologies, to create more good jobs, and to stay ahead of increasingly aggressive geopolitical competitors.” Johnson emphasizes:  “If you want more good jobs, invest in science, facilitate the commercialization of the technology that results from it, and make it easy for people to build companies where the product was invented.” 

Chanyeol Choi MS '19, PhD '21 and Subeen Pang MS '21, PhD '24 cofounded Linq, an AI startup that “helps hedge funds speed up their research into thousands of listed companies worldwide,” reports John Kang for Forbes. The company’s software “automates time-consuming equity research tasks, such as scanning for company announcements and news, building financial models and summarizing earnings reports and call transcripts,” explains Kang. 

MIT scientists analyzed lunar soil samples and discovered that meteorite impacts likely created the moon’s thin atmosphere, reports Nicola Davis for The Guardian. “Our findings provide a clearer picture of how the moon’s surface and atmosphere interact over long timescales, [and] enhance our understanding of space weathering processes,” explains Prof. Nicole Nie. 

By analyzing lunar soil samples, MIT scientists have found that the moon’s thin atmosphere was created by meteorite impacts over billions of years, reports Will Dunham for Reuters. “Many important questions about the lunar atmosphere remain unanswered,” explains Prof. Nicole Nie. “We are now able to address some of these questions due to advancements in technology.” 

Newsweek reporter Jess Thomson spotlights, Prof. Nicole Nie’s research uncovering the origins of the moon’s thin atmosphere. “The researchers described how lunar samples from the Apollo missions revealed that meteorites of varying sizes have constantly hit the moon's surface, vaporizing atoms in the soil and kicking them up into the atmosphere,” writes Thomson. “The constant hitting of the moon replenishes any gases lost to space.” 

New York Times reporter David Gelles spotlights David Keith PhD '91 who “believes that by “intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, it would be possible to lower temperatures worldwide, blunting global warming.”  “There’s plenty of uncertainty about climate responses,” says Keith. “But it’s pretty hard to imagine if you do a limited amount of hemispherically balanced solar geo that you don’t reduce temperatures everywhere.”

PBS Space Time host Matt O’Dowd highlights research by Prof. David Kaiser and graduate student Elba Alonso-Monsalve delving into the composition of primordial black holes and potentially confirming the existence of color-charged black holes. “It may stand to reason, that colorful black holes were once the most natural thing in the world,” O’Dowd muses. 

The final round of the Zero Robotics competition at the MIT Media Lab featured high school students from around the country facing off in a programming challenge using the SPHERES satellites aboard the International Space Station, reports Glenn Jones for NBC Boston. The event “welcomed about 70 middle schoolers from diverse backgrounds to participant in the finals of a robotics competition that featured live dialogue with astronauts on the International Space Station.”