In the Media

Prof. Daron Acemoglu, a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, speaks with CNBC about the challenges facing the American economy. Acemoglu notes that in his view the coming economic storm is really “both a challenge and an opportunity,” explains Acemoglu. “I talk about AI, I talk about aging, I talk about the remaking of globalization. All of these things are threats because they are big changes, but they’re also opportunities that we could use in order to make ourselves more productive, workers more productive, workers earn more. In fact, even reduce inequality, but the problem is that we’re not prepared for it.” 

Liquid AI, an MIT startup, is unveiling a new AI model based on a liquid neural network that “has the potential to be more efficient, less power-hungry, and more transparent than the ones that underpin everything from chatbots to image generators to facial recognition systems, reports Will Knight for Wired. 

Writing for Forbes, Senior Lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota SB '08, MS '16, MBA '16, shares five lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs. “Starting a business is not just about having a brilliant idea; it's about finding purpose, solving real problems and building the right team,” explains Hayes-Mota. 

Popular Science reporter Laura Baisas writes that MIT physicists have discovered, for the first time, a black hole triple. “Since the new triple system includes a very far-off star, the system’s black hole was potentially born through [a] gentler direct collapse,” writes Baisas. “While astronomers have been observing violent supernovae for centuries, this new triple system may be the first evidence of a black hole that formed from this more gentle process.” 

Boston Globe reporter Nick Stoico spotlights how researchers from MIT and Caltech have observed a “black hole triple” for the first time. “This one is satisfying because it’s kind of a simple discovery,” explains postdoctoral associate Kevin Burdge. “It’s just looking at a picture, and I think it reminds a lot of astronomers that there’s more to the job than just analyzing complicated data. You shouldn’t forget to do the simple things, like just look with your own eyes at some pictures and see what you find.” 

Physicists from MIT and Caltech have discovered a black hole triple system, “consisting of three bodies spinning around each other about 7,800 light-years from Earth,” writes Isaac Schultz for Gizmodo. Schultz notes that the finding “pushes the envelope,” revealing “a system with one black hole and two stars—a configuration never seen before.”

Using the James Webb Telescope, researchers at MIT have found quasars, “some of the brightest objects in the cosmos, adrift in the empty voids of space,” reports Mark Kaufman for Mashable. “This latest cosmic quandary is not just about how these quasars formed in isolation, but how they formed so rapidly,” explains Kaufman. 

Graduate student Samantha Hasler and her colleagues have gathered new information on Uranus using the Hubble Space Telescope and the New Horizons spacecraft, reports Jamie Carter for Forbes.  "Studying how known benchmarks like Uranus appear in distant imaging can help us have more robust expectations when preparing” for future missions, explains Hasler. 

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated “fully 3D-printed semiconductor-free resettable fuses,” reports Jesse Allen for Semiconductor Engineering. “The researchers plan to further develop the technology to print fully functional electronics and aim to fabricate a working magnetic motor using only extrusion 3D printing,” writes Allen. 

Prof. Admir Masic speaks with New York Times reporter Amos Zeeberg about his research studying the benefits of lime clasts – a material used in ancient Roman infrastructure. According to Masic’s research, “these lime clasts were actually reservoirs of calcium that helped fill in cracks, making the concrete self-healing,” writes Zeeberg. “As cracks formed, water would seep in and dissolve the calcium in the lime, which then formed solid calcium carbonate, essentially creating new rock that filled in the crack.”

MIT researchers have developed a biosensor “the size of a stick of gum that can be implanted under the skin and deliver naloxone if vital signs indicate an overdose,” reports David Ovalle and Elana Gordon for The Washington Post. 

Graduate student Nouran Soliman speaks with NBC Boston about the use of “personhood credentials,” a new technique that can be used to verify online users as human beings to help combat issues such as fraud and misinformation. “We are trying to also think about ways of implementing a system that incorporates personal credentials in a decentralized way,” explains Soliman. “It's also important not to have the power in one place because that compromises democracy.” 

Prof. Simon Johnson, who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in economic sciences with Prof. Daron Acemoglu, speaks with CNBC “Squawk Box” about his reaction to hearing the news that he was a Nobel laureate and his research on the role of strong institutions in shaping economies. “I think going forward we need to strengthen the resilience of our democracy in the United States,” says Johnson. He adds that having a “resilient democracy, a legitimate democracy, a democracy that everyone believes in and adheres to the results of elections, is absolutely fundamental to everything that we’ve been able to build.” 

Prof. Charles Stewart III speaks with McClatchy reporter Brendan Rascius about mail-in ballots for the 2024 election. “The USPS processes a total of 300 million pieces of mail each day,” says Stewart. “The total number of mail ballots will be something in the neighborhood of 50 million which, of course, will generate a total of 100 million pieces of mail – a volume that will be stretched out over several weeks. Therefore, this is not a major surge in volume.” 

Prof. Evelina Fedorenko speaks with Scientific American reporter Gary Stix about her research demonstrating that “language and thought are, in fact, distinct entities that the brain processes separately.” Speaking about how large language models could be used to help scientists better understand the neuroscience of how language works, Fedorenko explains that "there are many, many questions that we can now ask that had been totally out of reach: for example, questions about [language] development.”