Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Christopher Warshaw discusses his research, which shows there is not one state where the majority of residents support the American Health Care Act. “Across all the states that voted for President Trump last year, we estimate that support for the A.H.C.A. is rarely over 35 percent."
New York Times reporter Robert Berkvist memorializes the work of A.R. Gurney, a prolific playwright who taught American literature and humanities as a member of the MIT faculty for 36 years. Berkvist writes that in Gurney’s plays “the conventions of the drawing-room comedy became the framework for social analysis.”
In an effort to make it easier for Americans, in particular Latinos, to save for retirement, MIT alumnus Carlos García launched Finhabits, a “bilingual digital platform that gives investment advice and teaches and encourages individuals how to invest and save for retirement,” writes Kristina Puga for CNBC.
Writing for Make, Gareth Branwyn spotlights Adafruit Industries, which was founded by alumna Limor Fried. Fried explains that she believes the success of Adafruit is based on, “being focused on others, having an unconditional belief that you can be both a good cause and a good company, and seeing risk-taking as your friend and your only real competition as yourself.”
Financial Times reporter John Thornhill writes about Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson and Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee’s latest book, “Machine, Platform, Crowd.” Thornhill writes that the book is “a clear and crisply written account of machine intelligence, big data and the sharing economy.”
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. Jonathan Gruber writes that proposed cuts to Medicaid will impact a large number of Americans, as the program provides financial resources for elderly and disabled adults. “Nearly two-thirds of [Medicaid] spending is focused on older and disabled adults — primarily through spending on long-term care services such as nursing homes.”
Alumna Jasmin Moghbeli speaks with NPR’s Emma Bowman about being selected for NASA astronaut training. Moghbeli, one of three trainees with MIT ties, explains that she hopes to inspire girls of color. “If they can see someone similar to them that they can relate to more, then it makes it all that much more possible…to imagine doing this.”
Prof. Daniela Rus and graduate student Robert Katzschmann speak with BBC reporter Gareth Mitchell about the device they developed to help the visually impaired navigate. Rus explains that they applied the technologies used for autonomous driving to develop a system that can, “guide a visually impaired person in the same way a suite of sensors can guide a self-driving car.”
Research Scientist Ashley Nunes speaks to Marco Werman of PRI’s The World about the proposed privatization of air-traffic control in the U.S., and how countries like Canada have successfully transitioned to a private system. When airlines pay less for air-traffic control services, “the price that the airline passes along to the passenger is also lower,” explains Nunes.
In an article for The Epoch Times, Emel Akpan highlights how The Engine is focused on supporting startups in fields that require time and patient capital. “We have a focus on tough tech,” explains Katie Rae, CEO and president of The Engine. “We think that’s where the resources are limited. But the opportunities can have a lot of impact.”
Anne Pycha of Scientific American writes about three new methods that could be used to help detect Parkinson’s disease and enable early intervention. A new typing test developed by MIT researchers could be used to identify individuals with possible signs of Parkinson’s, “by analyzing key hold times (the time required to press and release a key).”
Fortune reporter Aaron Pressman highlights how in her address during the 2017 Investiture of Doctoral Hoods, MIT alumna Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, urged doctoral graduates to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. "The world is starving for new ideas and great leaders who will champion those ideas," said Su.
CNBC reporter Anita Balakrishnan writes about MIT’s 2017 Commencement. During his address, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that at MIT and Apple, people “love hard problems, we love to search for new ideas, and we especially love finding these ideas — the ones that change the world.”
Wired reporter Aarian Marshall writes that AgeLab researchers are studying how drivers interact with their phones, in an effort to reduce fatalities caused by distracted driving. Research scientist Bruce Mehler explains that researchers are, “focused on taking a really fresh look at the whole design approach to evaluating human-machine interfaces in the car."
Susan Erdman, a principal research scientist at MIT and assistant director of MIT’s Division of Comparative Medicine, writes for STAT about her research examining whether the microbiome helped drive human evolution. “Thanks to our growing understanding of the human microbiome, it could represent a thrilling example of evolutionary symbiosis that has mutually benefitted humans and their microbial passengers.”