Research affiliate Moshe Alamaro hopes to reduce smog in Delhi using a jet engine, according to The Economist. By placing a jet engine next to one of India’s coal-fired power plants, Alamaro hopes to create a “‘virtual chimney’ which would carry the trapped pollution above it, so that it could be dispersed in the wider atmosphere.”
In an article for Popular Science, Kate Baggaley speaks with Prof. Timothy Lu and postdoc César de la Fuente about strategies they are developing to tackle antibiotic resistance. Lu explains that researchers are attempting to develop an arsenal of treatments to “be able to come at the problem from a variety of different ways.”
New Scientist reporter Victoria Turk writes that MIT researchers have developed a system that can predict the future based off of a still image. Turk writes that the system could enable “an AI assistant to recognize when someone is about to fall, or help a self-driving car foresee an accident.”
Boston Globe reporter Janelle Nanos writes about Spoiler Alert, a platform developed by two MIT graduates that is aimed at connecting food distributors with food-rescue organizations. Nanos writes that the platform has been “adopted by 200 businesses and nonprofits in New England to cut down on waste and encourage donations by making them easier to track.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Christopher Knittel finds that technological advances are needed to reduce the use of oil in the car industry, according to The Economist. The researchers found that “the price of batteries to power EVs would need to fall by a factor of three, and they would need to charge much faster.”
A new drug delivery system developed by MIT researchers may help eradicate malaria and could boost medication adherence, writes Rachel Zimmerman for WBUR’s Bostonomix. "People don't take their medicines and this might be a way, someday, for Alzheimer's patients to have much better treatments and people with mental health diseases to have much better treatments," says Prof. Langer.
Writing for Fortune, Professors Juanjuan Zhang and T. Tony Ke provide tips for making the most out of holiday sales. For big-ticket items, Profs. Zhang and Ke suggest “price checks throughout the year so that you have a better sense of the market.”
Prof. Michel DeGraff speaks with WGBH reporter Judith Kogan about why people around the world use different words to describe animal sounds, such as a turkey’s distinctive “gobble.” “Your native language formats your mind to perceive animal sounds based on your own native language," DeGraff explains.
Brian Sullivan writes for Bloomberg about research affiliate Judah Cohen’s “Siberian Snow Theory,” which is based on the concept that the amount of snow covering the ground in northern Eurasia can be used to predict how cold winter will be in the northern hemisphere. Sullivan writes that Cohen “spies all the makings of an early, cold winter,” this year.
Chris Bourg, director of the MIT Libraries, speaks with Carl Straumsheim of Inside Higher Ed about the MIT report on the future of libraries, which presents a “vision of the library as an ‘open global platform’.” Bourg notes that “providing access to credible information and the tools to assess, use, understand and exploit it…is more important than ever now.”
FOX 25 reporter Elizabeth Hopkins visited the lab of Prof. Michael Strano to learn more about his nanobionic spinach plant research. "What we've done is we've transformed a living plant into a chemical sensor,” Strano says.
Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz spotlights the work of Margaret Hamilton, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom who led the development of software for the Apollo missions while at MIT. President Barack Obama noted that Hamilton, “symbolizes that generation of unsung women who helped send humankind into space.”
Prof. Thomas Kochan writes for The Huffington Post that a new social contract is needed in America to ensure that the economy works for everyone. Kochan writes that “America needs to build a new social contract based on mutual respect and attuned to the needs of today’s workforce and economy.”
CNN’s Jessica Ravitz describes how MIT researchers are working with surgeons from Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital to outfit a patient with a prosthetic limb that can be controlled by the brain. The patient will have “wireless sensors implanted in his muscles, which will integrate with the robotic prosthetic being created for him.”
A study co-authored by Prof. David Autor shows that voters living in regions of the country that saw an increase in Chinese imports were more receptive to President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-free trade message, writes Bob Davis for The Wall Street Journal. The researchers found “import competition from China damaged local economies and undermined employment and wages.”