Professor Roger Summons is part of the Curiosity team that has detected a large spike in methane on Mars, which could indicate the presence of life, writes Brid-Aine Parnell for Forbes. “This first confirmation of organic carbon in a rock on Mars holds much promise,” says Summons.
Barbara Walters selected MIT alumnus and corporation member David H. Koch as one of the ten most fascinating people of 2014. In an interview with Walters, Koch discusses his commitment to philanthropy, saying, "I intend to continue being very philanthropic for the rest of my life."
Stacy Shepard writes for Boston Magazine about FitBark, a product created by MIT alumnus Davide Rossi that monitors a dog’s activity and health statistics. “Our pets are full members of the family, and we needed a way to monitor how they are doing,” says Rossi.
Professors Erik Brynjolfsson and David Autor speak with Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times about how artificial intelligence is impacting the job market. “This is the biggest challenge of our society for the next decade,” says Brynjolfsson.
Research by Dr. Sara Fisher Ellison indicates that co-ed teams are more productive, but have lower job satisfaction, writes Rachel Emma Silverman for The Wall Street Journal. “The researchers posit that shifting an all-female or all-male team to a coed one would increase revenues by 41%.”
MIT researchers have traced how information flows to see which languages are the most influential, reports Michael Erard for Science. The research shows that “if I want our ideas to spread, we should pick a second language that’s very well connected,” explains MIT alumnus Shahar Ronen.
David Morris writes for The Huffington Post about Professor Zeynep Ton’s research that shows investing in employees and operational practices is beneficial. “The combination makes work more efficient and more fulfilling while, lowers costs, boosts sale and profits and improves customer satisfaction,” Morris writes.
In an article examining graphene, John Colapinto of The New Yorker highlights Prof. Tomas Palacios’ work integrating graphene into everyday objects. “Rather than using graphene to improve existing applications, as Tour’s lab mostly does, Palacios is trying to build devices for a future world,” writes Colapinto.
Professor Clapperton Mavhunga speaks with Jasmine McNealy of New Books in Technology about his childhood, the history of innovation in Africa, and his new book, “Transient Workspaces: Technologies or Everyday Innovation in Zimbabwe.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Rachel Emma Silverman writes about Prof. Eric So’s research showing that when companies delay earnings announcements they often have bad news to report. “The predictive power of calendar revisions is really striking,” says Dr. So. “Investors should really pay attention.”
New research by MIT Visiting Scholar Lily Fang shows that stock markets tend to fall after school vacations, Reuters reports. Fang found an "after holiday effect whereby market returns after major holidays are significantly lower than at other times."
Financial Times reporter John Thornhill speaks with MIT alumnus and former British foreign secretary David Miliband about his work with the International Rescue Committee, life in New York City and the European Union.
Curt Nickisch of WBUR reports that MIT, Harvard, MGH and The Boston Globe are joining forces for HUBweek, a weeklong festival focused on innovation to be held in the fall of 2015. “MIT plans to host a huge gathering called SOLVE to tackle with some of the world’s most perplexing problems,” reports Nickisch.
Matt Murphy writes for WBUR about Solve, an event MIT will host next fall as part of the HUBweek innovation festival. The event will focus on “research and problem-solving exercises” aimed at four areas: education, health care, manufacturing, and environmental sustainability and energy.
Yiqing Shao of Boston Magazine reports on HUBweek, a new innovation festival that will be co-hosted by MIT, The Boston Globe, Harvard and MGH. “By uniting so many of the region’s leading institutions, HUBweek itself embodies the open, collaborative spirit that has helped make Greater Boston and Cambridge a hotbed of innovation and new ideas,” said MIT President L. Rafael Reif.