New Scientist reporter Hal Hodson writes about MagMIMO, a new device that can wirelessly power phones at a distance. "In our vision we wanted to have people's phone charge the minute they are sitting next to their desk: they go to a meeting, they come back, the phone starts charging again," says Prof. Dina Katabi.
Liz Stinson writes for Wired about THAW, a project out of the MIT Media Lab that allows screens on smart devices to interact with one another. "We don’t really think of it as a product,” says Media Lab student Phillip Schoessler. “We’ve really just touched the surface of the applications.”
Dr. Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT Age Lab, collaborated on a study that indicates that grandchildren are likely to take financial advice from their grandparents, writes Kimberly Palmer of U.S. News & World Report. “Grandparents can tell stories and explain how they were able to muddle through or succeed,” says Coughlin.
Loren Grush of Popular Science writes about a new type of antibiotic developed by MIT researchers that could help kill drug-resistant bacteria. “[T]he team developed their own gene-editing system, capable of turning off certain bacterial genes that spur antibiotic resistance,” Grush explains.
A team led by Professor Timothy Lu has developed a new class of antibiotic that can selectively kill bacteria based on their genes, reports Michael Eyre for BBC News. "This is an enabling toolkit for the basic scientists to now start probing these systems a little bit better,” says Lu.
Anya Kamenetz writes for NPR about ‘The Reading Project,’ an experiment co-founded by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder and former director of the MIT Media Lab. Through The Reading Project, solar-powered computers with literacy applications were distributed directly to children in remote parts of Ethiopia.
Professor Andrea Louise Campbell writes for Time about how government healthcare policy has forced her brother and sister-in-law into poverty in order to qualify for long-term care. Campbell argues that the solution for her family and others in the same situation is “[a] universal social insurance program for long-term care.”
MIT career development specialist Lily Zhang writes for Forbes about how to most effectively kick-start a job search. “[T]ake a full day off from work, stop daydreaming about your new position, and actually do something that’ll help you land it,” writes Zhang.
Nick Anderson of The Washington Post writes about a new study showing that online courses can be an effective way to teach. “Students in a free online physics course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated roughly equal learning gains if they stuck with the class,” writes Anderson.
CBS News reports that MIT engineers have identified several combinations of genes that make bacteria more vulnerable to antibiotics. This research could help in the fight against “superbugs,” drug-resistant bacteria that kill at least 23,000 people per year in the U.S.
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about the annual MADMEC competition hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering: “[T]eams presented their projects Friday afternoon, and judges from MIT, MIT-spinoff Ambri, and materials giants Saint-Gobain and Dow Chemical, picked the winning trio.”
Carey Goldberg of WBUR writes about the winning designs from the MIT Media Lab’s breast-pump hackathon held over the weekend. The “Mighty Mom” utility belt “a fashionable, discreet, hands-free wearable pump that automatically logs and analyzes your personal data” took the first prize.
More than 150 people attended the “Make The Breast Pump Not Suck Hackathon” at the MIT Media Lab this weekend, reports Lauren Walker for Newsweek: “The event’s goal was to give the breast pump a much needed makeover—making it more efficient, more affordable and more comfortable for all moms.”
“More than 150 people gathered at the MIT Media Lab this weekend with a single goal: ‘Make the breast pump not suck!’” writes Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. “Over two days, teams brainstormed and then built prototype designs for the machine that moms almost universally love to loathe.”
Deborah Kotz writes for The Boston Globe about the breast pump hackathon held at the MIT Media Lab over the weekend: “First-prize, $3000 and a trip to Silicon Valley to pitch investors, went to the team that devised the Mighty Mom Utility Belt, a hands-free wearable pump that can be worn under clothes.”