Prof. Alan Lightman hosts a new, three-part series titled “Searching, Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science,” reports Jane Levere for Forbes. Lightman “explores timeless and deep questions about man and the universe with ethicists, philosophers, faith leaders and Nobel Prize-winning scientists,” writes Levere.
Wall Street Journal reporter David Wainer spotlights a 2021 study conducted Prof. Andrew Lo and his colleagues that investigated “what happened to innovation when drug companies were no longer able to resort to one of their favorite tactics: paying generic makers to stay off the market.”
Alex Westner SM ’98 founded Xander, a company that uses augmented reality in personalized glasses to provide real-time closed captions for people with hearing loss, reports Dalvin Brown for The Wall Street Journal. “The glasses have an embedded display on the right side, where text appears almost as quickly as it’s picked up by a built-in microphone,” writes Brown. “There’s no wireless connection – all processing happens within the glasses.”
MIT researchers have discovered that ancient Romans used lime clasts when manufacturing concrete, giving the material self-healing properties, reports Katie Hunt for CNN. "Concrete allowed the Romans to have an architectural revolution," explains Prof. Admir Masic. "Romans were able to create and turn the cities into something that is extraordinary and beautiful to live in. And that revolution basically changed completely the way humans live."
Scientists from MIT and other institutions have uncovered an ingredient called quicklime used in ancient Roman techniques for manufacturing concrete that may have given the material self-healing properties, reports Jacklin Kwan for Science Magazine. When the researchers made their own Roman concrete and tested to see how it handled cracks, “the lime lumps dissolved and recrystallized, effectively filling in the cracks and keeping the concrete strong,” Kwan explains.
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that researchers from MIT and other institutions have found that a technique employed by ancient Romans for manufacturing concrete contains self-healing properties and could be used to help reduce concrete’s global carbon footprint. The ancient concrete method could open the “opportunity to build infrastructure that is self-healing infrastructure,” explains Prof. Admir Masic.
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found that using ancient Roman techniques for creating concrete could be used to create buildings with longer lifespans, reports Nicola Davis for The Guardian. “Roman-inspired approaches, based for example on hot mixing, might be a cost-effective way to make our infrastructure last longer through the self-healing mechanisms we illustrate in this study,” says Prof. Admir Masic.
Researchers at MIT have found that applying ancient Roman techniques for developing concrete could be used to reduce concrete manufacturing emissions, reports Saul Elbein for The Hill. “Researchers said blocks treated with the method — in which concrete was mixed with reactive quicklime under continuous heat — knit themselves back together within a few weeks after being fractured,” writes Elbein.
Asimov - an MIT spinout co-founded by Prof. Christopher Voigt, Alec Nielsen PhD ’16, Raja Srinivas PhD ’16, and Boston University Prof. Douglas Densmore - is a biotechnology company developing tools to design living systems, reports John Cumbers for Forbes. “Every cell is capable of computing. Perceiving environmental signals, information processing, turning genes on and off,” says Nielsen. “The ability to engineer this gift of evolution is, in my view, going to be the most meaningful and impactful technology that humans have ever developed.”
New research by Prof. David Autor finds that in the U.S. the fast wage growth underway likely reflects a more competitive labor market for workers, writes Martin Sandbu for the Financial Times. “If more workers than before are shifting from worse-paid to better-paid jobs, then wage acceleration is a welcome indicator of an equally welcome reallocation of labor towards more productive activities,” Sandbu writes.
MIT researchers have developed paper-thin solar cells that can adhere to nearly any material, reports Elissaveta M. Brandon for Fast Company. “We have a unique opportunity to rethink what solar technology looks like, how it feels, and how we deploy it,” says Prof. Vladimir Bulović.
PBS host Jared Bowen highlights the scientific advancements on display at the MIT Museum. “We’re here to turn MIT inside out,” says Prof. John Durant, director of the MIT Museum. “We want people to understand what contemporary research and innovation are all about and what they mean for everyday life.”
Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Prof. Simon Johnson predicts that Russia has entered a period of secular decline, noting that the “direct economic impact will be reflected in the world energy market.” Johnson writes: “In 2023 and beyond, the West needs to focus more intently on reducing demand for fossil fuels, particularly oil, and increasing the supply of alternative energy sources outside the control of Russia and OPEC.”
Alex Padilla ’94 has become the first Latino from California to be sworn into a full Senate term, reports Rafael Bernal for The Hill.
MIT researchers developed a new system to build gravity-defying spare parts in space that is currently being tested aboard the International Space Station, reports Rahul Rao for Popular Science. “The MIT group’s process involves taking a flexible silicone skin, shaped like the part it will eventually create, and filling it with a liquid resin,” writes Rao. “These are going to be our first results for a really novel process in microgravity,” explains Ariel Ekblaw SM ’17, PhD ’20, director of the Space Exploration Initiative.