Lila Snyder SM '96, PhD '98, CEO of Bose, speaks with Forbes reporter Don Yaeger about her academic and professional career. “The framework that I liked to use when I was earlier in my career was at least once a week to do something uncomfortable,” says Snyder. “Ask to meet someone, ask someone for feedback, raise your hand to do something. Do something that makes you feel a little bit anxious and a little bit uncomfortable.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a “tissue-integrated, above-the-knee prosthesis that gives people more control over their movements,” reports Amber X. Chen for Smithsonian Magazine. “I want to be in the business of building bodies, not powerful devices,” says Prof. Hugh Herr. “I want to fully integrate humanity into electromechanics, not just build a better hammer.”
A working paper by MIT researchers has found “that the most successful generative AI deployments consistently involve frontline workers from the earliest stages through rollout,” reports Sharon Wu for USA Today. The researchers “demonstrate that when employees help define the problem, co-design workflows, experiment with tools, and shape fair transition policies, not only does adoption improve, but worker productivity and job quality also rise.”
Vijay Gadepally, senior staff member at MIT Lincoln Lab, speaks with New York Times reporter Claire Brown about the impact of AI data centers on the electrical grid. “There’s a lot of things we can do to be better stewards of the power we currently have,” says Gadepally.
Researchers at MIT have developed a new tool, called Meschers, that allows users to create detailed computer representations of mathematically impossible objects, reports Gayoung Lee for Gizmodo. “In addition to creating aesthetically quirky objects,” Lee explains, “Meschers could eventually assist in research across geometry, thermodynamics, and even art and architecture."
Prof. Kerri Cahoy takes Bloomberg Wall Street Week host David Westin on an out-of-this-world journey into how a college internship inspired her research on space and satellites, why she loves the challenge of satellite engineering, and what she sees in store for the future of the field. “There is a lot of joy and pride and skill building and challenge in the field,” says Cahoy. “That’s one of the reasons why I love it."
In an effort to develop non-invasive ways to treat depression, PTSD, brain tumors and other conditions, researchers from MIT Lincoln Lab are looking to better understand human consciousness, reports Steph Solis for Axios. “There's the goal to analyze how it could help understand or treat PTSD and mood disorders in veterans,” says Solis of the inspiration for this research, “and then there's the existential question that stumps neuroscientists — how does our human experience arise from brain activity?”
A new study by MIT researchers has “identified the parts of the brain’s visual cortex that respond more when we look at things (rigid objects like a stone skipping or a bouncing ball) vs stuff (liquids or something more granular like sand). Understanding this distinction may help our brains better plan how to interact with various materials,” explains Lauren Baisas for Popular Science. “Understanding this distinction may help our brains better plan how to interact with various materials,” explains Baisas.
Prof. Kerri Cahoy speaks with Bloomberg Wall Street Week reporter David Westin about advancements in low earth satellites. “It is very exciting to see it growing like this," says Cahoy. "To see remote access without terrestrial infrastructure needed, that is a very interesting and exciting growth area."
Researchers at MIT have found a new “iteration of a foundational quantum experiment,” reports Gayoung Lee for Gizmodo. They “successfully replicated the double-slit experiment on the atomic scale, allowing for an unprecedented level of empirical precision,” writes Lee. “By using supercold atoms as ‘slits’ for light to pass through, the team confirmed that the wave-particle duality of light—with all its paradoxical properties—holds up even on the most fundamental quantum scales.”
Writing for Physics Today, Prof. Camilla Cattania and her colleagues highlight the impact of big data and AI advancements in improving the reliability of earthquake forecasting and prediction. “Advances in technology and data analysis, particularly the incorporation of AI techniques, are driving the development of more-sophisticated forecasting models,” they write. “Advances in sensor technology and the expansion of dense seismic networks are providing new insight into the dynamics of Earth’s crust. That wealth of data enables the creation of more detailed and nuanced forecasting models that better capture the complexities of earthquake processes.”
A study by researchers at MIT has found that “pedestrians are walking 15 percent faster and stopping to linger 14 percent less than they used to,” reports Rima Sabina Aouf for Dezeen. “Using computer vision and artificial intelligence to analyze videos of four public spaces across three American cities, the study found that walking speeds rose notably between 1980 and 2010, while instances of people lingering or interacting with others fell,” writes Aouf.
CNBC reporter Diana Olick spotlights Quaise Energy, an MIT spinoff developing geothermal energy technology. “We intend to build the first in the world superhot, or super critical geothermal power plant, to show exactly that 10X output that you get by going hotter,” says Carlos Araque '01 MS '02.
Guy Consolmagno '74, SM '75, director of the Vatican Observatory, speaks with Rebecca Mead of The New Yorker about his journey from suburban Detroit to MIT to his current role as the Pope’s Astronomer, and the intersection between science and religion. “If people think you have to be a weird kind of scientist to be religious, or a weird kind of religious to be a scientist, then we’ve missed the point,” says Consolmagno. “The point is that our faith—our ordinary faith—fits perfectly with our ordinary, but wonderful, delightful science.”
Researchers at MIT have found that “tropical forests populated with a diversity of seed-dispersing animals can accumulate carbon up to four times as fast as fragmented forests where these animals are absent or their movement is restricted,” reports James Dinneen for New Scientist. “This shows a linkage between animal biodiversity loss and a process that exacerbates climate change,” says research scientist Evan Fricke. “We’re losing the regrowth potential of tropical forests.”