In the Media

Brian Deese, an MIT Innovation Fellow, speaks with CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin about the state of the U.S. economy. “Perceptions of the economy have gotten increasingly polarized along political lines, and so when you look at that polling around sentiment and the economy one of the things it reflects is that increasing polarization that we are seeing everywhere and reflected in that data,” says Deese. “But number two, we do know historically that as economic data improves it leads to improved sentiment and in general, the incumbents benefit from that.”

Lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota '08, SM '16, MBA '16 writes for the National Academy of Engineering to discuss the importance of a “well-functioning healthcare supply chain.” “A connected supply chain represents a paradigm shift, offering the potential to revolutionize how drugs are developed, produced, and delivered to patients,” writes Hayes-Mota. “Embracing this approach can enhance drug delivery efficiency, ensure patient satisfaction, and ultimately contribute to a healthier and more prosperous global community.”

Writing for The Hill, Prof. Caitlin Talmadge and Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institute make the case that America’s aims for the war in Ukraine should not be “strategic defeat” of Russia. “The goals, rather, should be stability in Europe and the sustainability of a strong Ukraine, both of which are best served by ending the war sooner rather than later,” they write. 

Dynamic Labs, co-founded by Itai Turbahn '11 and Yoni Goldberg '09, MEng '10, offers “tech for crypto and non-crypto companies alike to create seamless login experiences backed by digital wallets,” reports Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez for Fortune. “The firm’s wallet-based business is twofold,” explains Quiroz-Gutierrez. “It offers a customizable all-in-one service that can either push the crypto wallet technology to the background for less savvy users or put it front and center for Web3 natives.”

Erika Debenedictis PhD '20 speaks with Nature reporter Rachel Pells about her experience building her own tools to use in her scientific research. “Inventions come from going out on a limb,” says Debenedictis. “The first version might be duct-taped together, but then you make another one, and another one, and the hope is that eventually the pay-off is greater than the pain of putting it together.”

Prof. Manolis Kellis speaks with USA Today reporter Josh Peter about the potential impact of AI in developing undetectable performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). "The most feasible approach would be using generative AI to alter existing PEDs that trigger drug tests in a way that makes those drugs undetectable by current testing technology,” Kellis notes.

Prof. Zeynep Ton speaks with Marketplace host Meghan McCarty Carino about the impact of automation, such as self-service kiosks or chatbot customer service agents, on retail shopping. When thinking about self checkout stations and chatbots, Ton recommends companies evaluate whether the technologies can “improve value for the customer? And would this improve productivity for employees and make their jobs better so that they can serve the customers much better too.”

MIT has been named to the Wall Street Journal and College Pulse list of the 2024  top midsize colleges in the Northeast, reports Gerard Yates for The Wall Street Journal. Rankings are based on three factors: Student outcomes, the learning environment and the diversity of a school’s students and faculty, Yates explains.

Gizmodo reporter George Dvorsky spotlights the Venus Life Finder mission, developed by researchers from MIT and Rocket Lab, which will be launching no earlier than December 2024. “The mission will send a small probe, equipped with a single science instrument, to analyze organic molecules and potential signs of life in the Venusian atmosphere,” writes Dvorsky.

Prof. Fiona Murray, the Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion at MIT Sloan, speaks with Boston Globe correspondent Scott Kirsner about her work with NATO on developing and launching new mechanisms to identify and invest in defense startups. Murray notes that the goal of the new NATO Innovation Fund is to “take the traditional VC model and adapt it to this extremely important mission and purpose — supporting defense, security, and the resilience agenda — in today’s very complex geopolitical world.”

MIT students have created a “countdown clock” to help conceptualize how close the globe is to reaching a concerning level of warming, reports Paula Moura for WBUR. “There’s only 60 Bruins games, six Patriots games and 30 Red Sox games scheduled — or about six months — until scientists estimate the globe reaches a point of no return for extreme weather and species loss,” writes Moura. “Everyone is really alarmed because even college students at a very technical university have trouble conceptualizing how soon this is,” says second-year student Norah Miller. “Even though a lot of us are not Boston natives, these kinds of statistics in terms of sports really hit home.”

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have successfully linked together two molecules in special quantum states, reports Pandora Dewan for Newsweek. “The discovery may lead to more robust quantum computing and support new research techniques,” writes Dewan.

During a visit to MIT, National Defense Magazine reporter Sean Carberry met with Prof. John Joannopoulos to learn about how researchers at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) “are conducting serious research on nanotechnology that could have a big impact on the battlefield.” Carberry notes that ISN researchers conduct fundamental research and have transitioned “numerous technologies ranging from ‘nanostructure amplifying fluorescent polymers for ultra-sensitive explosive detection’ to photonic crystals that enable thermal photovoltaic power generation in a small device that could replace heavy batteries carried by troops.” 

Ariel Ekblaw, director of the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, speaks with Wired reporter Ramin Skibba on a panel discussion on the future of space exploration. “In the future, instead of thinking about space habitats and life in space as a domain where it’s just about survival, which it has certainly been until recently, we’re at this inflection point,” says Ekblaw. “We can begin to think about thriving in space, designing space architecture that is welcoming to more of the public that doesn’t just look like a science lab on orbit and so to be able to do that, we need responsive space habitats, really capable integration of all kinds of different systems, and AI will have a huge role in that.”

Forbes contributor William Haseltine spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a flexible ultrasound patch that can be used to help estimate bladder volume. “The applications for long-term therapeutic and regenerative medicine for the ultrasound patch are innumerable, only to be limited by the imagination of those implementing their use,” writes Haseltine. “Among the most forthcoming are situations where someone may be unable to visit their physician for a medically-administered ultrasound.”