Researchers from MIT’s Concrete Sustainability Hub discuss their research showing that increasing the reflectivity of paved surfaces could help lower air temperatures in U.S. cities by an average of 2.5 degrees. “If we reflect more energy back out, it’s the same as emitting less CO2,” says Randolph Kirchain, co-director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub.
Graduate students James “Jimmy” McRae and Bert Vandereydt are on a mission to visit every Dunkin’ Donuts in Massachusetts, reports Michael Yoshida and Gladys Vargas for WDHD. “Seeing some older ones, some newer ones. Getting local cuisine on the way,” Vandereydt said. “We had pizza in the North Shore, roast beef in the North Shore ... it’s a lot of fun.”
Forbes contributor Marija Butkovic spotlights Gloria Ro Kolb ’94, the founder of medical device company Elidah, which is developing “an external, home-use treatment for female urinary incontinence.”
In an effort to combat the use of air conditioners, MIT researchers have developed a passive cooling system that relies on evaporation and radiation and requires no electricity, reports Camille Bond for EnergyWire. “With passive cooling, the advantage is that you can address the ever-increasing need for cooling with a very low carbon footprint,” explains postdoc Zhengmao Lu.
Writing for The Hill, Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, explores how automation could ease the supply chain crisis. “Automation in these settings doesn’t mean replacing employees, but developing more robust inventory management software and using systems like scanners and conveyors that make our jobs easier,” writes Rus. “This would enable warehouse workers to focus on other more detail-oriented roles, from overseeing the operation of forklifts to improving the efficiencies of distribution centers.”
Atlantic reporter David Graham spotlights a new study co-authored by MIT researchers explored 25 different methods for reducing partisan animosity, support for antidemocratic values and tolerance for political violence. The researchers found that “partisan animosity seemed to have little relation to antidemocratic attitudes, and interventions that reduced animosity didn’t always do much to reduce those antidemocratic views,” writes Graham.
MIT spinoff Quaise Energy is transforming a millimeter-wave drilling technique from nuclear fusion experiments to tap geothermal energy, reports Mark Bergen for Bloomberg. “The company’s drill – it is building three prototypes in laboratories – is about 100 feet tall and looks like convential equipment used in the oil and gas industry,” writes Bergen. “Except built into the center of the drill is a gyrotron, an electrical vacuum designed to heat plasma in thermonuclear fusion machines.
Graduate students James (Jimmy) McRae and Bert Vandereydt have decided to visit every Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts, reports Matt Shearer for WBZ. “The two have visited 65 of the Dunkin’s on their list, leaving just 231 to go,” reports Shearer.
Researchers at MIT have developed a silk-based biodegradable substitute for microplastics, reports Ysabelle Kempe for Scientific American. “This type of research is urgent for companies that face tightening regulations on deliberate use of microplastics,” writes Kempe.
Researchers at MIT and Stanford have developed a new tool that can better map the inside of an asteroid that risks crashing into earth, writes Pranshu Verma for The Washington Post. “Understanding the interior," said Prof. Julian De Witt, "helps us understand the extent to which close encounters could be of concern, and how to deal with them.”
Vox reporter Bryan Walsh spotlights Prof. Max Tegmark, co-founder of The Future of Life Institute (FLI), for his work in reducing technological existential disasters. “In creating FLI, Tegmark joined a host of other institutions… that arose in recent years to put both a scholarly and an activist lens of the rising danger of existential catastrophes,” writes Walsh.
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Freakonomics Radio host Stephen Dubner about his research exploring how having a boss who attended business school can impact a business. “The main findings are actually very simple,” says Acemoglu. “As soon as you have a business school manager, you see a relative decline in wages and labor share.”
Alexander Sludds, a graduate student in MIT’s Research Lab for Electronics, joins Megan Cantwell on the Science magazine podcast to discuss his team’s new method for processing data on edge devices, which are devices that connect two networks together.
A new tool developed by researchers at MIT and Stanford could help map out the interior of asteroids, reports Alison Synder and Miriam Kramer for Axios. This could make “it easier to know the most effective way of throwing them off-course,” writes Synder and Kramer.
Sally Kornbluth has been named the next president of MIT, reports the Associated Press. “Maybe above all, I was drawn here because this is a moment when humanity faces huge global problems, problems that urgently demand the world’s most skillful minds and hands,” said Kornbluth. “In short, I believe this is MIT’s moment. I could not imagine a greater privilege than helping the people of MIT seize its full potential.”