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In the Media

Displaying 15 news clips on page 168

Scientific American

MIT scientists have developed a miniature antenna that could one day be used to help safely transmit data from within living cells “by resonating with acoustic rather than electromagnetic waves,” reports Andrew Chapman for Scientific American. “A functioning antenna could help scientists power, and communicate with, tiny roving sensors within the cell,” writes Chapman, “helping them better understand these building blocks and perhaps leading to new medical treatments.”

The Boston Globe

Graduate student Kevin Frans co-founded OpenAI, a for-profit research lab that aims to provide free public access to artificial intelligence systems, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “Our mission is to put AI is the hands of everyone,” says Frans.

Salon

A new study by MIT scientists finds that Earth can self-regulate its temperature thanks to a stabilizing feedback mechanism that works over hundreds of thousands of years, reports Troy Farah for Salon. “The finding has big implications for our understanding of the past, but also how global heating is shaping the future of our home world,” writes Farah. “It even helps us better understand the evolution of planetary temperatures that can make the search for alien-inhabited exoplanets more fruitful.”

Science

A study co-authored by researchers from MIT found that a person’s ancestry can impact CRISPR’s ability to edit genomes as intended, “particularly in people of African descent, whose genomes are most likely to differ from those used to steer CRISPR to a specific gene,” reports Jocelyn Kaiser for Science.

Popular Mechanics

Prof. Anette “Peko” Hosoi speaks with Popular Mechanics reporter Ncumisa Lerato Kunana about a recent study that found soccer scores are becoming more predictable. “Ultimately, when you’re talking about predictability, you’re asking how much does this outcome rely on chance?” says Hosoi. “And how much does it rely on the difference in skills of the two opposing teams or the two opposing players? I think the approach they took was great [and] thoughtful.”

GBH

GBH Open Studio reporter Jared Bowen explores the new MIT Museum in Kendall Square. “The reimagined MIT Museum looks at all the advances in technology and their positive – and controversial – effects on society, from genetic engineering to the increasing role that artificial intelligence is playing in art and media,” says Bowen.  

US News & World Report

Researchers at MIT have found indoor humidity levels can influence the transmission of Covid-19, reports Dennis Thompson for US News & World Report. “We found that even when considering countries with very strong versus very weak Covid-19 mitigation policies, or wildly different outdoor conditions, indoor — rather than outdoor — relative humidity maintains an underlying strong and robust link with Covid-19 outcomes,” explains Prof. Lydia Bourouiba.

Fortune

MIT researchers have found that relative humidity “may be an important metric in influencing the transmission of Covid-19,” reports Sophie Mellor for Fortune, “Maintaining an indoor relative humidity between 40% and 60% – a Goldilocks climate, not too humid, not too dry – is associated with relatively lower rates of Covid-19 infections and deaths,” writes Mellor.

Fortune

Fortune reporter Sydney Lake spotlights MIT’s free online “Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python” course. “The course also covers topics including data structures and simple algorithms,” writes Lake. 

TechCrunch

TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater recounts his visit to the Cambridge area to visit and explore a number of startups. Heater discusses his visit to The Engine; his time with Perch, a startup founded by MIT student athletes that is building a “professional strength training detection system used by several professional sports teams;” and his meeting with LeafLabs, an engineering services company founded by MIT graduates.

The Boston Globe

Boston Globe correspondent Scott Kirsner explores the growth of quantum computing from the field's roots “at a 1981 meeting in Dedham, at MIT’s Endicott House conference center.” Bharath Kannan PhD ’22, co-founder and CEO of Atlantic Quantum, notes that if researchers could develop a computer that was natively quantum mechanical, "it would be game-changing for a lot of industries.”

GBH

Prof. Jonathan Gruber speaks with GBH hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan about why Democrats are pushing to raise the debt ceiling. “This is really about paying off the money that Congress approved to spend for all of the things the government does,” says Gruber.

CNN

Postdoc Rohan Naidu speaks with CNN reporter Ashley Strickland about the significance of the James Webb Space Telescope. “With Webb, we were amazed to find the most distant starlight that anyone had ever seen, just days after Webb released its first data,” says Naidu.

Nature

Nature reporter Elie Dolgin writes that a new study by MIT researchers explores the role of the gene variant APOE4 in Alzheimer’s, and finds that the gene is linked with faulty cholesterol processing in the brain, impacting the insulation around nerve cells and potentially causing memory and learning deficits. “The work suggests that drugs that restore the brain’s cholesterol processing could treat the disease,” writes Dolgin. 

CNN

CNN reporter Isabelle Gerretsen spotlights Lisa Dyson PhD ’04 and her startup Air Protein, which is developing a new technique to make protein “using just microbes, water, renewable energy and elements found in the air.” Air Protein has created “a new type of agriculture and a new way of growing food that doesn’t require arable land,” Dyson says.