In an excerpt from “Your Brain on Art” published in Fast Company, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross spotlight Prof. Li-Huei Tsai research exploring whether gamma oscillations from light and sound could help ease Alzheimer’s symptoms. “Li-Huei believes that increased gamma oscillations in the brain engage many different systems and cell types,” write Magsamen and Ross. “Because of this, the gamma waves may help with amyloid removal.”
Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Boston Globe reporter Kara Miller about the safety of the U.S. banking system. “Johnson argues that more oversight and regulation are critical to making sure the banking system operates smoothly, even though increased regulations might provoke resistance,” writes Miller.
MIT researchers have found that by “encouraging strategic EV charging placement, rather than allowing EV chargers to be situated merely due to charging company convenience or preferences” it may be possible to “mitigate or eliminate EV charging problems without the need for advanced technological systems of connected devices and real-time communications, which could add to costs and energy consumption,” reports Carolyn Fortuna for CleanTechnica.
MIT researchers have found that placing EV charging stations in strategic locations and setting up charging systems to initiate charging at delayed times could help reduce the impact of EVs on the electrical grid, reports Michael Schoeck for PV Magazine.
Popular Science spotlights a sampling of the winning pictures from this year’s MIT Koch Institute Image Awards, an annual competition showcasing some of the images produced as part of life science and biomedical research at MIT. “Today, high-magnification images can help design new medical tools, enrich our understanding of diseases, and explain how embryos develop. And, as shown by the 2023 winners from the MIT Koch Institute Image Awards, they can be works of art, too.”
MIT scientists have found that delayed charging and strategic placement of EV charging stations could help reduce additional energy demands caused by more widespread EV adoption, reports Grace Carroll for Fast Company. “Leveraging these two strategies together significantly eliminates any additional energy demands,” writes Carroll, “and can be tailored to specific local conditions to help cities meet their decarbonization goals.”
A study by Prof. David Autor and his colleagues have found that the pandemic narrowed the wage gap between America’s highest and lowest paid workers, reports Geoff Colvin for Fortune. The study also found “wages of the least educated workers increased more than the wage of the most educated workers, reducing the college wage premium,” writes Colvin.
Prof. Simon Johnson writes for The Los Angeles Times about the impact of government support during a financial crisis. “The immediate banking crisis may have been tempered, but it isn’t over,” writes Johnson. “As concerns about moral hazard rise again in Europe, will European regulators succumb to the temptation to make an example of some bank or other? One thing is certain: What they do will have global consequences, including for the U.S., and we will need to be prepared for them.”
WCVB spotlights postdoctoral associate Matt McDonald and his efforts to prepare for the 2023 Boston Marathon. McDonald, who finished fourth in the American pack at last year’s marathon and first among New Englanders, says “the crowds are unbelievable. And knowing that you’ve done it at that point, makes it just incredibly emotional.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Heitman highlights Prof. Alan Lightman’s book, “The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science.” Heitman writes Lightman’s “gift for distilling complex ideas and emotions to their bright essence quickly wins the day.” He adds that Lightman “belongs to a noble tradition of science writers, including Oliver Sacks and Lewis Thomas, who can poke endlessly into a subject and, in spite of their prodding, or perhaps because of it, stir up fresh embers of wonder.”
MIT engineers have developed a new technique that enables bug-sized aerial robots to handle a sizeable amount of damage and still fly, reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “The new repair techniques could come in handy when using flying robots for search-and-rescue missions in difficult environments like dense forests or collapsed buildings,” writes Paul.
Alum X Zhu-Nowell has been named the new artistic director of the Rockbund Art Musuem and will be relaunching the museum with a series of six solo-artist exhibitions, reports Caroline Roux for the Financial Times. “It’s a collection of solo projects that together form a group,” says Zhu-Nowell. “It shows the artists as individuals but not alone, and myself as part of a community.”
Graduate students at MIT rescued a dog that was abandoned from a stolen vehicle, reports Kate Armanini The Boston Globe. “The students used the dog’s tags to contact the owner, who was ‘appreciative and emotional’ to be reunited with the dog,” writes Armanini.
A new survey by Princeton Review finds that MIT is the top dream college in the country among college applicants, reports Lara Salahi for NBC Boston.
Prof. John Horton and his colleagues have found that increases in Uber fares only benefit drivers for a limited amount of time, reports Kevin Lewis for The Boston Globe. “They found that fare increases initially provided drivers with higher hourly earnings, but that boost wore off after a couple months,” writes Lewis. “With the higher rates, drivers tried to work more hours and passengers used the service less, reducing the average time each driver was matched with passengers.”