Using a machine-learning algorithm, researchers from MIT and McMaster University have discovered a new type of antibiotic that works against a type of drug-resistant bacteria, reports Brenda Goodman for CNN. Goodman notes that the compound “worked in a way that stymied only the problem pathogen. It didn’t seem to kill the many other species of beneficial bacteria that live in the gut or on the skin, making it a rare narrowly targeted agent.”
Researchers from Lincoln Lab and NASA are working on the TROPICS research mission, an effort to collect meteorological data on tropical storms from mini satellites, reports Daniel Cusick for Scientific American. "Scientists will observe temperature profiles in space that would be favorable to storm formation at the Earth’s surface, then use a weather prediction model and radiometric imagery to better predict how such storms would behave," Cusick writes.
SpaceX Crew-6 Mission Commander Stephen Bowen MS ’93 recently answered questions from Cohasset Public School students live from the International Space Station, reports WBZ. "The Earth is always amazing to look at," Bowen told the students of his experience in space.
Prof. Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science, and postdoc Victoria Xu speak with Nature reporter Davide Castelvecchi about the upgrades to the LIGO gravitational wave detectors that have significantly increased their sensitivity. “The improvements should allow the facility to pick up signals of colliding black holes every two to three days, compared with once a week or so during its previous run."
MIT researchers have found that “69 percent of registered voters said they were either very or somewhat confident that votes at a nationwide level were counted as intended,” reports Zach Montellaro for Politico. This research is a “prominent measure of voter trust in election integrity,” writes Montellaro.
Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with NPR host Kate Wells about a decision by the National Eating Disorders Associations to replace their helpline with a chatbot. “I think it's very alienating to have an interactive system present you with irrelevant or what can feel like tangential information,” says Ghassemi.
On May 20th, MIT students and community leaders gathered for “Hacking the Archive,” a hackathon aimed at addressing the wealth gap between Black and white residents of Boston, with a particular focus on housing as a generator of wealth, reports Kenneth Cooper for The Bay State Banner. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no bigger challenge than the racial wealth gap,” explained Prof. Karilyn Crockett.
Bloomberg reporter Adrian Wooldridge spotlights a new book titled “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity” by Prof. Simon Johnson and Prof. Daron Acemoglu. “The authors’ main worry about AI is not that it will do something unexpected like blowing up the world,” writes Wooldridge. “It is that it will supercharge the current regime of surveillance, labor substitution and emotional manipulation.”
Jacob DeWitte SM ’11, PhD ’14 co-founded Oklo, a startup working toward developing small nuclear power plants to deliver emission-free, reliable, and affordable power, reports Heather Wishart-Smith for Forbes.
Knight Science Journalism Director Deborah Blum writes for The New York Times about Melissa L. Sevigny’s new book “Brave The Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon.” Blum writes: “Unlike those old-time newspaper reporters, Sevigny does not look at her subjects and see women out of place. She sees women doing their job and doing it well.”
Prof. Gilbert Strang received a standing ovation after delivering his last lecture after over 60 years of teaching at MIT, reports Saleen Martin for USA Today. “Teaching has been a wonderful life,” wrote Strang in the comments section of his last lecture on YouTube. “I am so grateful to everyone who likes linear algebra and sees its importance. So many universities (and even high schools) now appreciate how beautiful it is and how valuable it is. That movement will continue because it is right.”
Upgrades made to the LIGO gravitational wave detectors “will significantly boost the sensitivity of LIGO and should allow the facility to observe more-distant objects that produce smaller ripples in spacetime,” writes Pennsylvania State University Prof. Chad Hanna in a piece for The Conversation.
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Carlo Ratti and Harvard Prof. Edward Glaeser emphasize that in order to, “create a city vibrant enough to compete with the convenience of the internet, we need to end the era of single-use zoning and create mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods that bring libraries, offices, movie theaters, grocery stores, schools, parks, restaurants and bars closer together. We must reconfigure the city into an experience worth leaving the house for.”
Popular Science reporter Andrew Paul spotlights “Ways of Seeing” a documentary project that aims to create “extended reality” (XR) experiences of significant architectural locales in Afghanistan as part of an effort to preserve the country’s historical sites. Paul notes that the project combines “cutting edge 3D imaging, drone photography, and virtual reality combined with painstakingly detailed hand drawings.”