Boston.com reporter Marta Hill spotlights how MIT scientists used a new polymerization technique to create a material that serves as both a durable coating and strong structural element. “We now have a completely new way of making materials as two-dimensional polymers, [which] means we’re going to get new properties,” says Prof. Michael Strano. “This material that we’ve made happens to be pretty exceptional. It’s very strong and very light. It’s unusual for a polymer.”
Recent MIT research has found a high number of errors in public datasets often used for training models, reports David Talby for Forbes. “An average of 3.3% errors were found in the test sets of 10 of the most widely used computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) and audio datasets,” writes Talby.
New York Times reporter Steve Lohr spotlights how the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Omidyar Network have made a gift to help establish a new program that will analyze forces contributing to the erosion of job quality and labor market opportunity for workers without college degrees. “Markets are terrific, but we have to overcome this notion that ‘markets are autonomous — so just leave it to the market,’” says Prof. David Autor. “That fatalism is a decision.”
Assia Boundaoui, a fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab, writes for The Los Angeles Times about her experience as a Muslim American filmmaker. “Despite the many ways we have been marginalized within the film industry, Muslim and Middle Eastern filmmakers will continue to tell our stories – stories where our humanity is assumed, not a subject of debate,” writes Boundaoui.
A new study by MIT researchers finds that mediation apps may have benefits for users in reducing anxiety and depression, reports The Economist. “Access to the app reduced the share of participants with moderate or severe anxiety by 13 percentage points, or 50%, compared to the control group. The share of participants with moderate or severe depression fell by 14 percentage points, or 47%.”
Thanks to its affordability and cross-generational appeal, pickleball is becoming an increasingly popular sport, reports Shannon Mullen for NPR. “I think if pickleball, in its own humble way, can continue to grow its participation and find ways to make the sport a compelling fan product,” says senior lecturer Ben Shields, in "10, 20 years it could be a very viable competitor in the global sports industry."
MIT researchers have developed a solar-powered desalination system that “avoids salt buildup and could provide a family with continuous drinking water for only $4,” reports Miriam Fauzia for The Daily Beast. “The researchers hope to develop their device into something that can be mass produced and used by individuals and families, especially for those living in remote communities,” writes Fauzia.
Researchers have placed an upper mass limit on the subatomic particle called neutrino, reports Robert Lea for Newsweek. “The idea of using radioactive decays to measure neutrino masses is as old as the idea of the neutrino itself, says Prof. Joseph Formaggio. “But only now do we have the capabilities to make use of the techniques to extra the neutrino mass with such precision.”
Bloomberg reporter Ben Holland spotlights “The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines” – a new book written by Prof. David Autor, Prof. David Mindell and Elizabeth Reynolds PhD ’10 – about the future of job mobility and social safety nets in the United States.
One year after NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars, scientists are preparing to investigate a dried-up river delta along the west rim of the Jezero crater to search for rocks and microscopic fossils, reports Kenneth Chang for The New York Times. If Perseverance undercovers fossils, “we have to start asking whether some globs of organic matter are arranged in a shape that outlines a cell,” says Prof. Tanja Bosak.
Steven Goldman, a senior lecturer for MIT Professional Education, and business strategy consultant Asha Rivers write about the impact and importance of digital communication for Black churches in the age of the pandemic, in an article for Black Enterprise Magazine.
Prof. Mariana Arcaya writes for The Boston Globe about how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Build Beck Better bill will help combat the ongoing global climate crisis. “Shifting away from fossil-fuel consumption and combatting injustice are the two keys to solving the climate crisis,” writes Arcaya. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act provides vital funding for some of the measures the United States needs to take.”
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with USA Today reporter Kate S. Petersen about claims that replacing all U.S. gas stations with equal capacity electric vehicle charging stations would require significant resources. “When we’re talking about EV charging, you don’t have to put charging stations everywhere you have gas stations today,” says Trancik. “This would not make sense as a plan for rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure.”
Astrophysicist Kelly Korreck will be honored at The Smithsonian during Women’s History Month as they commemorate women who have excelled in STEM fields, reports Ashraf Khalil for the AP. “3-D printed statues will be displayed in the Smithsonian Gardens and in select museums in the Smithsonian network from March 5-27,” writes Khalil.
Amrita Saigal ’10 has created Kudos Diapers, a sustainable disposable diaper that allows a baby’s skin to touch nothing but pure cotton, reports Angela Yang for The Boston Globe. “We need to get to that point in the world where people opt for sustainable products not just because of the environmental aspects,” says Saigal. “But also because they’re like, ‘this is the best-performing product on the market.’”