Wall Street Journal reporter Amrith Ramkumar spotlights MIT startup Presto, which is combining with a special-purpose acquisitions company and going public. “Presto offers several different technologies that it says automate restaurants and improve the dining experience,” writes Ramkumar.
Optics & Photonics News reporter Patricia Daukantas spotlights how a team of researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) has uncovered a way to generate long wavelength light using intrinsic defects in semi-conducting materials. “The new method raises the possibility of future CMOS-compatible LEDs that give off the full spectrum of visible light, writes Daukantas, “without the need for phosphors that generate excess heat and shorten the diodes’ lifespan.”
The Naked Scientist podcaster Verner Viisainen spotlights how MIT researchers studied vector-based navigation in humans. “What we discovered is actually that we don’t follow the shortest path but actually follow a different kind of optimization criteria which is based on angular deviation,” says Prof. Carlo Ratti.
A new study by Prof. Danielle Li and University of Minnesota Prof. Alan Benson explores the gender promotion gap, writes Boston Globe reporter Kevin Lewis. “Researchers found that women were given lower ratings of future potential but higher ratings on current performance – a phenomenon that explained up to half of the overall gender disparity in promotion,” writes Lewis.
MIT researchers have developed a new fiber, dubbed OmniFibers, that could potentially be used to help regulate breath, reports Ray White for Mashable. “When sewn into clothing, the fiber can sense how much it’s stretched. It then gives tactile feedback to the wearer via pressure, stretch or vibration.”
Fast Company reporter Stephanie Vozza writes that Prof. Erin Kelly has found greater flexibility in work schedules and location resulted in higher levels of employee well-being and job satisfaction. “Our study found that increasing employees’ say in when, where, and how they do their work, and conveying support for their personal and family life, both improved well-being and reduced turnover, reducing costs for the company, too,” says Kelly.
MIT Prof. M. Taylor Fravel and University of Pennsylvania Prof. Fiona Cunningham explores what China’s investment in its nuclear arsenal means for U.S. – China relations in a piece for The Washington Post. “Two shifts in China’s nuclear thinking may be happening. First, Chinese leaders believe that they now need to threaten the United States with greater nuclear damage to deter a U.S. nuclear first-strike: a handful of warheads is no longer enough,” they write. “Second, China’s leaders may be finding Beijing’s promises not to engage in a nuclear arms race increasingly difficult to fulfill — or less of a priority than deterring U.S. nuclear use with more confidence.”
Popular Science reporter Charlotte Hu writes that MIT researchers have simulated an environment in which socially-aware robots are able to choose whether they want to help or hinder one another, as part of an effort to help improve human-robot interactions. “If you look at the vast majority of what someone says during their day, it has to do with what other [people] want, what they think, getting what that person wants out of another [person],” explains research scientist Andrei Barbu. “And if you want to get to the point where you have a robot inside someone’s home, understanding social interactions is incredibly important.”
Wired reporter Sarah Scoles spotlights how graduate students Thomas Abitante and Rachel Bellisle, both Draper Scholars, are developing new spacesuits and muscle toning devices that could help keep astronauts healthy while in space. “We need to make sure they're as healthy as possible,” says Abitante. “But we can't really add more exercise. So what else can we add?”
Climate Now host Ozak Esu speaks with Senior Research Engineer Howard Herzog about the origins and mechanics of carbon capture technology. “The primary method today is what we call scrubbing. And it could be either chemical or physical scrubbing depending on the concentration,” says Herzog.
Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu and his colleagues make the case in a piece for Wired that using the Turing test to help develop AI technologies for businesses has led to a “fundamental mismatch between the needs of business and the way AI is currently being conceived by many in the technology sector.” They write: “Businesses that find a productive way of using machine intelligence will lead by example, and their example can be followed by other companies and researchers freeing themselves from the increasingly unhelpful AI paradigm.”
Bloomberg reporter David R. Baker writes that a new report co-authored by MIT researchers keeping California’s last nuclear power plant open could help reduce energy costs and provide water to the state. Keeping the “Diablo Canyon open through 2035 would cut greenhouse-gas emissions from California’s power sector 10% each year, by reducing the amount of electricity needed from natural-gas plants,” writes Baker.
A new report by researchers from MIT, Stanford and other institutions finds that extending the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California should help the state meet its climate goals, reports Timothy Gardner for Reuters. The researchers found “delaying closure of the plant to 2025 would reduce California's carbon emissions from power plants by more than 10% from 2017 levels, reduce dependency on natural gas, and save up to $21 billion in power system costs.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. John Sterman details how he reduced his personal carbon footprint, from commuting via bicycle to completing a deep-energy retrofit on his home. “The project was great fun, cost-effective and the house is far more comfortable,” writes Sterman. “But personal action, though essential, isn’t sufficient. Building a prosperous, safe and equitable world requires that we transform our economy and institutions. To do so we must act now. There is no time to waste.”
Washington Post reporter Steven Zeitchik highlights Prof. Jessika Trancik’s work developing a carbon counter that details the carbon impacts of different cars and MIT startup Form Energy, which is “taking the oxidization process, normally only good for ruining your Saturday garage clean-up, and deploying it to store energy on power grids.” Says Trancik of the importance of allowing people the ability to take stock of their environmental impact: “One of the really important aspects of addressing climate change is bringing everyone into the discussion.”