In the Media

Researchers at MIT and elsewhere developed an artificial intelligence predictive model that can be used to detect which strains of Covid-19 could become dominant and lead to a new wave of illness, reports Ruth Reader, Carmen Paun, Daniel Payne and Eric Schumaker for Politico. The model, “found three strong predictors of a dominant variant: the number of infections a strain causes in its first week relative to the number of times it appears in sequencing, the number of mutations in the spike protein, and the number of weeks since the current dominant variant began circulating,” they note.

MIT researchers have found that job applicants who used AI to improve spelling and grammar on their resumes were eight percent more likely to be hired, reports Bryan Robinson for Forbes. “If you take two identical workers with the same skills and background, the one with the better-written resume is more likely to get hired,” explains graduate student Emma van Inwegen. “The takeaway is that employers actually care about the writing in the resume; it’s not just a correlation.” 

Lecturer James Aloisi and several students from his urban planning and policy course write for Commonwealth Beacon about their proposals for creating a better public transportation connection between Kendall Square and Logan Airport. “It should not be acceptable that, in greater Boston in the 21st Century, a traveler cannot easily and conveniently connect by transit from one of the nation’s most important innovation and academic centers to the international airport, a mere three miles away,” writes Aloisi. “We can do better, and we must do better if we want to do more than just pretend that we live in a livable, sustainable region.”

Smithsonian Magazine reporter Sarah Kuta spotlights MIT researchers and their work in developing an ingestible vibrating pill that simulates the feeling of being full. The device “could someday offer an obesity treatment that doesn’t rely on standard medications or surgery,” writes Kuta.

Prof. Canan Dagdeviren and her team have developed a wearable ultrasound patch that can be used to screen for breast cancer at home, reports Grace Browne for Wired. “Dagdeviren wants to give people the opportunity to know what’s happening inside their bodies every day, the same way we check the weather forecast,” writes Browne.

Cement production is a climate catastrophe, writes MIT Technology Review’s Casey Crownhart, pumping billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Sublime Systems, a startup founded by MIT Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang and former postdoc Leah Ellis, uses electricity to trigger the chemical reactions that form the building material. Over the past few years, it’s gone from making palm-sized batches to producing 100 tons a year. The next stage is a commercial facility producing tens of thousands of tons of material a year. 

MIT researchers have created a vibrating capsule that can send signals to the brain to simulate the sensation of being full, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. “The capsule, which is roughly the size of a standard multi-vitamin, contains a vibrating motor, powered by a silver oxide battery,” explains Heater. “After reaching the stomach, gastric acid dissolves the outside layer and completes the circuit, kickstarting the vibration.”

Researchers at MIT have developed a vibrating pill that “significantly reduces food consumption by mimicking the feeling of fullness,” reports Arianna Johnson for Forbes. Researchers believe, “the pill can be used as a cheaper, noninvasive option to treat obesity and other weight-related illnesses,” writes Johnson.

A new analysis from MIT researchers has found that preventative screenings such as a colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy can reduce cancer rates more than previous analyses suggested, reports Ernie Mundell for HealthDay. “Prior colon cancer screening studies found that regular colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy reduced that rate by 25% -- to 0.75%,” explains Mundell. “But the new analysis took into account the number of participants in a colon cancer screening trial who decided, for whatever reason, to skip screening. When these "non-adherent" folks were eliminated from statistical calculations, the actual percentage of people who went on to develop colon cancer over a 10-year span fell to just 0.5%.”

Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Carlo Ratti and Harvard Prof. Edward L. Glaeser make the case that “the Bay Area needs a lot more housing, and we may need privately built cities to get there.” Ratti and Glaeser note, “building in the Bay Area will enable America to continue its history of allowing people to relocate to more productive places.”

Writing for STAT, Prof. Joseph Doyle addresses new research that suggests food “as medicine can improve health and lower health care costs.” “Researchers, clinicians and policymakers all share a common goal to fight food insecurity and improve population health,” writes Doyle. “Randomized clinical trials are key tools for discerning what works best, for whom and why, information that we should all be hungry for.”

Researchers at MIT have developed “a battery-operated capsule-like device that’s supposed to make you feel full by stretching out your stomach using vibration,” reports Miriam Fauzia for Inverse. “Considering that diet and exercise are hard to maintain, especially for long-term weight loss, and medical interventions like gastric bypass surgery and the newest wave of injectables cost more than a pretty penny, [Shriya] Srinivasan PhD ’20 and her colleagues want their vibrating pill to be an accessible alternative,” writes Fauzia.

MIT researchers have created “a vibrating pill that stimulates nerve endings in the stomach to tell the brain it’s time to stop eating,” reports Mitch Leslie for Science. “A gel plug in the pill keeps the motor from switching on,” explains Leslie. “But the gel dissolves rapidly when it contacts stomach fluid, allowing the motor to start turning. When that happens, the pill shakes for about 38 minutes, roughly the amount of time it would stay in the stomach. The researchers hypothesized that these vibrations would stimulate the stretch-sensing nerve endings and signal satiety.”

Newsweek reporter Pandora Dewan spotlights MIT researchers and their work developing an ingestible vibrating pill that can mimic the sensation of fullness. "The development of new non-invasive methods for treating obesity is of importance in confronting the multifaceted challenges posed by this global health crisis," says Shriya Srinivasan PhD ’20. "Traditional interventions, such as invasive surgeries, can be associated with significant risks, costs and lifestyle modifications, limiting their applicability and effectiveness.”

Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, recipient of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in economic growth theory, has died at age 99, reports Austen Hufford for Wall Street Journal.  “Heinstilled in the field of economics a focus on turning complex issues into simple formulas, allowing even freshman in college to grasp and debate important topics,” writes Hufford.