Newsweek reporter Meghan Roos writes that a study co-authored by Prof. Victor Chernozhukov finds a nationwide mask mandate in the U.S. could have reduced Covid-19 deaths by 40% among workers who regularly interact with the public. The researchers found “a national mask mandate for workers could have prevented between 17,000 and 55,000 deaths between the start of April and the start of June.”
Asst. Prof. Lisa Piccirillo speaks with Chelsea Whyte at New Scientist about what led her to a career in math and how she solved the decades-old Conway knot problem. “In maths, 100 per cent of the days, basically you won’t solve anything,” said Piccirillo. “So you have to learn to be okay with that and still enjoy what you’re doing.”
CNN reporter Kami Phillips spotlights Prof. Sara Seager’s new book, “The Smallest Lights in the Universe.” Phillips notes, “This moving memoir is a tear-jerking story of grief, love, loss and new beginnings that will leave you comforted, hopeful and optimistic all at the same time.”
Fast Company reporter Amy Farley spotlights graduate student Joy Buolamwini and her work battling bias in artificial intelligence systems, noting that “when it comes to AI injustices, her voice resonates.” Buolamwini emphasizes that “we have a voice and a choice in the kind of future we have.”
A new analysis by researchers from MIT’s Election Data and Science Lab and CBS News finds rejection rates of absentee and mail-in ballots ranged from under 1% to nearly 2% during primary elections held during the pandemic.
President L. Rafael Reif joins Alan Alda on his podcast “Clear + Vivid” to discuss the need for increased American investment in fundamental research and development.
Prof. Richard J. Samuels reviews “Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II” by Marc Gallicchio for The New York Times. “’Unconditional’ is a sharp reminder of the power, imperfection and politicization of historical narrative,” writes Samuels, “and of the way debates can continue long after history’s witnesses have left the stage.”
Fast Company reporter Nate Berg spotlights Lecturer Karilyn Crockett and her new role as Chief of Equity for the City of Boston. “The idea that there is a person who is tasked with explicitly looking at these things is critical, but also, more than just a person or a single office, the idea that there’s a commitment to structural change,” says Crockett.
Prof. Benjamin Weiss speaks with CNN reporter Ashley Strickland about how the Perseverance rover will select samples of Martian materials. "The key for this mission will be identifying samples so compelling that we can't afford to leave them," says Weiss. "We are selecting these for humanity, so we need to make sure they are the most exciting."
Prof. James Collins speaks with Molly Wood of Marketplace about his work developing a faster, cheaper and more accurate Covid-19 diagnostic. Collins explains that his research group is “using synthetic biology to create highly sensitive, low-cost diagnostics, some that are now approved for use in clinical diagnostics labs, and now we’re moving towards point-of-care diagnostics, as well as at-home diagnostics.”
Bloomberg reporter Yifan Feng writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers shows women have been disproportionately impacted during Japan’s Covid-19 recession. The researchers found that “female workers fare worse than males and their negative welfare effects are three times as large as those of male workers.”
MIT researchers have developed a new wearable device, called Dormio, that can be used to record and even guide a person’s dreams, reports Mashable. Dormio is aimed at providing “insights into how dreams work and their effect on various things like memory, emotion, creativity.”
A new study by Prof. Charles Stewart III “predicts that the outcome of this year’s presidential election — and the problem known as the ‘lost vote,’ in which legitimate ballots go uncounted — could fuel postelection allegations of a rigged election,” reports The New York Times.
A study by MIT researchers encourages neighboring states to more closely coordinate business reopening plans during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports James Hohmann for The Washington Post. The researchers “used data from mobile phones, social media and the census to conclude that residents are worse off when reopening is not coordinated among states and regions.”
A study by MIT researchers uncovers evidence that the Earth’s global ice ages were triggered by a rapid drop in sunlight, reports Mashable. The researchers found that an “event like volcanic eruptions or biologically induced cloud formation will be able to block out the sun and limit the solar radiation reaching the surface at a critical rate that can potentially trigger ‘Snowball Earth’ events.”