Writing for CNN, Gisela Crespo spotlights how air pollution produced in one state can blow across state lines and contribute to premature deaths in other states. "This situation is a bit like secondhand smoke, but on a national scale," explains Prof. Steven Barrett.
Boston Globe reporter Matt Berg explores how MIT researcher have captured images that could help illuminate historical details of an asteroid with a golf-ball like surface. “We’re seeing a new world for the first time,” says Prof. Richard Binzel. “This is one of the largest asteroids that has been very elusive to explore because of its tilted orbit.”
Bloomberg reporter Leslie Kauffman spotlights a study by MIT researchers that shows roughly half of premature deaths caused by air pollution occur in states where the pollutants did not originate. “The numbers of deaths that are due to cross-state pollution are much bigger than anything we thought,” explains Prof. Steven Barrett.
A study by MIT researchers examines how pollutants carried across state lines have contributed to premature deaths, reports Caroline Enos for The Boston Globe. “There’s a big archive of data we’ve created from this project,” says Prof. Steven Barrett. “We think there are a lot of things that policymakers can dig into, to chart a path to saving the most lives.”
CNBC reporter Cory Stieg spotlights a study by MIT researchers demonstrating how handwashing at airports could significantly curb the spread of disease. The researchers “calculated that if 60% of travelers had clean hands, it has the potential to slow a global disease by 69%. But even if just 30% of travelers kept their hands clean, it could reduce the impact of a disease by 24%.”
Scientific American reporter Jim Daley writes that MIT researchers have found half of the premature deaths linked to poor air quality are caused by out-of-state pollution. The researchers found “nearly 70 percent of deaths related specifically to electric power generation—the sector with the highest cross-border impact on premature mortality—occurred in states other than the one where the involved plant was located.”
MIT researchers have found that half of premature deaths caused by air pollution are linked to pollutants that originate out of state, reports Henry Fountain for The New York Times. “We know air quality is bad in many ways, and if we want to continue to improve it we need to understand what the causes are,” explains Prof. Steven Barrett.
Wired reporter Nicola Twilley spotlights how researchers at the Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative are exploring the future of spaceflight with a particular focus on space gastronomy—an experience of eating in zero gravity that achieves more than basic nourishment. “If humans are going to thrive in space, we need to design embodied experiences," says research scientist Maggie Coblentz.
Researchers in Prof. Evelina Fedorenko’s lab are investigating how the polygot brain works and why some people can become proficient at multiple languages, reports Patrick Cox for PRI’s The World. “Most brains can find ways to get good at things — that hard work will often get you a long way,” says Fedorenko. “I think brilliance is often overrated.”
Quanta Magazine reporter Devin Powell spotlights how MIT researchers developed a new model to help determine why some knots are stronger than others. The researchers hope “the findings will play a role in designing new ways to tie, loop, twist and otherwise form tangles from rope, adding a new predictive dimension to knot theory.”
During a performance at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, musician Johnny Gandelsman performed Bach’s Six Cello Suites on the violin, writes Jeremy Eichler for The Boston Globe. “This was an exquisitely personal vision of Bach, all radical sincerity and glinting light,” writes Eichler. “The audience sat rapt for nearly two hours, until it rose as one.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Caroline Delbert spotlights postdoctoral associate Chenguang Zhang’s work crunching the numbers to determine the ideal way to fold a notebook page in order to “bookmark” it. Zhang found that “to have the most visible bookmark: first pick the top-left corner, then pick from the right edge a point 58.6 [percent] from the bottom, then fold."
BBC Click spotlights how CSAIL researchers have developed robotic cubes, called M-Blocks, that can self-assemble to form different structures. “M-Blocks create more flexible systems,” says Prof. Daniela Rus. “They are able to flatten themselves. They are able to aggregate. They can crawl up towers or bridges. They can also go through tiny pipes.”
Graduate student Joy Buolamwini's speaks with Jennifer 8. Lee about her research on bias and facial recognition, and how she combines technology and art in her work. “We need more poets in tech, and we need more people of color in tech,” says Buolamwini. “The reason I call myself a poet is because poets illuminate the uncomfortable, and they make us feel what we otherwise not might see.”
Forbes reporters Susan Adams and Will Yakowicz highlight several startups founded by MIT alumni that are developing new technologies focused on the microbiome.