Fast Company reporter Adele Peters spotlights Primitives, an MIT startup that is developing compostable food packaging that can also detect safety issues. “We’re incorporating sensing mechanisms into our materials that allow it to detect things like spoilage or even cold chain monitoring,” says Viirj Kan ‘17, CEO of Primitives.
CNBC reporter Pippa Stevens writes that Sloan researchers have found there is a 70% chance of a recession within the next six months. “The researchers analyzed four market factors — industrial production, nonfarm payrolls, stock market return and the slope of the yield curve — on a monthly basis,” writes Stevens. “They then measured how the current relationship between the four metrics compares to historical readings.”
Prof. Richard Larson speaks with Peter Cohan of Forbes about the economic impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus. “If our response is a pendulum swinging way too far towards unwarranted hysteria,” says Larson, “the dominant economic costs could come from our over-response and not to the progression of the disease itself.”
Prof. Richard Larson speaks with Peter Cohan of Forbes about the economic impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus. “If our response is a pendulum swinging way too far towards unwarranted hysteria,” says Larson, “the dominant economic costs could come from our over-response and not to the progression of the disease itself.”
Prof. Charles Stewart III writes for Wired that the Iowa caucuses underscore the need for election officials to prepare for potential problems. “Girding computer systems against external attacks is critical,” writes Stewart. “But so is planning out the response when the inevitable failure occurs.”
Quartz reporter Michelle Cheng spotlights how the MIT Sloan School of Management is transforming its MBA program to include an increased focus on STEM fields. “Everyone wants to be close to technology now,” explains Jacob Cohen, senior associate dean for undergraduate and master’s programs at MIT Sloan.
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that MIT researchers have developed a new smart surface, called RFocus, that improves signal strength for phones and other devices. The researchers envision "a future where RFocus is used in homes and warehouses to boost signals for the Internet of Things and various network-connected devices,” Heater explains.
Washington Post reporter Jeremy Deaton spotlights the late Prof. Edward Lorenz’s work on chaos theory and “the butterfly effect.” Deaton notes when Lorenz first invoked a butterfly’s wings, he was “actually saying that even if we could account for every skipper and swallowtail along the Yellow Sea, it wouldn’t do much to improve weather forecasts.”
CSAIL researchers have created a smart surface that can boost a phone’s signal strength by 1,000 percent, reports Victoria Song for Gizmodo. “CSAIL’s idea was instead of adding transmitters and receivers, wireless signals can be amplified by adding the antennas to external surfaces—like a wall,” writes Song.
Karilyn Crockett, a lecturer in DUSP, spoke with The Boston Globe’s Kelly Horan about her role as Boston’s chief of equity. “As I prioritize racial, gender, and health equity for a city of 700,000 that is majority people of color, it means that we have to recognize that the history that brought us here has to be looked at in a clear way.”
Frank Press - a former Institute Professor, Life Member Emeritus of the MIT Corporation, and president of the National Academy of Sciences – has died at age 95, reports Neil Genzlinger for The New York Times. Genzlinger notes that Press, “was a key voice in American science policy.”
Forbes reporter Anna Powers that MIT researchers have developed a way to make sodium-ion batteries more energy efficient. Powers notes that the development “was accomplished by tuning the battery composition through the addition of manganese.”
Senior lecturer Ben Shields writes for WBUR about why it is so expensive to be a sports fan. “Giving fans the ‘ultimate social experience’ is one way to justify the price tag that comes along with sports fandom,” writes Shields. “It’s also one of the reasons the cost of being a fan has grown at such a rapid rate.”
Washington Post reporter Emily Langer memorializes the life and work of Frank Press, a former Institute Professor and Life Member Emeritus of the MIT Corporation. Press, who served as science adviser to President Jimmy Carter and president of the National Academy of Sciences, “forged his careers in science and government during a period when the two fields intersected in consequential ways.”
Financial Times columnist John Thornhill writes about a recent trip to MIT to hear “inspiring tales of entrepreneurial endeavor,” spotlighting the work of Profs. Robert Langer, Asu Ozdaglar and Kripa Varanasi. “It is my duty to make something that solves an important problem,” says Varanasi of the inspiration for his work. “It is all about the problem.”