In an article for The Boston Globe, Prof. Kerry Emanuel emphasizes the importance of strengthening the collaborations between researchers and forecasters to improve U.S. weather forecasts. “The progress that we make today will have enormous consequences for our ability to protect lives and property, maintain economic competitiveness, and strengthen our national security,” writes Emanuel.
Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights Insurify, a startup founded by MIT alumna Snejina Zacharia that is aimed at streamlining the process of selecting an insurance policy.
Gizmodo reporter Shoshana Wodinsky writes that a report by MIT researchers finds many websites are not complying with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). “Only 11.8 percent of the 680 sites researchers analyzed met the ‘minimum requirements’ that the researchers set forth,” Wodinsky explains, “specifically, that consent for user data collection through cookies and other technologies must be freely and explicitly given.”
R. David Edelman of MIT’s Internet Policy Research Initiative writes for The Washington Post about the need to create substantive policies for AI technologies. “If we’re going to govern AI, we need to recognize it for what it is: a tool, with innumerable uses,” writes Edelman. “That means we need to govern it for the ways people actually use it.”
Prof. David Autor speaks with NPR’s Planet Money about the lump of labor fallacy, the notion that there is a finite amount of work. “People are always worried about running out of work, but we're not,” says Autor. “We ought to be focusing our energy on figuring out, gee, how do we improve people's skills so they can qualify for better jobs?”
Research affiliate Warren “Woody” Hoburg has graduated from NASA’s basic training program and is now eligible for a spaceflight assignment, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN. The NASA graduates also included Raja Chari SM ‘01 and Jasmin Moghbeli ‘05.
MIT researchers have found that a program that provided coordinated care for frequently hospitalized patients did not reduce hospital readmissions, reports Reed Abelson for The New York Times. “While the program appeared to lower readmissions by nearly 40 percent, the same kind of patients who received regular care saw a nearly identical decline in hospital stays.”
Writing for STAT, Prof. Amy Finkelstein emphasizes the importance of randomized control trials (RCTs), recounting how she and her colleagues used an RCT to evaluate the effectiveness of a new program aimed at reducing hospital readmissions. “Randomized clinical trials are essential tools for helping us learn, adapt, and move forward on innovative solutions that make peoples’ lives better,” writes Finkelstein.
MIT researchers have developed a model that helps untangle the mystery behind why some knot are more stable than others, reports Theresa Machemer for Smithsonian. The researchers “paired mathematical knot theory with a color-changing fiber developed in 2013,” Machemer explains. “Because the fiber changes color under pressure, the researchers were able to measure physical properties and add data to their computational knot models."
NPR reporter Dan Gorenstein examines a study by MIT researchers that evaluates the effectiveness of a program aimed at reducing admissions for frequently hospitalized patients by providing personalized care. The researchers found that, “Patients receiving extra support were just as likely to return to the hospital within 180 days as those not receiving that help.”
A new study by MIT researchers finds that a new program aimed at improving care and reducing spending on “superutilizers” of health care did not improve patient outcomes, reports Austin Frakt for The New York Times. Frakt explains that the study’s findings could “help guide us to what may be better strategies for cutting waste.”
Forbes contributor Frederick Daso writes about Eden GeoPower, an MIT startup that has developed a new technology to allow for less-water intensive hydrocarbon extraction.
Fast Company reporter Lilly Smith spotlights SpaceUs, an MIT startup founded as part of an effort to transform urban vacant storefronts into creative destinations. Alumna and co-founder Ellen Shakespear explains that the goal for SpaceUs is to create “a way to connect in real life like you would in social media” and to create opportunities for local community engagement “in a way that’s more human.”
New York Times reporter Amos Zeeberg spotlights how Prof. Tomás Palacios and his research group are developing super-thin, 2-D materials that could help power the internet of things. “What if we were able to embed electronics in absolutely everything,” says Palacios of the inspiration for his group’s work.
Natalie Bell has been selected as the new exhibition curator for the MIT List Visual Arts Center, reports Alex Greenberger for ARTNews. “I’ve long admired the List Center as a laboratory for art and ideas, and MIT’s concentration of wildly intelligent, creative, and innovative people is a dream community to think and work alongside,” said Bell.