In the Media

According to new research by MIT physicists, a laser able to capture neutrinos, abundant yet intangible particles in the universe, is likely impossible to build, writes New Scientist’s Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. “The key to the neutrino laser proposal was a memory effect: when an atom in the BEC (Bose-Einstein condensate) emitted a neutrino, it would be more likely to continue emitting more neutrinos in the same direction, thus pushing them into a beam, because the quantum state that all the ultracold atoms share would retain a trace of that first emission,” Padavic-Callaghan explains. “[Prof. Wolfgang] Ketterle and his colleagues showed that this memory, although present, would be about 10,000 billion times too brief to affect the neutrinos as intended.” 

MIT researchers have developed an AI-powered robotic therapy system that combines wearable force sensors and camera recordings of physical therapists’ movements to provide personalized therapy to patients, writes Newsweek’s Claudia Tanner. “Robotic assistance will allow patients to practice exercises more often while still receiving support tailored to their abilities,” says Johannes Lachner, who completed this work as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. “Our goal is to take a step toward more accessible and personalized physical rehabilitation, giving more patients the opportunity to regain movement and independence.” 

Writing for The Boston Globe, President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif describes the need to develop a universal “moral floor,” like the Ten Commandments, which provide clear guidelines for the use of AI. “Today, people are creating and developing intelligence that is much more capable, in narrow ways, than our own,” Reif explains. “We owe humanity the same discipline to civilize AI before it is too late: Write down what lines must never be crossed, make the list short enough to remember, and hold every actor building it, and using it, accountable for its actions.”

Prof. Paul Osterman speaks to Fortune’s Nick Lichtenberg about how his new book “Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment” explores how a perceived lack of ambition among Gen Z reflects the decreased amount of job security and opportunity available to young workers. “No one has job security anymore, but these folks [disposable workers] are hired with that expectation and are not going to be around for long,” says Osterman.

MassLive’s Joshua Macht explains how the MIT Museum is a “fitting” setting to host the honorees of MassLive’s “Most Influential Innovators” list, which includes President Sally Kornbluth and a number of other MIT faculty and alumni. “The museum welcomes all to participate in MIT’s unique culture of problem solving and playful creativity,” writes Macht. “It is also producing the inaugural MIT Future Fest, a new, annual festival exploring the future of science, technology, art and design.”  

MassLive’s “Most Influential Innovators” list, which celebrates inventors from across the Commonwealth, spotlights numerous MIT community members including President Sally Kornbluth, Prof. Russ Tedrake; Noubar Afeyan PhD ‘87 (a member of the MIT Corporation), Visiting Scientist Brandon Sorbom PhD ‘17, Visiting Scholar Ariel Ekblaw SM '17, PhD ‘20, Tye Brady SM '99, Maxim Lobovsky SM ‘11, and Andy Ory. “Kornbluth has been working hard to defend the university, which has long been a major economic engine not just for Massachusetts, but for the country,” writes reporter Scott Kirsner. 

MIT researchers have developed a design tool to highlight the environmental factors that can reduce anxiety, homesickness and boredom during long-duration stays in space, writes Earth.com’s Luis Arrais. “Much like how in our homes, the arrangement of our furniture, the size of our rooms, the people we live with, even the shelves we use to store our belongings, all contribute to our sense of wellbeing,” says graduate student Mich Lin,. “One of my favorite connections we make is to highlight the impact of place attachment to the feeling of homesickness.” 

Prof. David Autor speaks to Financial Times reporter Christian Davies about the increased use of physical AI systems at U.S. manufacturing companies. “[Autor says] that while individual companies might increase headcount as they grow more productive, it is a fallacy to assume this will be replicated across the manufacturing sector as a whole, noting that previous waves of automation in the US have all driven large-scale declines in blue-collar employment,” writes Davies.  

WBUR’s Lloyd Schwartz highlights the forthcoming Radius Ensemble performance at MIT’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall on Oct. 17. “Oboist Jennifer Montbach is the founding impresario and leader of this superb group that specializes in contemporary music but always has the surprise of an older and only sometimes more familiar piece,” writes Schwartz.  

MIT Media Lab researchers found that using large language models for writing assistance was associated with weaker recall and lower ownership of the work produced, writes Forbes’ Glenn Llopis. “Notice the pattern: when AI does too much, the person may retain too little,” writes Llopis.  

Prof. Susan Solomon joins Cleo Abram’s “HUGE* If True,” to discuss her 1985 research uncovering how chlorofluorocarbons, were depleting the ozone layer, which led to the Montreal Protocol that banned the use of those chemicals. “It was an interesting feeling being under the ozone hole, knowing that half a world away an incredible change [the Montreal Protocol] had just occurred that really had a lot of potential to change things in the future—and indeed it did,” says Solomon.  

Prof. Regina Barzilay, graduate student Aziz Ayed and alumna Sydney Pham ‘24 are featured in an article about AI models and the workforce, written by Nature’s Ben Deighton. “Sometimes models can make sense of unexpected observations, which can guide further iterations of studies,” Pham says. “It’s helpful to understand how the models generate their results.” 

Graduate student Jaida Elcock speaks to Popular Science’s Laura Baisas about tagging a whale shark about 100 miles off the coast of New England, as part of an effort to learn more about the behavior of these giant sea creatures, in the biodiverse northeast canyon and seamounts region of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. “There are whale shark aggregations all over the place. The Philippines, Mexico, Australia, tropical places like that. A lot of these aggregations are also often young individuals, subadult individuals, juveniles,” says Elcock. “Out in the [northeast] canyons, we’re seeing large adults.” 

A study by researchers from the MIT Media Lab found up to 55% lower neural connectivity in participants who used AI for writing assistance, and flagged children as especially vulnerable, writes Forbes’ Dana Williams. “83% of participants who used a chatbot could not quote a single sentence from an essay they had finished minutes earlier, versus roughly 11% of those who wrote unaided,” Williams notes. “The words were produced, but they never entered a mind.”  

Prof. Emeritus Kerry Emanuel speaks to The New York Times’ William J. Broad about the use of AI models in predicting hurricanes. “It’s human beings who have to make these calls,” says Emanuel. “[Eventually] AI will be treated as just another form of guidance” along with satellite images and readings from hurricane hunter aircraft that pierce the tempests.