HuffPost reporter Florence Breton spotlights the work of alumna Farah Alibay PhD '14, an aerospace engineer who is working on the Mars rover for the 2020 mission. “I want to show everyone that a diverse team can perform,” says Alibay. “I want to change the aerospace culture and the way we integrate young female engineers and celebrate differences.
MIT researchers have developed a new framework aimed at determining the best method to avoid a collision with an Earth-bound asteroid, reports Sophie Lewis for CBS News. “The method developed at MIT could give scientists a handy guide to determine the best course of action before launching a full-scale attack on a potential planet-killer,” Lewis explains.
MIT researchers used machine learning to identify an antibiotic capable of killing drug-resistant bacteria, reports Casey Ross for STAT. “I do think this platform will very directly reduce the cost involved in the discovery phase of antibiotic development,” says Prof. James Collins. “With these models, one can now get after novel chemistries in a shorter period of time involving less investment.”
Guardian reporter Ian Sample writes that MIT researchers have discovered a new antibiotic that kills drug-resistant bacteria using a deep-learning algorithm. “The drug works in a different way to existing antibacterials and is the first of its kind to be found by setting AI loose on vast digital libraries of pharmaceutical compounds,” Sample explains.
Wall Street Journal reporter Alison Gopnik spotlights a study by Prof. David Rand finds people do better at judging whether news stories on social media are true or false if they are given time to think. “People were more likely to spot the difference between real and fake news when they had time to think than when they had to decide quickly,” writes Gopnik.
Inverse reporter Passant Rabie spotlights how a team of MIT researchers have developed three strategies aimed at deflecting asteroids headed for Earth. “If you have enough time and you want a high probability of success, what you do is you send three missions,” explains Prof. Olivier de Weck.
Popular Mechanics reporter Jennifer Leman writes that a team of astronomers, including MIT researchers, has captured a series of images illuminating the surface of a golf-ball shaped asteroid called Pallas. The researchers found that Pallas “may have a mottled surface because of its curious orbit.”
TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington writes that MIT researchers have developed a framework for determining the best course of action to take to deflect an incoming asteroid. The researchers developed a “decision map” that takes into account “the mass and relative momentum of an approaching asteroid, as well as the expected time we have before it enters into a so-called ‘keyhole.’”
MIT researchers have found there may be shortages of cobalt if the heavy metal is not refined and recycled more efficiently, reports Donna Lu for New Scientist. The researchers found “global demand for cobalt will rise to between 235,000 and 430,000 tonnes by 2030 – an amount that is at least 1.6 times the world’s current capacity to refine the metal, as of 2016 figures.”
Prof. Yossi Sheffi writes for The Wall Street Journal about how the coronavirus could cause supply chain disruptions. “The best course of action for companies is to analyze possible outcomes in the context of known supply-chain risks based on historical precedents,” writes Sheffi, “and to take precautionary measures that minimize exposure to future disruptions.”
WBUR’s Cristela Guerra highlights a new exhibit at the MIT List Visual Arts Center called “Colored People Time.” The exhibit “turns time on its head,” Guerra explains, and “dives into questions of race, colonization, and reparations."
Prof. John Sterman speaks with Emma Smith of CBC about how Nova Scotia’s plan to switch from oil to wood for heating some public buildings will speed up climate change. “Turns out that wood and coal have about the same amount of carbon per unit of useful energy in them, but burning wood is less efficient," says Sterman.
Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with Jon Fortt of CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” about how the coronavirus could hurt global businesses. “It affects both supply and demand,” says Sheffi. “It’s not just manufacturing in China that is affected.”
MIT researchers have identified security flaws in a mobile voting application that allowed some overseas and military citizens to vote remotely, reports Lydia Emmanouilidou for PRI’s The World. “When things are opaque — when you can't verify, when you can't see what the code is doing,” says graduate student Michael Specter, “there is no way of vetting that it's doing the right thing.”
MIT researchers have developed a new smart diaper that can send caregivers a message when it detects moisture, reports Caroline Enos for The Boston Globe. “A small moisture sensor in the diaper contains a radio frequency identification tag, which transmits a radio signal to a nearby receiver when the diaper becomes wet,” Enos writes.