Writing for Sports Illustrated, Prof. John Leonard explains his analysis of the science behind Deflategate. Leonard writes that he is, “100% convinced that there was no illegal deflation. Understanding why is a tale of two inexpensive digital pressure gauges—the so-called Logo Gauge and the Non-Logo Gauge.”
To encourage safer driving in Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh has announced a competition that uses a smartphone app developed by MIT startup Cambridge Telematics to reward driver performance, reports Dante Ramos for The Boston Globe. The app gives motorists “star ratings if they stay off their phones; drive at reasonable speeds; and brake, accelerate, and turn carefully.”
Grace Williams reports for FOX News that CSAIL researchers are 3-D printing shock-absorbing skins to protect robots. “Dubbed the ‘programmable viscoelastic material’ (PVM) technique, MIT’s printing method gives objects the precise stiffness or elasticity they require,” writes Williams.
Sloan Senior Lecturer Robert Pozen speaks to Matt Miller of Bloomberg Markets about the risks associated with investing in junk bonds and emerging market bonds with potential interest rate hikes. “If the Fed raised interest rates the U.S. dollar would go up, it would hurt these currencies in the emerging markets,” Pozen explains.
Researchers at the MIT Open Style Lab are creating products for people with disabilities in an attempt to fill a void in the clothing industry, writes Dana Guth for Boston Magazine. “More people suffer from these problems than you would ever realize looking at the market,” says Grace Jun, the lab’s executive director.
To develop safer, more durable robots, CSAIL researchers have developed a technique to 3-D print robots with shock-absorbing skins, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. McFarland explains that as the “‘bumpers’ aren't rigid, it's less dangerous for a robot to crash into something.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a method to 3-D print robots with customized shock absorbers. The researchers hope that the “shock absorbing material could be used to create better shock absorbers for delivery drones, shock-resistant shoe soles, and even helmets.”
In a Boston Globe article about sensing technologies, Kevin Hartnett highlights Vice President Sanjay Sarma’s work developing techniques to detect where energy is leaking from a building and the condition of street lights. “Many cities have poor inventories of their infrastructure and don’t know if enough light is being delivered on the ground,” says Sarma.
Adam Piore spotlights Prof. Earl Miller’s research into the mechanisms behind working memory in an article for Discover. “Earl is kind of a rock star,” says Prof. Brad Postle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When he says something, a lot more people notice it.”
In this video, CNN spotlights how researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed a robot, named Luigi, to collect bacteria from the sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "Sewers represent a unique opportunity where health data from everybody in a community is pooled together,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.
“Poor Economics” by Professors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo is included in a CNBC list compiled by Marguerite Ward of 20 books that will “make you look smart.” The book examines how “developed nations and their citizens can provide aid that would actively improve poor societies,” explains Ward.
Howard Shrobe, head of the Cybersecurity@CSAIL initiative, discusses the possibility of creating a computer system that can’t be hacked in a CNBC article. “What we need to think about are the architectural principles that would govern secure designs,” writes Shrobe. “Memory safety errors are a key part of well over 50 percent of the vulnerabilities.”
Prof. Thomas Levenson writes for The Atlantic about the response to author Andrea Wulf winning the Royal Society Insight Investment Book Prize. “Discounting a great work at the moment it earns one of science writing’s highest honors based on the gender of its creator is just one more barrier women science writers have to deal with that men don’t.”
A study by Prof. Antoinette Schoar finds that hiring a CEO whose first job was during a recession can help boost a company’s shares, writes Alina Dizik for The Wall Street Journal. The researchers found a close connection between “starting one’s career in a recession and developing a reputation as a conservative, low-risk manager.”
Erandi Palihakkara writes for The Huffington Post about the Viet Youth Projects Conference, an event held at MIT and co-organized by undergraduate Trinh Nguyen, aimed at bringing together Vietnamese youths focused on developing innovative solutions for social problems. The conference was a “networking and learning opportunity that brings together the emerging leaders of social change,” Palihakkara writes.