Prof. Xavier Giroud writes for Fortune that corporate debt played a large role in the Great Recession. “While it’s true that high levels of consumer debt helped lay the groundwork for the long economic slump that followed the financial crisis, other factors—including high levels of corporate debt—also played an important role,” Giroud explains.
Rachel Fientzeig writes for The Wall Street Journal about how employees of MIT Sloan Executive Education are experimenting with flexible work schedules. “A year into the experiment, employee surveys show stress levels have fallen, and 90% said they could better tend to family and personal life,” Feintzeig explains.
Melissa Lott writes for Scientific American about a study by researchers from MIT and Cambridge University that estimated the number of early deaths attributable to air pollution from U.K. airports. Lott explains that the “researchers found that an estimated 110 early deaths occur in the United Kingdom each year due to airport emissions.”
Curt Woodward writes for BetaBoston about a project at the MIT Media Lab that aims to improve the core software of the digital currency bitcoin. “MIT hopes its project can also influence public policy around bitcoin and develop new ways of using the technology for social benefits,” writes Woodward.
Nobel laureate John Nash, who taught at MIT from 1951 until 1959, died Saturday at age 86, writes Erica Goode for The New York Times. “John’s remarkable achievements inspired generations of mathematicians, economists and scientists,” says Christopher L. Eisgruber, the president of Princeton.
In an article for The Washington Post, MIT President L. Rafael Reif writes that the U.S. needs to develop a more effective way of bringing new innovations from the lab to the marketplace. “The United States needs a more systematic way to help its bottled-up new-science innovators deliver their ideas to the world,” Reif explains.
A group of MIT graduates has launched a new startup dedicated to making it easier for people to donate to charity, reports Lauren Landry for Boston Magazine. “We’re making it easier to donate to charity,” says alumnus Charles Huang. “You shouldn’t have to think about how to do it, just why.”
Syncopasian, a co-ed a cappella group at MIT, advanced to the final round of the new WGBH singing competition Sing That Thing! Syncopasian competed against high school, college and adult singing groups to make it to the finals, where they were crowned the college champions.
Researchers at MIT and North Carolina State University have designed a membrane that can effectively muffle low-frequency sounds, writes Daniel Akst for The Wall Street Journal. The researchers believe that the membrane could be used to make airplane cabins quieter, Akst explains.
According to The Economist, a new algorithm created by EECS graduate student YiChang Shih and his colleagues can remove the reflections that often appear in photos taken through glass. As the team describes in their paper, their software “can indeed separate the desired image from the reflected one.”
Wired reporter Emily Dreyfuss writes about the MIT team competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge and their approach to the competition. The team, which is competing using the Atlas robot designed by Boston Dynamics, has built their software so that Atlas can operate autonomously, Dreyfuss explains.
Scott Kuindersma, a post-doctoral associate and Planning and Control Lead for the MIT DARPA Robotics Challenge team, spoke with Boston.com about the Atlas robot. “Walking robots are interesting for a lot of reasons,” says Kuindersma. “They have the promise of getting over challenging terrain that would stymie many track systems.”
Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston about MIT’s Atlas robot ahead of its participation in an international competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “This is the most advanced, sophisticated machine I’ve ever worked on,” said team lead Professor Russ Tedrake.
Philips is moving its North American research headquarters to Kendall Square and has announced a $25 million research alliance with MIT, reports Boston Globe correspondent Karen Weintraub. MIT and Philips have a “resonance on specific technical issues, but also on the approach to innovation,” says Associate Provost Karen Gleason.
Gus Iverson writes for DOTmed about the new alliance between MIT and Philips aimed at spurring innovation in health care and lighting solutions technology. Philips will also be relocating its research hub to Kendall Square, which Henk van Houten, executive vice president and general manager of Philips Research, called "a thriving innovation ecosystem."