MIT Lecturer B.D. Colen speaks with Boston Magazine reporter Chris Sweeney about his new photography exhibit, “Alone, Together,” which looks at how people riding the MBTA attempt to find some privacy. Colen explains that the idea behind the exhibit “isn’t to invade people’s privacy. You’re in public, and I’m just documenting how people behave under these circumstances.”
AP reporter Josh Lederman highlights the role Prof. Emeritus Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, played in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal. Lederman writes that by all accounts Moniz played a “pivotal role in reaching the historic nuclear accord.”
Lily Rothman writes for TIME about how during computer scientist Margaret Hamilton’s time at MIT, she led the development of critical flight software that helped make the Apollo 11 moon landing possible. Hamilton recalls that she was “more happy about it [the on-board flight software] working than about the fact that we landed.”
In an article for Bloomberg Business about how poverty can impact brain development in children, John Tozzi highlights research by Prof. John Gabrieli examining how family income can affect academic achievement. "It’s only in the last few years that there’s been any systematic research asking about the biological side of the story," explains Gabrieli.
New York Times reporter John Markoff writes about Alias, a new system aimed at augmenting human pilots on flights. The system is being developed by Auroa Flight Sciences, which grew out of an MIT project, and with the assistance of researchers from MIT and Duke University.
Prof. Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, writes for Fortune about how online education could help close the skills gap. Agarwal proposes that educational providers and employers can address the gap by using online education to open up "more avenues to learners and employees alike.”
In an article for USA Today about slouching, Julia Savacool highlights an MIT study that found “people who assumed more ‘expansive’ postures, such as sprawling out in a chair as opposed to sitting in a gentlemanly fashion, were more likely to steal money or cheat on a test.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for the Huffington Post about aging. Coughlin argues that, “it may not be so bad to be old after all,” citing new research showing that “older Americans, those age 55 and older, have a higher state of well-being than the younger population.”
Felicia Gans writes for The Boston Globe that the images and information gathered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has changed the way that Prof. Richard Binzel and other scientists think about Pluto. “We had expected to be surprised by what Pluto had to offer, but this is beyond anything we imagined,” says Binzel.
In an article for Forbes, Greg Satell applied Prof. Jeremy England’s theories about the meaning of life to the way new technologies are impacting humans. Satell writes that if England is right and “the purpose of life is to create order,” humans can find meaning in, “channeling our energies to adapt to that which is to come.”
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point, about the Future of Life Institute, which is focused on addressing potential risks posed by artificial intelligence. Tegmark explains that the Institute's goal is “to figure out a way of helping AI amplify our intelligence for good.”
Suzanne Jacobs writes for Grist about Professor Jessika Trancik’s research and her focus on the scalability and efficiency of clean technologies. “It’s not a matter of can this technology scale up; it’s the question of can it scale up quickly enough to make a difference,” says Trancik.
CBS Boston reporter Susie Steimie writes about Prof. Richard Binzel’s work as a member of the NASA New Horizons team and his thoughts on the importance of the mission. “We hope by reaching this unreachable frontier that it inspires everyone especially the young kids. We think this is the Apollo moment of our generation,” says Binzel.
In an article for WBUR, Amelia Mason highlights the top musicians to see at the Outside the Box Festival, highlighting MIT’s Gamelan Galak Tika ensemble. Mason writes that the ensemble “infuses traditional Balinese gamelan music with experimental and modern classical sounds.”
John Tirman, executive director of the Center for International Studies, writes for The Huffington Post about the negotiations behind the Iran nuclear deal. Tirman draws parallels between the successful negotiations with Iran and the political circumstances that brought about the end of the Cold War.