In the Media

Writing for The Boston Globe, Leon Nayfakh examines the day he spent attending a conference via the People’s Bot, a telepresence robot developed by a team of MIT researchers.

Martin LaMonica of The Boston Globe writes about two MIT startups that are aiming to solve long-standing problems with the production of nuclear power. Transatomic Power and UPower Technologies are looking for ways to make efficient use of radioactive waste and develop smaller, cheaper plants, respectively.

In an article for El Mundo (written in Spanish), Carlos Betriu writes about the annual robotics competition that is the culmination of course 2.007. The goal of the course is to challenge students to solve problems with robots and to think creatively, Betriu reports.

Austin Hess reports on MIT’s new environment initiative in an article for The Tech. “MIT undertakes initiatives to inspire genuinely new ideas and the initiative on the environment will be no exception,” Maria T. Zuber, MIT Vice President for Research, told The Tech.

NPR’s Sally Herships speaks with Prof. M. Taylor Fravel about the territorial dispute in the South China Sea. “Fravel notes that border disputes in the area have been going on for decades and this is China's way of trying to demonstrate its claim to the territory,” Herships reports.

In an article for The New York Times, John Markoff writes about a recent synthetic biology conference hosted by MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. “Neil Gershenfeld, a physicist who is the director of the Center for Bits and Atoms, said that the improvement in the capacity to read and write biological genes has given rise to the possibility of ‘spectacular advances,’” Markoff writes.

“The goal of the simulation is to compare the actual cosmos — viewable via telescope — to the computer-created universe. The comparison will allow scientists to test if their theories on the creation of the universe work,” Salon reporter Sarah Gray writes of Illustris.

“Three scientific papers about the Y chromosome, which determines maleness in humans and most other mammals, should lay to rest the myth that it may disappear after a few more million years of evolution,” Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes of MIT research on the Y chromosome.

MIT alumnus James Lee’s company has invented an armrest with a double-decker design that allows it to be shared comfortably, WCVB reports.

Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson writes about 2.007’s robotics competition. “Students competed at MITSKI, in which the robots they built from scratch had to climb ski slopes, descend them with grace, collect slalom flags, return flags to the ski chalet, and collect medals,” Johnson writes.

In this article (written in Spanish), EFE news wire reports on MIT’s new lab aimed at finding solutions to growing food and water shortages brought on by population growth and climate change. The new lab is being established thanks to a gift from alumnus Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.

Lauren Tara LaCapra of Reuters writes about Professor Andrew Lo’s recent work for the Treasury Department. Lo is helping to build tools to find potential credit risk in the banking industry, starting with the mortgage market.

GreenWire reporter Katherine Ling writes about MIT’s new environment initiative. The initiative will, "use interdisciplinary research across physical and social sciences, engineering, and urban planning and policy to address environmental problems.”

Reporting for Wired, Chris Higgins writes about how researchers from MIT have uncovered the mystery of how the human eye detects motion thanks to the efforts of thousands of people from around the world who played the citizen science computer game EyeWire.

In a piece for The New York Times, Edward Wong interviews Professor M. Taylor Fravel on the confrontation between Vietnam and China over petroleum-rich sections of the South China Sea. “The risk of escalation is real,” says Fravel. “Offshore oil and gas play an important role in Vietnam’s economy.”