The Guardian reports on new MIT research that shows that adding carbon nanotubes to plants can enhance the natural photosynthesis process. The bionic plants could be used to harvest sunlight or detect environmental pollutants.
In a CNN article about how the human brain makes moral judgments, reporter Elizabeth Landau highlights research by MIT Professor Rebecca Saxe into how people with autism weigh intentions and outcomes differently.
In a piece written for Scientific American, Professor Andrew Lo and Dr. Roger Stein write about their belief that financial engineering can help cure cancer. By restructuring investment properties, the researchers believe they can encourage investment in the pharmaceutical industry, providing much needed funding for the development of new drugs.
In a piece for PBS’ Idea Lab, Rodrigo Davies, a researcher at the MIT Center for Civic Media, writes about a new bill in Hawaii that supports civic crowdfunding to raise funds for school maintenance and repair.
Writing for NBC News, Devin Coldewey reports that Raluca Popa, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has developed a new Web development tool that can make online services more secure.
“Living materials based on bacteria and grown in a Boston lab could point to a greener way of manufacturing,” writes BBC News reporter Roland Pease of new MIT work to develop living materials.
Writing in Bloomberg Businessweek, MIT Sloan graduate student Ricky Ashenfelter describes Spoiler Alert, an online marketplace that he created with his classmate, Emily Malina, to help solve the food waste problem in the U.S.
Smithsonian Magazine reporter Tuan C. Nguyen highlights MIT startup WiTricity, which is developing new technology for powering electronic devices wirelessly.
New Scientist reporter Stuart Clark explores the origins of the theory of cosmic inflation, which explains the rapid expansion of the universe. Clark explains that while MIT Professor Alan Guth is widely credited as the father of inflation, his work sparked widespread interest and a plethora of different theories about how the universe could have expanded.
A graduate student at the MIT Media Lab has developed a new technique to refocus a photograph after it has been captured using an inexpensive camera filter, reports Nate Lanxon in Wired.
Debbie Siegelbaum reports for BBC News on how long-term unemployment is impacting Americans. The article cites research by MIT Professor Ofer Sharone, who found that Americans tend to blame themselves for unemployment.
NECN’s John Moroney profiles the team from MIT running in this year’s Boston Marathon. The team, called MIT Strong, includes MIT faculty, staff, alumni, and students.
New York Times reporter William Yardley explores the legacy of MIT alumnus Patrick McGovern. “He was often referred to as ‘Uncle Pat’ by the thousands of employees at his company, and he was known for a determinedly human gesture in the cyberworld: traveling the planet to hand-deliver Christmas bonus checks of $500 to everyone who worked for him,” writes Yardley.
“Now researchers at MIT have devised a way to combine a living E. coli cell with inanimate building blocks, like gold nanoparticles and quantum dots, to create a hybrid ‘living material,’” writes Dexter Johnson in IEEE Spectrum.
The New York Times’ Dennis Overbye explores Professor Alan Guth’s theory of inflation in the wake of the discovery of gravitational waves from the seconds after the Big Bang occurred. The discovery appears to confirm Guth’s findings.