Researchers from MIT and elsewhere are developing an electronic pill that can “measure heart rate, breathing rate and core temperature – from inside a human stomach,” reports Celia Ford for Wired. “We have a solution that’s relatively simple and enables access broadly,” says Prof. Giovanni. “I think that can be really transformative.”
Forbes contributor William Haseltine spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a flexible ultrasound patch that can be used to help estimate bladder volume. “The applications for long-term therapeutic and regenerative medicine for the ultrasound patch are innumerable, only to be limited by the imagination of those implementing their use,” writes Haseltine. “Among the most forthcoming are situations where someone may be unable to visit their physician for a medically-administered ultrasound.”
Ariel Ekblaw, director of the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, speaks with Wired reporter Ramin Skibba on a panel discussion on the future of space exploration. “In the future, instead of thinking about space habitats and life in space as a domain where it’s just about survival, which it has certainly been until recently, we’re at this inflection point,” says Ekblaw. “We can begin to think about thriving in space, designing space architecture that is welcoming to more of the public that doesn’t just look like a science lab on orbit and so to be able to do that, we need responsive space habitats, really capable integration of all kinds of different systems, and AI will have a huge role in that.”
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with CNBC about the potential impact of AI in the workplace. “I think the incentive in the industry… especially with the idea that you have to dominate the market by becoming the largest players, I think those are not helping because those are making us rush down the easiest road, the lowest resistance path, which is often automation,” says Acemoglu. “I don’t think that is going to get us the kind of aspirations that are articulated where we can make blue collar workers, electricians, nurses, teachers much more capable because we have given them tools to be better workers and to make much higher quality services.”
Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, and research affiliates Ramin Hasani, Mathias Lechner, and Alexander Amini have co-founded Liquid AI, a startup building a general-purpose AI system powered by a liquid neural network, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “Accountability and safety of large AI models is of paramount importance,” says Hasani. “Liquid AI offers more capital efficient, reliable, explainable and capable machine learning models for both domain-specific and generative AI applications."
Boston Globe reporters Aaron Pressman and Jon Chesto spotlight Liquid AI, a new startup founded by MIT researchers that is developing an AI system that relies on neural-network models that are “much simpler and require significantly less computer power to train and operate” than generative AI systems. “You need a fraction of the cost of developing generative AI, and the carbon footprint is much lower,” explains Liquid AI CEO Ramin Hasani, a research affiliate at CSAIL. “You get the same capabilities with a much smaller representation.”
Christian Science Monitor reporter Ira Porter spotlights undergraduate Subin Kim and his experience transferring from community college to MIT through the Transfer Scholars Network, which is aimed at helping community college students find a path to four-year universities. “Every student that we admit, we’re looking for academic excellence and personal excellence,” says Stuart Schmill, dean of MIT admissions and student financial services. “And the students that we’ve brought in from the Transfer Scholar Network and in general from community colleges are remarkable individuals.”
Prof. Tavneet Suri speaks with NPR hosts Ari Shapiro and Nurith Aizenman about her research with GiveDirectly a U.S. based charity that provides villages in Kenya with universal basic income. Suri’s work studies how the method of income delivery payments – monthly income or single lump sum payments – can impact communities. “We need to see if these effects last,” says Suri. “Does it just disappear, or was this enough to keep them going forever?”
Bloomberg reporter Magdalena del Valle spotlights Regent, an all-electric sea glider startup founded by alumni Billy Thalheimer and Michael Klinker. Regent is combining electric propulsion and hydrofoils to, “offer a carbon-free alternative for overwater routes such as New York to Boston, Los Angeles to San Diego, or Miami to the Bahamas,” writes del Valle.
Alexander Bratianu-Badea SM '15 co-founded De-Ice, a startup creating a new and efficient way to thaw aircrafts, reports Kate Duffy for Bloomberg. Bratianu-Badea says, “De-Ice’s strips stick onto the plane with aerospace-grade, acrylic-based adhesive backing. During regulatory tests, the system was exposed to different temperatures, humidifies and chemicals. Even UV light and submersion in a heated oil bath couldn’t damage it.”
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have developed a new AI technique for teaching robots to pack items into a limited space while adhering to a range of constraints, reports Nick Hilden for Scientific American. “We want to have a learning-based method to solve constraints quickly because learning-based [AI] will solve faster, compared to traditional methods,” says graduate student Zhutian “Skye” Yang.
MIT researchers have developed a, “new laser-based technique that could speed up the discovery of promising metamaterials for real-world applications,” reports Andrew Corselli for Tech Briefs. The technique “offers a safe, reliable, and high-throughput way to dynamically characterize microscale metamaterials, for the first time,” reports Corselli.
Writing for The Hill Prof. Emeritus Henry Jacoby highlights the importance of addressing climate change in discussions of government policy. “If the global emission reduction efforts falter, the ensuing damages to the most vulnerable will be especially dire,” says Jacoby. “The world is already plagued with failed nation-states unable to sustain their population while maintaining political stability. As the number of these nation-state failures increases, there will be hundreds of millions of environmental refugees and stateless people, taxing the available resources of the entire planet.”
Postdoctoral associate Wen Shuhao and postdoctoral fellows Ma Jian and Lai Lipeng co-founded Xtalpi, a biotech startup that uses “artificial intelligence to find chemical compounds that could be developed into new drugs,” reports Zinnia Lee for Forbes. “By combining AI, quantum physics, cloud computing and robotic automation, Xtalpi said it helps increase the efficiency and success rate of identifying novel drug compounds,” writes Lee. “The company has recently expanded into discovering new chemical compounds for agricultural technology, cosmetics and other applications.”
New research by Prof. Tavneet Suri and Prof. Abhijit Banerjee explores how to most effectively direct cash to low-income households, reports Dylan Matthews for Vox. Suri and Banerjee compare “three groups: short-term basic income recipients (who got the $20 payments for two years), long-term basic income recipients (who get the money for the full 12 years), and lump sum recipients, who got $500 all at once, or roughly the same amount as the short-term basic income group,” writes Matthews. “Suri and Banerjee found that the lump sum group earned more, started more businesses, and spent more on education than the monthly group.”