Xinhua news agency reports that MIT researchers have developed a robotic glider based on an albatross that can skim along the water’s surface “while surfing the waves like a sailboat.” “The researchers hope that in the near future, such compact and speedy robotic water-skimmers may be deployed in teams to survey large swaths of the ocean.”
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that MIT researchers have designed a kit that allows scientists to develop diagnostic tests quickly and cheaply. The kit, “uses modular blocks that can be connected in different patterns to replicate the function that would typically be built into a manufactured test for pregnancy, glucose, or an infection or other disease.”
Using LiDAR sensors, MIT researchers have developed an autonomous vehicle navigation system for rural roads with “no detailed, three-dimensional map for the vehicle to reference,” reports Rob Verger of Popular Science. “The solution for urban mapping really doesn’t scale very well to a huge portion of the country,” explains graduate student Teddy Ort.
Coryanne Hicks of U.S. News & World Report highlights research by Prof. Andrew Lo and graduate student Pablo Azar in an article about using Twitter to spot financial trends. The study predicted market shifts based on the emotional context of tweets, finding that "when people start to get nervous, you can detect that very clearly," says Lo.
Research led by postdoc Yevgeni Berzak examined the correlation between eye movement and language proficiency. Sandrine Ceurstemont of New Scientist notes that the team thinks results of the study could be used to “modify” text to a reader’s ability level, “catering to both second language and native speakers.”
Prof. Sara Seager speaks with Nova Wonders about the hope of finding “some sign of life” with the TESS mission. "We'd like to see methane and other gases,” says Seager. “And some of these, on their own or together, would help make the case for life on another planet.”
Yobe, a company co-founded by alumnus S. Hamid Nawab, uses a signal processing device to make it easier for machines to identify a specific voice in noise or among other voices. This technology has potential applications for “law enforcement, hearing aid manufacturers and meeting transcription services,” writes Ron Miller for TechCrunch.
In a commentary on CNBC, graduate student J. Daniel Kim and a co-author describe research with Prof. Pierre Azoulay and the U.S. Census Bureau on the average age of successful entrepreneurs. By working with the U.S. Census Bureau, they were able “to examine all businesses launched in the U.S. between 2007 and 2014, encompassing 2.7 million founders.”
In an article for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, discusses the results of a study on generational attitudes about the environment. While Millennials often believe their older peers committed “unforgivable environmental sins over past decades,” Coughlin argues the data also show that older adults “might just be the catalyst and be the best hope we have for a more sustainable society in the coming century.”
In an article for Salon, Associate Prof. Noelle Eckley Selin and postdoc Sae Yun Kwon discuss their latest research, which examined emissions in China. They write that although mercury pollution is often associated with fish consumption, “China’s future emissions trajectory can have a measurable influence on the country’s rice methylmercury” levels, as well.
The Economist explores the basics of free trade, its benefits and downsides, with Prof. John Van Reenen. “With free trade, you come into more contact with foreign companies, new ideas, new people and so on,” explains Van Reenen. “That’s mutually beneficial. And it is a political force for cooperation.”
Eric Mack writes for Forbes about a new system from MIT researchers that uses GPS in conjunction with LIDAR and IMU sensors to power self-driving vehicle navigation. Graduate student Teddy Ort says the system “shows the potential of self-driving cars being able to actually handle roads beyond the small number that tech companies have mapped.”
Bucking conventional wisdom, research co-authored by Prof. Josh Tenenbaum shows that “picking up the subtleties of grammar in a a second language does not fade until well into the teens,” writes Dana G. Smith for Scientific American. “To become completely fluent, however, learning should start before the age of 10.”
MapLite, a new system developed by CSAIL, aims to help autonomous vehicles navigate uncharted areas, writes Jesus Diaz for Co.Design. “[I]f autonomous cars can reach the millions of people who live beyond the city and are unable to pilot their own vehicles,” said graduate student Teddy Ort, “they will be uniquely capable of providing mobility to those who have very few alternatives.”
MIT researchers have identified the brain circuit required for observational learning, reports Xinhua. According to the study, the area involved in evaluating social information is more active when witnessing an experience and “relays information about the experience” to the region important for processing emotions.