Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes that MIT researchers have created an algorithm that can produce realistic sounds. “The findings are an example of the power of deep learning,” explains McFarland. “With deep learning, a computer system learns to recognize patterns in huge piles of data and applies what it learns in useful ways.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that can learn how to predict sound. The algorithm “can watch a silent movie and create sounds that go along with the motions on screen. It's so good, it even fooled people into thinking they were actual, recorded sounds from the environment.”
CBC News reporter David Common writes that as part of a project called Underworlds, MIT researchers have developed robots that can sample human waste in sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "One of the holy grails of this project during its inception was to identify viral outbreaks," explains Jessica Snyder, an MIT postdoc.
The PBS NewsHour highlights how one organization used tracking technology developed by Prof. Carlo Ratti to learn what happens to recycled electronic waste. “Tracking is really the first step in order to design a better system,” Ratti said. “One of the surprising things we discovered is how far waste travels.”
WBUR reporter Jack Lepiarz speaks with Prof. Marta Gonzalez about her traffic study that found that if drivers switched routes during rush hour they could cut back on congestion. “We have enough space, in theory, but we are all filling up a few streets that get congested,” Gonzalez explains.
New York Times reporter Steve Lohr writes that MIT researchers have developed a website, dubbed Data USA, aimed at making government data easier to understand and use. Prof. Cesar Hidalgo, who led the development of DATA USA, explains that the website was devised to “transform data into stories.”
In an article for the Financial Times about new health care technologies, Sarah Murray highlights Prof. Rosalind Picard’s work developing wearable monitoring devices that could help people with conditions like epilepsy. “Wearables are going to be much bigger than anyone imagined,” says Picard.
The Economist highlights how researchers in MIT’s SENSEable City Lab are developing sensors to measure noise and pollution levels, and robots to collect health information. “MIT’s SENSEable City Lab in Cambridge across the Charles River gives a taste of how much more cities could do with data,” The Economist notes.
MIT researchers are collecting information from sewer systems in an effort to better understand human health, writes Nicola Davis for The Guardian. “The beauty of looking at the sewage is there is a possibility that you can look not only for that pollutant, but some version of that pollutant that’s been modified by the human body,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.
Boston Globe reporter Curt Woodward writes about Attorney General Maura Healey’s remarks at MIT about the importance of consumer privacy. “We are witnessing in our own backyard the growth of an exciting, forward-looking industry fueled by consumer data,” Healey said. “But its full potential cannot be achieved if consumers are not protected and respected.”
During a forum at MIT, Attorney General Maura Healey spoke about the need for protections for online consumers, reports Zeninjor Enwemeka for WBUR. “We just need to make sure that big data isn’t being used to give certain consumers an unfair deal based on who they are, where they are or what they do online,” Healey said.
Wall Street Journal reporter Angus Loten writes that MIT researchers are investigating the viability of developing underground networks where autonomous vehicles could deliver goods in urban centers. According to Loten, Prof. Sertac Karaman explained that “subterranean drones have a number of advantages over unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Reuters reporter Dustin Volz writes that during an MIT event, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced that the U.S. will begin sending digital trade experts to foreign markets. Pritzker also “discussed the Privacy Shield and other issues facing the transatlantic digital economy with Andrus Ansip, vice president of the European Commission's digital single market.”
Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with Boston Globe reporter Murray Carpenter about how scientists need more powerful computers to help gain a better understanding of brain function. “The cool part of neuroengineering is that we have all these unmet needs,” Boyden says. “I think there is an enormous amount of hope generated by bringing new tools into neuroscience.”
Kyle Clauss writes for Boston Magazine about graduate student Adrian Dalca, who captured one million photographs of the Boston skyline. The resulting collection, called the Boston Timescape Project, is a “comprehensive collection of view of our fair metropolis, in every season, in every condition,” writes Clauss.