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Marketplace

Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with Marketplace host Meghan McCarty Carino about how AI has impacted the workplace, highlighting the wide deployment of robots in warehouses. “Instead of people running around the warehouses, the people stand and the robots run around the warehouses,” Sheffi said. “But they bring the work to the people who then put it in boxes, package them.”

MIT Technology Review

Sublime Systems, a startup founded by Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang and former MIT postdoc Leah Ellis, is working to decarbonize cement making – a process which currently accounts for eight percent of global carbon emissions. The world has a huge appetite for cement, and Sublime is working to scale its production to meet it,” writes Casey Crownhart for The SparkMIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. 

Forbes

MIT has been selected as the world’s best university in the 2024 QS World University Rankings, reports Cecilia Rodriguez for Forbes. MIT has secured “the top position for the 12th consecutive year,” writes Rodriguez.

CNBC

Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang co-founded Sublime Systems, a company that has developed a new method for producing cement that is powered by electrochemistry instead of fossil fuel-powered heat, reports Catherine Clifford for CNBC. “I believe climate change has pushed all of us into an extremely fertile, creative period that will be looked back on as a true renaissance,” says Chiang. “After all, we're trying to re-invent the technological tools of the industrial revolution. There's no shortage of great problems to work on!  And time is short.”

The Boston Globe

Sublime Systems, an MIT startup, is on a mission to manufacture emissions-free cement, writes David Abel for The Boston Globe. “If we’re successful, this could be a way of making cement for millennia to come,” said Leah Ellis, chief executive of Sublime Systems. “What we’ve found is that we can bring tools from our technical training to these problems, and use them in new and creative ways,” said Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, co-founder of Sublime Systems. “I believe it’s a very fertile time for this kind of reinvention.”

DesignBoom

Eleven fellows have been selected for the 2023-2024 Morningside Academy for Design (MIT MAD) program, reports Designboom, which is focused on offering “opportunities for students, faculty, and the general public to explore the intersection of design, technology, and social impact.” The fellowship program is aimed at helping designers have a “real-world impact in fields such as sustainability, architecture, health, and social justice.”

New Scientist

Prof. Benedetto Marelli and his colleagues have created “packaging that can react to changes in the food it contains to better indicate when it has gone bad,” reports Karmela Padavic-Callaghan for New Scientist. The biodegradable plastic-like wrap, which is made from silk, changes color when it is exposed to rotting foods and degrades quickly in soil. 

WBZ TV

Prof. Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, speaks with David Wade of WBZ News about AI and the future of work. "Jobs will change, clearly some jobs will disappear. I don't want to minimize it," says Sheffi. “Some jobs will disappear, but this is a very small number. Most of the impact of technology is to assist."

Boston 25 News

Prof. Simon Johnson and Prof. Yossi Sheffi speak with Boston 25 about the potential impact of AI on the labor market. “We need people to have what’s called soft skills,” says Sheffi. “They need to be able to convince people, manage people, work with people, partner with people.” Johnson notes while there are still fields that are safe bets, but notes that the speed with which [AI] is moving and currently the acceleration is really dramatic.”

Bloomberg

Prof. Yossi Sheffi joins Bloomberg Business Hour to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on businesses, supply chain management, and risk management. “In general, over the last 50 years, supply chain has changed dramatically, infusing more and more technology into the operation,” says Sheffi.

Boston.com

Boston.com reporter Ross Cristantiello spotlights a new study by MIT researchers that examines the financial impact of rising sea levels on the MBTA. The researchers noted that their results suggest that “absent adaptation schemes, particularly at tunnel ingress locations, coastal flood risk will continue to accelerate, potentially resulting in permanent inundation of underground and low-lying sections of the transit system.”

New York Times

Prof. John Fernandez speaks with New York Times reporter Somini Sengupta about how to reduce the climate footprints of homes and office buildings, recommending creating airtight structures, switching to cleaner heating sources, using more environmentally-friendly building materials, and retrofitting existing homes and offices. “It’s going to be a lot easier to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment than almost everything else,” explains Fernandez.

Forbes

Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick spotlights Prof. Yossi Sheffi’s new book, “The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI, and the Future of Work.” McKendrick writes that Sheffi emphasizes the need to "better understand the supply chains on which our businesses and society depend, and our conception of supply chains needs to be broadened — from product and parts delivery networks to the very essence of organizations themselves.”

The Hill

Writing for The Hill, Prof. Yossi Sheffi examines several strategies companies could use to help improve supply chain sustainability, including redesigning last-mile deliveries, influencing consumer choices and incentivizing returnable containers. “Supply chains can be designed to reduce emissions from operations and to reorient their buying behavior in support of carbon emissions reductions,” writes Sheffi.

Boston.com

Visiting scientist Judah Cohen speaks with Boston.com reporter Eli Curwin about how a combination of more accurate data collection, precise weather models, and accessible forecast predictions make it unlikely that Massachusetts residents would be surprised again by a storm like the infamous Blizzard of ‘78. “The satellites, the ships, the weather stations, weather balloons used to integrate and assimilate all that data are much better than they used to be,” says Cohen.