Prof. Kate Brown speaks with Kenneth Cukier on the Economist Radio podcast Babbage about her new book “Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future.” “In many ways we all live in the shadow of the mushroom cloud, or Chernobyl,” says Brown, “and that’s what I’d like us to be more conscious of as we talk about these issues now.”
Alumnus Tom Leighton, CEO and co-founder of Akamai, speaks with Forbes contributor Peter High about the company’s founding and his push towards making the company more focused on cybersecurity.
The Economist spotlights the work of Prof. David Autor and the influence of his research examining how labor markets respond to disruption. The Economist notes that Autor’s research “is enormously influential, in large part because of his groundbreaking work on the effects on American workers of China’s extraordinary rise.”
The Financial Times has named Prof. Tim Berners-Lee its "Boldness in Business" Person of the Year for his work aimed at providing people with more control over how their personal data is used online, reports John Thornhill. “We know how to fire rockets into the sky. We should be able to build constructive social networks,” says Lee.
Financial Times reporter Hannah Kuchler writes that researchers from MIT and a number of other institutions have called for a moratorium on editing inheritable human genes. Kuchler writes that the researchers called for the establishment of “an international framework on the conditions in which such editing could be allowed.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti speaks with NBC Mach reporter Wynne Parry about his vision for the city of the future. “New technologies will have an impact on the experience of the city more than on its physical form,” Ratti explains. “The way we move, communicate and shop will be radically different from how it is today.”
Axios reporter Steve Levine writes that a new paper by Prof. David Autor shows how, “cities, once the hope of people seeking a middle-class life, are now a symbol of the disappearance of well-paid, middle-skill work.”
John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, highlights Prof. David Autor’s research in a show on the impacts of automation.
Prof. Sara Seager speaks with National Geographic reporter Jamie Shreeve about her work searching for an Earth-like planet orbiting a sunlike star. “You never know what’s going to happen,” Seager says. “But I know that something great is around those stars.”
Guardian columnist John Naughton highlights Prof. Emeritus Jay Forrester’s work developing a simulation tool for urban planning. “A chance encounter with the outgoing mayor of Boston awakened Forrester’s interest in cities and led to the construction of a simulation model of a city at a time when American planners were alarmed by the flight to the suburbs,” Naughton explains.
Quartz reporter Jenny Anderson highlights Prof. Mitchel Resnick’s ideas for how to apply the kindergarten approach to learning to our entire educational system, in an effort to inspire lifelong learning. Anderson explains that Mitchel believes, “Kids should actively work on projects, which intersect with something they are passionate about, while working with peers in a playful environment.”
President Reif speaks with Gerry Baker of WSJ at Large about the impact of AI on the future of education and work. “Part of the goal of the [MIT Schwarzman] college is, as we educate people to use these [AI] tools, to educate them in a way that empowers human beings, not replaces human beings,” says Reif.
Prof. Polina Anikeeva speaks with Forbes contributor Poornima Peiris about her work developing materials that could be used to help explore and better understand the brain and nervous system. “I am not interested in just improving things, I want to work on innovative ideas,” says Anikeeva.
Writing for The Conversation, Prof. Thomas Kochan examines how lessons learned from labor negotiations could be applied to resolving the government shutdown. “A skilled labor mediation team would use a strategy that allows each party to hold to their publicly stated commitments and positions while engaging in private off-the-record conversations that actually ignore what they said in public,” Kochan explains.
Prof. John E. Fernández, director of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, writes in a letter to The Boston Globe that the Trump administration should make an investment in rebuilding America’s infrastructure. Fernández writes that President Trump’s desire to build is good, “for local economies, job creation, and protection from emerging threats such as climate change.”