Prof. Donald Sadoway speaks with Forbes contributor Arne Alsin about the future of sustainable energy and battery design. “We definitely have to be bolder in our innovation when it comes to what goes beyond lithium-ion,” says Sadoway. “We have to apply the criterion ‘If successful, how big is the impact?’ And we have to have the courage to fail.”
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. Alan Lightman writes about the importance of wasting time. “Our hyperconnected lifestyle, without downtime, threatens our ‘inner selves,’” Lightman explains. “My inner self is that part of me that imagines, that dreams, that explores, that is constantly questioning who I am and what is important to me.”
Prof. Vipin Narang writes for Foreign Affairs about the state of North Korea’s nuclear program following President Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Narang argues that the U.S. should try to “establish a stable deterrence regime rather than pressing for immediate unilateral disarmament, ensuring that nuclear dangers on the Korean Peninsula are managed responsibly.”
Prof. Thomas Levenson participates in a WGBH Living Lab Radio panel discussion about science fiction. “Science fiction is simply literature, Levenson explains. “It might be the leading stream of fiction because we live in a world that is so conditioned by all the ways that both deep scientific ideas and their applications in everyday technology change the way we do everything.”
HUBweek, an annual festival co-founded by MIT that focuses on ideas for the future, will include a two-day Change Maker Conference this year. J.D. Capelouto writes for The Boston Globe, another HUBweek founder, that this new event “will address a variety of topics, including enabling technologies, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, and civic thinking.”
Prof. Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research, speaks with Boston Globe reporter Jon Marcus about the growing interest in space and exploration in America. “Discovery, pure and simple, is truth. It’s pure. It’s a beautiful thing,” says Zuber, who has directed several NASA missions and chairs the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Advisory Council.
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Sherry Turkle argues that machines will never be able to replace humans as compassionate companions. “Machines have not known the arc of a human life. They feel nothing of the human loss or love we describe to them,” writes Turkle. “Their conversations about life occupy the realm of the as-if.”
Institute Prof. Thomas Magnanti will receive Singapore’s Gold Public Administration Medal for his “visionary leadership” at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), reports Jolene Ang for The Straits Times. Magnanti was cited for his work organizing the university in clusters, which “better supported the interdisciplinary nature of SUTD's programmes and strengthened SUTD's research capabilities.”
In an interview with Wynne Parry of NBC Mach, Prof. Sherry Turkle expresses concern that household robots can interfere with children learning to understand and connect with one another. “There are skills of listening, of putting oneself in the place of the other, that are required when two human beings try to deeply understand each other,” Turkle explains.
In an article for The Boston Globe, Prof. Thomas Levenson reviews David Quammen’s new book, “The Tangled Tree.” Levenson writes that the book is, “much more than a report on some cool new scientific facts. It is, rather, a source of wonder.”
In an interview for Forbes, Pierson and Pete Krass speak with the ‘Edison of Medicine,’ Institute Prof. Robert Langer, about his career as a biomedical inventor and entrepreneur. Discussing why he started his first company Prof. Langer says, “I realized it was an effective path for transforming science into life-saving and life-improving inventions.”
CNN reporter Bronte Lord spotlights Prof. Kevin Esvelt’s proposal to introduce genetically engineered mice to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in an effort to stop the spread of Lyme disease. "We want to heritably immunize the local white-footed mice," Esvelt explains. "The idea is fewer infected ticks means fewer infected kids."
Prof. Dava Newman highlighted the potential concrete benefits and cultural impact of successfully landing on Mars during her commentary before a Senate subcommittee, reports Meghan Bartels for Space.com. “We get humans there with all our great science, it will just lift us up,” said Newman.
Lisa Spear of Newsweek reports that MIT researchers have found marketing algorithms do not show STEM job ads to women because reaching them through advertising is more expensive. “This means that fewer women are seeing the advertising for science related jobs, even though it’s illegal to target jobs to one gender,” explains Spear.
Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Ailsa Chang of NPR’s All Things Considered about the Trump administration’s plan to remove tariffs and trade barriers with the European Union. Johnson says a zero-tariff agreement would allow the U.S. to become more integrated with Europe.