Diana Kwon highlights the research of Prof. Katharina Ribbeck in an article for Scientific American about the biological benefits of mucus. “I like to call [mucus] the unsung hero of the body — it’s something that has such powerful effects over our health,” says Ribbeck.
Profs. Dina Katabi and Angelika Amon are included in the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s annual list of “Great Immigrants, Great Americans,” reports Ben Paynter for Fast Company. “Carnegie’s Great Immigrants roster continues to highlight the people who’ve made the best of a new opportunity—and represent the best in all of us,” writes Paynter.
Prof. Donald Sadoway explains the benefits of battery storage in an Associated Press article about energy storage in Arizona. “Absent battery storage, the whole value proposition of intermittent renewable energy makes no sense at all…People just don’t understand that the battery will do for electricity what refrigeration did to our food supply.”
Prof. Jonathan Gruber speaks with WGBH’s Arjun Singh about the negative economic consequences of restricting access to abortion. “What is clear from the economic evidence is that if abortion access is restricted, it’s going to hurt women’s prospects in the labor market,” says Gruber.
Writing for Scientific American, Prof. Bob Langer examines how breakthroughs in biotechnology and materials science are enabling more personalized and effective treatments for patients. Langer highlights how by “engineering polymers that offer smart delivery systems, we can target specific parts of the body. This limits exposure and therefore adverse effects, offering more effective and precise treatment.”
During a Times Higher Ed summit, Prof. Shigeru Miyagawa, senior associate dean for open learning, emphasized the importance of integrating attention to ethical implications into AI education, reports Paul Baskin. “My plan is to educate a new generation of young people who will have intuition behind computational thinking,” says Miyagawa.
Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle speaks with Bloomberg columnist Faye Flam about the recently redefined standard of measurement for the kilogram and the importance of making the change understandable to the general public. “Not everyone is explaining the new kilogram as a quantity of light, but MIT physicist Wolfgang Ketterle makes a convincing case that this is the best and simplest way to understand it,” writes Flam.
In an excerpt from her new book published in The Wall Street Journal, President Emerita Susan Hockfield explores how the convergence between biology and engineering is driving the development of new tools to tackle pressing human problems. Hockfield writes that for these world-changing technologies to be realized requires “not only funding and institutional support but, more fundamentally, a commitment to collaboration among unlikely partners.”
Wired reporter Aarian Marshall spotlights how Prof. Sarah Williams has been developing digital tools to help map bus routes in areas that lack transportation maps. “The maps show that there is an order,” Williams explains. “There is, in fact, a system, and the system could be used to help plan new transportation initiatives.”
President Emerita Susan Hockfield speaks with Jim Braude of WGBH’s Greater Boston about her book, “The Age of Living Machines.” “We are looking at a population of over 9.7 billion by 2050,” explains Hockfield. “We are not going to get there without war or epidemics or starvation if we don’t develop technologies that will allow us to provide energy, food, water, health and health care sustainably.”
Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard memorializes Prof. Emeritus David Gordon Wilson, known for his work in the field of mechanical engineering and for spurring interest in recumbent bicycles. Marquard notes that in addition to designing a recumbent bicycle that set a world speed record, Wilson was “decades ahead of some modern-day political proposals that aim to address climate change.”
In an article for Forbes, Prof. David Mindell examines the feasibility of using ultra-wideband (UWB) radio technology to help improve the New York City subway system’s signaling troubles. “UWB is not a signaling system on its own,” writes Mindell. “For a large, complex system like New York, it will take many years to develop raw UWB into a full railway signaling system.”
Prof. Brandon Clifford, director and co-founder of Matter Design, has developed a new way to move heavy concrete slabs, using only human force, by exploring ancient building methods, reports Katharine Schwab for Fast Company. “The resulting project, called Walking Assembly, demonstrates the possibilities with a set of interlocking concrete puzzle pieces that the designers are able to assemble into a solid wall and staircase in about 15 minutes,” Schwab explains.
Prof. Frank Wilczek writes for The Wall Street Journal about how the first image of a black hole could help scientists gain a better understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. “To a thinking mind, the image reflects the glory of understanding, and to an alert imagination it opens new portals into space, time and deep history,” writes Wilczek.
In the wake of a fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, Prof. Catherine Clark speaks with Here & Now’s Robin Young about how Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” inspired France to rejuvenate the cathedral. Clark explains that the book reminds her of how, “this is a structure that is built by time and history itself and each generation adds their stones.”