Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Yasheng Huang examines what Jack Ma stepping down as executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. signals about the future of China’s economy. Huang writes that Ma’s departure “adds to a gathering sense that China’s private sector, the engine of the economy, is losing steam — and faith.”
Prof. Ibrahim Cissé has been named one of Science News’ 2018 SN 10 Scientists to Watch for his work investigating how genes are turned on, explains Science News reporter Tina Hesman Saey. Cissé is “everything you could want in a young scientist,” says Prof. Anthony Hyman of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics.
Prof. John Leonard speaks with Bloomberg News about his work with the Toyota Research Institute on developing a system that combines machine learning technologies and sensors to make vehicles safer. “Imagine if you had the most vigilant and capably trained driver in the world that could take over in a situation where a teenager took a curve too fast,” says Leonard of the inspiration for the system.
Keith Powers highlights Prof. Tod Machover’s new opera, Schoenberg in Hollywood,” in WBUR’s guide to the most innovative operas being performed in Boston this fall. Powers writes that in the opera, Machover “investigates the improbable but true story of Schoenberg, the leader of the Second Viennese School, who actually did flee to Hollywood to escape the Nazis.”
In an article for The New York Times, Prof. Alan Jasanoff reviews Eric Kandel’s book, “The Disordered Mind.” Jasanoff writes that the book provides an engaging “overview of contemporary thinking about the intersection of mental health and neuroscience.”
Writing for NOVA Next, Nafisa Syed highlights how Prof. Kerry Emanuel is working on creating a new risk assessment paradigm for severe weather events like Hurricane Florence. Syed writes that Emanuel is trying to “understand what, for example, a 100-year storm is going to look like in the year 2100.”
In an article for Quartz about how robots are being used to help care for the elderly, Corinne Purtill highlights Prof. Sherry Turkle’s work on the impact of using machines to satisfy the human need for emotional connection. Putrill cites Turkle’s argument that using machines creates a new relationship where we “feel connected although we are alone.”
Writing for USA Today, Prof. Barry Posen argues for ending the war in Afghanistan. “It is plain that we have no actual strategic policy in Afghanistan — no plausible purpose other than using taxpayer money, the lives of American soldiers and the deaths of Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire to protect U.S. leaders against the possibility of future blame."
Prof. Neri Oxman, the recipient of the Design Innovation Medal at the London Design Festival, speaks with Financial Times reporter Annalisa Quinn about her work, which melds art and science. The “imbalance between innovations achieved in fields such as synthetic biology and the primitive state of digital fabrication in product and architectural design shaped my ambition,” Oxman shares with Quinn.
Boston Globe reporter Jeremy Eichler spotlights Prof. Tod Machover’s new opera, “Schoenberg in Hollywood,” which looks at the life and work of the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Eichler writes that the opera is “at once an earnestly admiring tribute and an unconventional biographic fantasia.”
BuzzFeed highlights the work of Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia in a list of trailblazing women working in the STEM fields. BuzzFeed notes that Bhatia is an “incredible role model for women in STEM, not only for to her scientific contributions, but for the elegant way in which she balances her professional and personal roles.”
Boston magazine highlights Prof. Tod Machover’s new opera “Schoenberg in Hollywood” in their fall guide to the arts in Boston. Boston magazine notes that the opera is “about a brilliant composer fleeing the Nazis and landing in 1930s L.A.—you’ve never seen opera like this.”
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.”