During Bloomberg’s Benchmark podcast, Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson expresses optimism about the impact of technology on the U.S. economy. Brynjolfsson says that while he is “concerned because it's not automatic that those technologies are going to benefit everybody or benefit people more broadly,” he would like "to see the U.S. and other countries work toward shared prosperity.”
CSAIL Director Daniela Rus speaks with Peter High of Forbes about the lab’s research, history and mission. Rus notes that CSAIL researchers are focused on "inventing the future of computing. We want to use computer science to tackle major challenges in fields like healthcare and education.”
Prof. Earl Miller speaks with Phyllis Korkki of The New York Times about why aging makes learning new skills more difficult. “Your mind’s bandwidth is smaller. You learn at a slower rate because less information is getting in,” explains Prof. Miller. To make learning easier, Miller says it's “important to keep yourself cognitively engaged.”
Prof. Robert Langer talks to Jessica Harris from NPR about his research on tissue engineering and drug delivery, the commercialization of his discoveries, and the many companies he has started. Langer says he started his lab based off his desire to improve people’s lives by conducting research “at the interface of chemical engineering and medicine.”
Prof. Rosalind Williams reviews James Gleick’s new book about the history of time travel for The Washington Post. Prof. Williams writes that Gleick “gathers an engaging cast of characters who wrote these stories or otherwise explored the possibilities of time travel.”
Jericka Duncan of CBS Evening News speaks with Prof. Antoinette Schoar about her research investigating how credit card companies target consumers based, in part, on their level of education. “Customers who are more educated and financially more sophisticated receive very different credit terms,” she explains.
In an article for Quartz, Prof. Sara Seager speculates about what it might be like to visit the recently discovered Earth-like planet dubbed Proxima Centauri. Seager writes that “the most fascinating aspect to me is that on the planet, the alien sun would be in the same place in the sky at all times.”
Prof. Antoinette Schoar writes for The Wall Street Journal about her research examining how credit card companies are using customer data to target specific consumers. Schoar writes that “as more and more personal data becomes available, businesses are now able to target customers in a personalized and sophisticated way.”
A new book by Prof. Carlo Ratti and graduate student Matthew Claudel focuses on the impact technology has on cities, writes Kate Abbey-Lambertz for The Huffington Post. “Ratti and Claudel envision a potential future where new technology ― from individualized heating grids to neighborhood 3D-printing fabrication studios ― ‘weaves into a tapestry of citizen empowerment’.”
Colin Young and Andy Metzger of State House News write that MIT experts spoke about the need for government investment in long-term energy research during the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers. “A lot of what we really need to truly change our energy infrastructure is going to take a lot more than five years,” Prof. Kristala Prather noted.
Allie Bidwell writes for the National Medals Foundation about MIT’s “secret sauce for excellence.” Ian Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering, explains that MIT fosters “a strong desire to work on things that have a practical impact. We combine scholarship with having a real, tangible impact in the world.”
Prof. S.P. Kothari writes for The Wall Street Journal that federal student loans should be increased for STEM students to help close the science, technology and engineering skills gap. “If the nation is serious about staying competitive in the global race for STEM talent, then targeting student loans is one solution that can and should earn bipartisan support.”
Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland speaks with Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point, about his study examining friendship. “If you’re trying to lose weight…50 percent of the time you are likely to reach out to people who really actually aren’t going to help that much,” Pentland explains, adding that people should be looking to mutual friendships for support.
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. Charles Stewart III examines how American voters have become increasingly concerned about the fairness of the electoral process. “The best hope is for a combination of voices, both partisan and nonpartisan, to remind Americans of the mechanisms in place to ensure that votes are counted fairly.”
In an article for Wired, Kevin Hartnett examines Prof. Scott Sheffield’s work studying geometric randomness. “You take the most natural objects—trees, paths, surfaces—and you show they’re all related to each other,” Sheffield explains. “And once you have these relationships, you can prove all sorts of new theorems you couldn’t prove before.”