Verge reporter Justine Calma writes that states in the Midwest and Great Lakes region could see $4.7 billion in health benefits by maintaining current renewable energy standards. “This research shows that renewables pay for themselves through health benefits alone,” explains Emil Dimanchev, senior research associate at MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
A new study by MIT researchers examining the impact of energy policies that reduce fine particulates in the air finds that there are “substantial health benefits in Rust Belt states when utilities are required to supply escalating amounts of renewable power,” reports Ben Geman for Axios.
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Yasheng Huang examines how the U.S.-China trade war is influencing public perceptions in China. “Maximum-pressure tactics have delivered no meaningful results — other than undermining the good will of the Chinese public and its liberals toward America,” writes Huang. “The United States should de-escalate tensions and help China come back to the negotiating table.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs is participating in a series of MIT “GrandHacks,” problem-solving sessions aimed at tackling some of the VA’s biggest health care challenges, reports Patricia Kime for Military.com. The sessions, explains Kime, “bring together teams of students, entrepreneurs, tech gurus, health providers, patients, insurers and academicians to find solutions to problems in a short amount of time.”
Prof. M. Taylor Fravel co-authored an open letter in The Washington Post in which members of the academic, military and business communities express concern about the U.S. government’s interactions with China. “Although we are very troubled by Beijing’s recent behavior, which requires a strong response, we also believe that many U.S. actions are contributing directly to the downward spiral in relations.”
President Emerita Susan Hockfield discusses her new book, “The Age of Living Machines,” her work as a neuroscientist, and the future of science and technology during a curated lunch conversation with HUBweek and Boston.com. Hockfield explains that a revolution spurred by the convergence of biology with engineering will lead to new technologies built by biology.
MIT and the U.S. Air Force “are teaming up to launch a new accelerator focused on artificial intelligence applications,” writes Danny Crichton for TechCrunch. The goal is that projects developed in the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator would be “addressing challenges that are important to both the Air Force and society more broadly.”
Will Knight writes for MIT Technology Review about the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator, which “will focus on uses of AI for the public good, meaning applications relevant to the humanitarian work done by the Air Force.” “These are extraordinarily important problems,” says Prof. Daniela Rus. “All of these applications have a great deal of uncertainty and complexity.”
The new MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator “will look at improving Air Force operations and addressing larger societal needs, such as responses to disasters and medical readiness,” reports Breanne Kovatch for The Boston Globe. “The AI Accelerator provides us with an opportunity to develop technologies that will be vectors for positive change in the world,” says Prof. Daniela Rus.
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.”
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.”
In an article for Wired, K. Gretchen Greene, a research affiliate at the Media Lab, argues that the government’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure plan should include robots. New technologies “offer the possibility of completing projects we otherwise couldn't afford, minimizing disruption, improving safety, and optimizing systems in ways humans working alone could not,” writes Greene.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, senior lecturer Robert Pozen argues that a new Medicare for All proposal “differs from Medicare in fundamental ways—with much broader coverage, no cost sharing, and fewer choices of health-care plans.”
Writing for Bloomberg, Profs. Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson argue that federal investment in scientific research can help address income inequality. “America desperately needs more hubs of growth,” they write. “It’s a problem that the government can and should address, by identifying and investing in the technologies of the future – and ensuring that the American people as a whole share in the gains.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Profs. Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson underscore how federal investment in scientific research could be used to help ease income inequality in America. “Scaled-up and deployed strategically across most states, we estimate that an investment of $100 billion per year in public research and development could help create 4 million good new jobs,” they write.