Researchers at MIT are developing a new way to use electric thrusters, reports Freethink. “Electric propulsion actually has the benefit of maximizing the amount of room that you have on a spacecraft so you can use it for this useful payload as opposed to just propellant,” says Prof. Paulo Lozano.
Boston Globe reporter Robert Weisman spotlights Integrated Biosciences, a startup co-founded by MIT researchers that is using artificial intelligence to identify anti-aging drug candidates. “We’re trying to go after aging and aging-associated disorders,” says postdoc Felix Wong. “We all know loved ones who have suffered from some of these conditions.”
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have tested the impact of generative AI among 5,000 customer service agents within a Fortune 500 software company, reports Jo Constantz for Bloomberg. “The company’s lowest-skilled workers became 35% faster with the tool,” explains Constantz. “The researchers think this was because the AI essentially transferred top performers’ knowledge to less-experienced colleagues through the automatically-generated recommended responses.”
Prof. Danielle Li, graduate student Lindsey Raymond and Stanford University Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson released an “empirical study of the real-world economic effects of new AI systems,” reports Greg Rosalsky for NPR. The researchers found “AI caused a group of workers to become much more productive.” Rosalsky adds that the study also “shines a spotlight on just how powerful AI is, how disruptive it might be, and suggests that this new, astonishing technology could have economic effects that change the shape of income inequality going forward.”
Boston Globe reporter Yvonne Abraham spotlights Postdoctoral Fellow Lydia Harrington and Boston University Postdoctoral Associate Chloe Bordewich and their work examining the history of Boston’s former Little Syria neighborhood. “It’s important that Bostonians think about this as part of their history,” says Bordewich. “But we also wanted to contribute something so that recent Syrian arrivals can engage and see part of their history, too.”
Quanta Magazine reporter Jordana Cepelewicz spotlights graduate students Ashwin Sah and Mehtaab Sawhney for their work proving the existence of special objects called “subspace designs.” Sah and Sawhney have “proved the existence of objects whose existence is not at all obvious,” said Prof. David Conlon of the California Institute of Technology. “They’re producing high-quality research at a rate where I can’t even blink.”
WCVB spotlights postdoctoral associate Matt McDonald and his efforts to prepare for the 2023 Boston Marathon. McDonald, who finished fourth in the American pack at last year’s marathon and first among New Englanders, says “the crowds are unbelievable. And knowing that you’ve done it at that point, makes it just incredibly emotional.”
Wired reporter Will Knight spotlights a new working paper by graduate students Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang examining the impact of providing office workers access to ChatGPT for use in a series of office tasks. The researchers found “people with access to the chatbot were able to complete the assigned tasks in 17 minutes, compared to an average 27 minutes for those without the bot, and that the quality of their work improved significantly,” writes Knight.
Bloomberg reporters Alex Tanzi and Mackenzie Hawkins spotlight a paper by graduate student Evan J. Soltas and his colleague Gopi Shah Goda discussing Covid-19’s impact on the labor market. The researchers “found that workers who miss a full week because of COVID are about 7 percentage points less likely to be employed a year later,” writes Tanzi and Hawkins.
Mashable visits CSAIL graduate student Gregory Xie to learn about his work with Auxbots, a system of untethered modular robots. “Together in a large assembly,” Xie explains, “we can get very interesting large scale motions of the assembly. These robots are more modular because they’re untethered and the actuation is completely electromechanical.”
Fast Company reporter Amelia Hemphill spotlights the work of Alicia Chong Rodriguez SM ’17, SM ’18, and her startup Bloomer Tech, which is “dedicated to transforming women’s underwear into a healthcare device.” “Our big goal is to generate digital biomarkers,” says Chong Rodriguez. “Digital biomarkers work more like a video, so it will definitely allow a more personalized care from the physician to their patient.”
Boston Globe reporter Aaron Pressman spotlights several MIT startups that are using AI to generate 3-D environments. Common Sense Machines, an MIT startup, is “trying to enhance the creativity of its app by adding a bit of, well, common sense,” writes Pressman. “Human babies form an understanding of the world by developing abstract models. Common Sense Machines is trying to add similar models to its 3D world builder.”
Postdoctoral Fellow Lydia Harrington and Boston University Postdoctoral Associate Chloe Bordewich speak with WBUR reporter Yasmin Amer about their exhibit at the MIT Rotch Library on Boston's former Little Syria neighborhood. “We want to show very positive things that Syrians brought with them, as well as their contributions to Boston,” says Harrington. “We wanted to show things in the exhibit that showed everyday life and well-known people in the neighborhood.”
CSAIL researchers are developing a drone that could be used to assist humans in search and rescue operations, reports Mashable. “If you are trying to detect someone in an avalanche and you can maybe just send a drone, and if they can find them out and then fly towards them and send a help signal. It would be probably be something that would be beneficial to people as an immediate application.”
Graduate student Karenna Groff ‘22 has been named NCAA Woman of the Year, an honor presented to a graduating female student-athlete who has distinguished herself in athletics, academics, leadership and community service, reports Matt Doherty for The Boston Globe. “I think the award is the first recognition I’ve gotten that looks into who I am and who I want to be,” says Groff. “I think it will help me frame the direction towards what I want the next chapter in my life to look like.”