TechCrunch reporters Kyle Wiggers and Devin Coldewey spotlight how MIT researchers developed a new technique for simulating an overall system of independent agents: self-driving cars. “The idea is that if you have a good amount of cars on the road, you can have them work together not just to avoid collisions but to prevent idling and unnecessary stops at lights,” write Wiggers and Coldewey.
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Forbes contributor Peter Cohan about the carbon emissions associated with gas, hybrid and electric vehicles, and the site she and her research group developed to allow consumers to compare personal vehicles against climate change mitigation targets. “In most locations, compared to [gas-powered vehicles], EVs produce emissions savings greater than 30%,” says Trancik. "Most savings are greater depending on the geographic location, the electricity supply, and the vehicle model.”
A new study by researchers from MIT and other institutions finds that the number of suicides among adolescents ages 10-19 increased in five states during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Kristen Rogers for CNN. Graduate student Marie-Laure Charpignon notes that “the findings highlight the need to pay attention to any behaviors adolescents show that can signal suicidal thoughts,” writes Rogers.
Graduate student Marie-Laure Charpignon led a study which found the proportion of overall suicides that occurred among young people increased by 10% in 2020 compared to the average share over the pre-pandemic period, reports Steven Ross Johnson for U.S. News & World Report. “Charpignon says her study’s findings, as well as previous research, raise questions as to whether more suicide prevention and intervention resources dedicated toward helping adults should be reallocated to address mental health issues among youth,” writes Johnson.
Graduate student Marie-Laure Charpignon co-authored a new study that found adolescent suicide accounted for a larger share of suicides across 14 states in 2020 and raises “the question of a possible link between teen suicide rates and Covid-related grief” reports Aria Bendix for NBC News. “We can’t deny that this is a massive casualty event, and it may affect kids differently,” said Charpignon.
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with ABC News about the urgent need to transition to renewable energy sources, and how we can build a future powered by alternative energy. “Up until recently there were really significant questions about whether we could transition to another [energy] foundation,” says Trancik. “This question has now been answered in that we now have cost competitive renewable primary energy in the form of solar and wind energy and also in other types of renewable energy.”
MIT announced five projects "targeting the world's toughest climate riddles" that were selected following a rigorous two-year competition, reports Benjamin Kail for Boston Business Journal. “Climate Grand Challenges represents a whole-of-MIT drive to develop game-changing advances to confront the escalating climate crisis, in time to make a difference,” says President L. Rafael Reif.
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Nidhi Subbaraman about the dramatic drops in costs to manufacture and sell renewable technologies. Subbaraman notes that Trancik’s research shows that “the steep drop in solar and lithium-ion battery technology was enabled by market expansion policies as well as investment in research and development by governments and the private sector.”
Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with USA Today reporter Kate S. Petersen about claims that replacing all U.S. gas stations with equal capacity electric vehicle charging stations would require significant resources. “When we’re talking about EV charging, you don’t have to put charging stations everywhere you have gas stations today,” says Trancik. “This would not make sense as a plan for rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure.”
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Lewis spotlights how MIT researchers surveyed thousands of Democrats and Republicans to rate the reliability of nonpolitical news headlines. “People genuinely believe that opposing partisans are more gullible, even when that stereotype is costly to them,” writes Lewis. “On the other hand, that stereotype can be corrected with evidence.”
During CNBC’s Technology Executive Council summit, Prof. Christopher Magee related how “allocating R&D resources efficiently is a critical skill, but one that most companies struggle with,” according to CNBC reporter Susan Caminiti. Magee's latest research “uses AI to predict the speed of the development of specific new innovations, all with the goal of deploying resources smartly and effectively,” writes Caminiti.
Washington Post reporter Steven Zeitchik highlights Prof. Jessika Trancik’s work developing a carbon counter that details the carbon impacts of different cars and MIT startup Form Energy, which is “taking the oxidization process, normally only good for ruining your Saturday garage clean-up, and deploying it to store energy on power grids.” Says Trancik of the importance of allowing people the ability to take stock of their environmental impact: “One of the really important aspects of addressing climate change is bringing everyone into the discussion.”
Prof. Christopher Magee and his colleagues have developed a new method that could help provide insights into how quickly different innovations are improving, reports Christopher Mims for The Wall Street Journal. Magee and former MIT fellow Anuraag Singh have developed a search engine that allows users to “answer in a fraction of a second the question of how quickly any given technology is advancing,” writes Mims.
Writing for INFORMS, Prof. Richard Larson honors and remembers those who served on 9/11 and those in public safety who have continued to serve. Larson notes that with over 50 years of contributions to urban public safety, those in operations research “can build on that strong foundation to create even better data-informed methods and procedures for public safety professionals to do their difficult work – effectively, efficiently, equitably and with minimal risk to both themselves and the citizens whom they serve.”
Writing for The Hill, Prof. Sanjoy Mitter, Prof. Munther Dahleh, research affiliate Le Xie and their colleagues underscore the need to build a “resilient energy ‘superhighway,’ an electric grid that delivers a wide portfolio of energy supplies to the end users in a reliable manner.” They add that: “Investments are needed both in building the backbone interconnections, as well as in upgrading the ‘last mile’ distribution grid.”