PlateJoy, a company founded by MIT alumna Christina Bognet, “offers a sophisticated digital platform that helps take some of the guesswork, challenge and waste out of eating for better health,” writes Elaine Howley for U.S. News & World Report.
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters spotlights Particles for Humanity, an MIT spinoff that is developing a new technology that makes it possible to deliver multiple doses of a vaccine in one shot. “The new technology works like traditional drug delivery,” writes Peters, “but with the addition of tiny time-release capsules filled with antigens, the part of the vaccine that stimulates the immune system so that it can later respond to a virus.”
Axios reporter Bryan Walsh writes that a new report by MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future makes policy recommendations for ensuring American workers are able to secure good jobs. “If we deploy automation in the same labor market system we have now," says Prof. David Mindell, "we're going to end up with the same results.”
Three years after President L. Rafael Reif delivered an “intellectual call to arms” to examine the impact of technology on jobs, the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future has published its final set of recommendations. “In an extraordinarily comprehensive effort, they included labor market analysis, field studies and policy suggestions for changes in skills-training programs, the tax code, labor laws and minimum-wage rates,” writes Steve Lohr for The New York Times.
Fast Company reporter Yasmin Gagne spotlights MIT startup Spyce, which has developed a robotic restaurant kitchen. “With a global pandemic ongoing, a meal cooked with a robotic system might be just enough of a differentiator to help Spyce thrive in an era that has decimated the restaurant industry,” writes Gagne.
Financial Times reporter John Thornhill writes that Prof. Tim Berners-Lee’s startup Inrupt, which is aimed at developing a new data architecture for the web, has launched its first enterprise-ready servers. Thornhill explains that Inrupt’s technology is aimed at empowering “users to create their own Pods (personal online data stores). This enables them to control their own data and grant access to third-party apps at their discretion.”
CNBC reporter Taylor Locke spotlights MIT startup Segment and speaks with the company’s founders about the lessons they learned from launching their own company.
Forbes contributor Monica Haider writes about Droplette, a startup founded by MIT alumnae Madhavi Gavini and Rathi Srinivas. Droplette has developed an “innovative device [that] delivers over the counter skincare actives such as vitamin C, retinol, collagen and peptides by penetrating the skin with a fast-moving mist.”
TechCrunch reporter Danny Crichton spotlights r2C, a startup founded by three MIT alums that is aimed at analyzing and improving lines of code. “With r2c’s technology, developers can scan their codebases on-demand or enforce a regular code check through their continuous integration platform,” writes Crichton.
Biobot Analytics, an MIT startup, is testing sewage in regions across the U.S. as part of an effort to detect where the coronavirus is circulating “even before people start showing up at hospitals and clinics and before they start lining up for Covid-19 tests,” writes Maggie fox for CNN.
STAT reporter Kate Sheridan spotlights the work of Kartik Ramamoorthi PhD ’14 and his gene therapy company Encoded. Sheridan explains that Encoded’s first gene therapy will “target Dravet syndrome — a rare condition that can cause seizures, cognitive deficits, and mobility problems.”
Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner of The Engine, speaks with Forbes reporter David Jeans about the second round of funding raised by The Engine and how the venture is looking to help support tough tech ideas. “These are things with often longer [investment] timeframes,” Rae says. “They’ve almost always been backed by government-led research, and now they are ready to translate into companies.”
TechCrunch reporter Danny Crichton writes that The Engine has announced a second round of funding aimed at supporting tough tech startups. Crichton notes that, “with this latest news from The Engine, it seems clear that Boston’s tough tech ecosystem will continue to have a pipeline of interesting and compelling companies.”
Cometeer, an MIT startup, offers a new way to deliver and consume craft coffee at home, reports Elizabeth Segran for Fast Company. The coffee arrives in the form of frozen pucks to help "retain all the complex flavors of the bean, as if a coffee expert had brewed it for you.”
Popular Mechanics reporter Jim Allen explores what inspired Amar Bose ’51, SM ’52, ScD ’56, a former member of the MIT faculty and the founder of Bose Corporation, to develop noise cancelling headphones.