In a Huffington Post article, Prof. David Autor lists the pressing long-and short-term issues that economists will focus on in 2017. Among the long-term concerns are the effects of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which could potentially disrupt “the value of products produced using manual labor in the developing world.”
MIT researchers have developed a new 3-D printing method that allows users to alter the printed object, writes Amelia Heathman for Wired. The new printing method enables users to “add polymers that alter the material's chemical composition and mechanical properties.”
Prof. Emanuel Sachs, who is credited as one of the inventors of 3-D printing, discusses the manufacturing method’s origins and its increasing popularity with Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston. Sachs explains that 3-D printing is an increasingly popular academic tool because “it takes so long to make prototypes any other way and…3-D printing really enables people to make.”
Brian Anthony, director of MIT’s master of engineering in manufacturing program, speaks with Anna Louie Sussman of The Wall Street Journal about preparing workers for today’s manufacturing jobs. Anthony explains that his goal is to make the MIT manufacturing program a “template for then making sector-specific degree programs.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Paul Osterman found that the demand for higher-level skills in U.S. manufacturing jobs is modest, writes Erik Sherman from Forbes. Sherman writes that the skills gap the researchers measured “existed at 16 percent to 25 percent of manufacturing companies.”
Oscar Williams writes for The Huffington Post about a new prototype for a glasses-free, 3-D movie screen developed by CSAIL researchers. The prototype "harnesses a blend of lenses and mirrors to enable viewers to watch the film from any seat in the house.”
In this CBS News article, Michelle Star writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a method that allows moviegoers to see 3-D movies without wearing glasses. Star notes that the prototype “has been demonstrated in an auditorium, where all viewers saw 3-D images of a consistently high resolution.”
By projecting images through multiple lenses and mirrors, CSAIL researchers have developed a new prototype movie screen that allows viewers to see 3-D images without glasses, reports Aaron Smith for CNN Money.
MIT researchers have developed a prototype for a cinema-sized 3-D movie screen that would allow users to watch 3-D movies without glasses, reports Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. As people generally sit in fixed seats in a cinema, the researchers developed a prototype that “can tailor a set of images for each individual seat in the theater.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a way for people to watch 3-D movies without glasses, writes Kevin Slane for Boston.com. The new display the researchers developed “would use a series of lenses and mirrors to allow audiences to see the same three-dimensional image from any seat in a theater.”
Prof. Yoel Fink speaks with Radio Boston’s Meghna Chakrabarti about the new textiles manufacturing institute, which will be led by MIT. Fink explains textiles could be developed to do everything from storing energy to gathering “clinically meaningful information…and you can then infer not only where you are today, but where your body is heading and where your health is heading.”
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has announced that the nation’s first textile manufacturing institute will be based out of MIT, according to the AP. "Fibers and fabrics are among the earliest forms of human expression, yet have changed very little over the course of history," explains Prof. Yoel Fink. "All this is about to change."
WBUR reporter Zeninjor Enwemeka reports on the new textiles manufacturing institute, to be led by MIT, which was announced by White House and state officials last week. “We’re expecting to see the rebirth of fabrics and really a new industry come up around this area, and Massachusetts is very well position to do it,” says Prof. Yoel Fink.
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes about the new consortium, led by MIT, aimed at developing the next generation of fabrics. “While the tech industry talks of “wearable” devices…next-generation fabrics would literally create wearable computing devices that hang in our closets. What looks like a typical shirt might actually have some of the abilities of your smartphone or smartwatch.”
A public-private consortium led by MIT has won a national competition to create a manufacturing institute aimed at moving the textile industry into the digital age, reports Steve Lohr for The New York Times. “This is about reimagining what a fabric is, and rebirthing textiles into a high-tech industry,” says Prof. Yoel Fink.