MIT researchers have developed a device that captures pollution emitted from a car’s tailpipe, and turns it into high-quality ink, reports Melissa Lott for Scientific American. “A typical ballpoint pen holds about 0.25 milliliters of ink – meaning that one vehicle can produce almost 3 pens worth of ink per minute,” explains Lott.
BBC News reporter Zoe Kleinman writes that graduate student Joy Buolamwini has developed an initiative aimed at tackling algorithmic bias. "If we are limited when it comes to being inclusive that's going to be reflected in the robots we develop or the tech that's incorporated within the robots,” says Buolamwini.
Guardian reporter Eliot Stein writes about Media Lab spinoff Graviky Labs, which has developed an exhaust filter that turns diesel exhaust into ink and paint. “If each of the 20,000 black cabs in London had our product,” says founder Anirudh Sarma, “we could clean 30 trillion litres of air a year.”
Boston Globe reporter Stan Grossfeld spotlights a visit to the MIT Media Lab by Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas and Kalis Gregory, a seventh grader from Hyde Park. “They saw prosthetic limbs that are computerized to transmit information to the brain. They heard about digestible electronics that can harvest energy from moving body parts and they tested computer games with codes written by kids.”
WBUR’s Asma Khalid highlights how MIT researchers have developed a tool that allows people to see the social media world of other users. Grad student Martin Saveski explains that the project was aimed at connecting people with differing viewpoints, noting that beyond politics there are “many other things that we may have in common.”
Prof. César Hidalgo documented his professional and personal life in an eight-part video series called “In My Shoes,” reports Lisa Zyga for Phys.org. Hidalgo explains that the “goal of the series is to help show younger people considering an academic career what the day-to-day of the life of a scholar is like.”
Meg Tirrell of CNBC spotlights research by Prof. Li-Huei Tsai that shows that flashing lights could be used as a non-invasive treatment method for Alzheimer’s disease. Tsai and her colleagues found that flashing light could potentially be used to restore gamma rhythms in the brain, which are often impaired in people with Alzheimer’s.
Prof. Canan Dagdeviren and her “Comfortable Decoders” group are developing a new device aimed at deciphering the body’s vital signs and delivering medication, writes Hilary Brueck for Forbes. The device will use “body movement as a powerhouse to monitor and record what's happening inside us,” explains Brueck.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about creating complementary work teams, Stu Woo highlights how Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s research group is trying to improve workplace relations by gathering data on how people interact. “Simply seeing the data encourages employees to adapt their behavior, such as trying to boost engagement among the more silent members,” Woo explains.
Media Lab researchers have developed an autonomous tricycle that could decrease commuting times by 10 percent, writes Meghan Ottolini for The Boston Herald. Principal research scientist Kent Larson explains that the tricycles could be used to “meet the demand at rush hour, and at off-peak, you have excess vehicles that can move packages autonomously.”
Steven Rosenbaum of Forbes writes about the Media Lab’s MisInfoCon, which was aimed at using technology to find a solution for fake news. “MisInfoCon set out with high expectations - to gather, share ideas, brainstorm and then engage in a marathon two-day hackathon,” writes Rosebaum. “The goal was to do more than talk, but rather to build things.”
Linda Poon of CityLab writes about Prof. Tod Machover’s latest project turning the sounds of Miami and Philadelphia into symphonies, using audio and video captured by local residents. “There's an incredible kind of liveliness, a combination of restaurants and people talking with the open ocean on one side and streets on the other,” says Machover of Miami’s sounds.
Financial Times reporter Tim Harford writes that a study by MIT researchers explores how a country's exports can influence income inequality. The study shows “a relationship between inequality and lack of economic complexity. Holding other things constant, the simplest economies tend to be the most unequal.”
Boston Herald reporter Lindsay Kalter writes that Prof. Ed Boyden is working on a new effort to develop technologies that would allow doctors to explore tumors using virtual reality. Boyden explains that he and his colleagues hope to use virtual reality to explore “what a tumor’s weaknesses are, and what makes it thrive.”
In an article for Slate, Prof. Kevin Esvelt argues for the importance of keeping scientific research open and publically accessible, in particular when it comes to gene editing. “Scientific journals, funders, policymakers, and intellectual property holders should change the incentives to ensure that all proposed gene drive experiments are open and responsive,” writes Esvelt.