Deborah Netburn of The Los Angeles Times reports on the discovery of an exoplanet 39 light-years away. "The discovery of this planet gives us the opportunity to switch our focus from imagining what is out there to testing our theories observationally,” says MIT postdoc Zachory Berta-Thompson.
Boston Globe reporter Felicia Gans writes that researchers have discovered an exoplanet 39 light-years away. “By studying this new world, I’m optimistic we’ll learn a little more about how planets work and bring us a little closer to that big exciting question of empirically figuring out whether life is out there in the galaxy,” says MIT postdoc Zachory Berta-Thompson.
Researchers have discovered a rocky, Earth-sized exoplanet that is close enough for astronomers to study its atmosphere, according to the Associated Press. “While the scientists say the planet is too hot for life, it's still much cooler than the rocky fireballs known to orbit stars beyond our solar system.”
Researchers with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have found that fertilizing the ocean to create plankton blooms could lead to erratic rainfall patterns, reports Audrey Tan for The Straits Times. “This would have a drastic impact on the water cycle, the environment and human livelihoods,” writes Tan.
In this video, the BBC’s LJ Rich reports on the 3-D printed, soft robotic hand developed by researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Rich explains that the robotic hand can “handle objects as delicate as an egg and as thin as a compact disk.”
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that MIT researchers have designed a new robotic hand with soft, 3-D printed fingers that can identify and lift a variety of objects. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that her group’s robotic hand operates in a way that is “much more analogous to what we do as humans."
CNBC reporter Robert Ferris writes about how MIT researchers have developed a soft robotic hand that can identify and safely grasp delicate objects. Ferris explains that the researchers designed a “soft silicone ‘hand’ with embedded sensors that they can train to recognize different things.”
MIT CSAIL researchers have developed a silicon gripper that allows robots to grasp a wide variety of items, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. Subbaraman explains that the hand expands “to accommodate a shape, and grasps radially – surrounding an object instead of picking it up with pincers.”
Olga Kharif writes for Bloomberg Businessweek that MIT researchers have proposed a new design for a smaller and cheaper fusion reactor. The prototype "builds on the design of fusion reactors that use magnetic fields to squeeze superhot plasma, fusing atoms of hydrogen to produce energy."
Don Willmott writes for The Huffington Post about a theoretical design for a compact fusion reactor created by MIT researchers. “The MIT reactor should ultimately be able to produce five to six times the energy it consumes, MIT's scientists say, about 190 megawatts,” explains Willmott.
According to a new study co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanual, “cities such as Tampa and Dubai will become increasingly vulnerable to rare, global-warming-fueled superstorms in the future,” writes Doyle Rice for USA Today. The study found that warmer seawaters will increase the probability of major storms.
A new study by Prof. Kerry Emanuel found an increased probability of major storms over the coming century, writes Andrea Thompson for Scientific American. “The increase in odds of extreme storms found in the study stems both from a shift toward more intense hurricanes as well as an overall increase in hurricane frequency,” Thompson explains.
New research by Prof. Kerry Emanuel shows that climate change is increasing the risk of tropical cyclones forming in the Persian Gulf, reports Alister Doyle for Reuters. The study also predicts that the frequency of extreme storms will increase in hurricane-prone areas.
Chris Mooney writes for The Washington Post about how in a new study Prof. Kerry Emanuel used computer models to demonstrate the effects of catastrophic hurricanes on a number of coastal cities. The study is meant “to raise awareness of what a very low probability, very high impact hurricane event might look like,” says Emanuel.
Prof. Kerry Emanuel's new research indicates that the risk of catastrophic hurricane disasters could increase ten-fold this century due to climate change, writes Eric Holthaus for Slate. Holthaus explains that the researchers embedded a “high-quality hurricane model into a broader scale climate change model” to examine the impact of future extreme storms.