Prof. Nergis Mavalvala speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti, host of WBUR’s Radio Boston, about the efforts behind the detection of gravitational waves. “This is just the start,” explains Mavalvala. “These detectors are going to get better and we are just going to listen to more and more music from the universe.”
Reuters reporters Scott Malone and Will Dunham report on the significance of scientists detecting gravitational waves. "We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy," explains Prof. Nergis Mavalvala. "We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well."
An international team of scientists, including researchers from MIT, has detected gravitational waves, reports Joel Achenbach and Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. The detection inaugurates “a new era of astronomy in which gravitational waves are tools for studying the most mysterious and exotic objects in the universe.”
Prof. Frank Wilczek writes for The Wall Street Journal about his experience participating in the Nobel Week Dialogue in Sweden from the comfort of his home in Cambridge, thanks to a robot that allowed conference attendees to interact with him remotely. “With more powerful sensors and actuators, out-of-body experiences will become even more compelling,” Wilczek writes.
Researchers at MIT have developed an incandescent light bulb that vastly improves the device’s energy efficiency, The Economist reports. The modified bulb “maintains the technology’s advantages while vastly improving its energy credentials, giving it the potential to trounce CFLs and LEDs.”
In a new study, Prof. Alan Guth shows how time might move backwards as well as forwards, reports Joshua Sokol for New Scientist. “We call it the two-headed arrow of time,” Guth says. “Because the laws of physics are invariant, we see exactly the same thing in the other direction.”
In an article for Ozy about MIT alumna Sabrina Pasterski, Farah Halime writes about Pasterski’s research on black holes, and the nature of gravity and spacetime, all of which “has the world of physics abuzz.” Halime notes that Pasterski, “might be the new Einstein.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to increase the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. "We have this huge challenge that the world is facing right now, global warming and energy efficiency and this gives you one more tool," says Prof. Marin Soljačić.
Cade Metz writes for Wired that MIT researchers have developed a system that allows robots to predict how objects will move. Postdoc Ilker Yildirim explains that in order for a robot to be able to assist with household tasks like washing the dishes, it must “deeply understand its physical environments.”
Prof. Frank Wilczek writes for The Wall Street Journal that integrating logic puzzles and games into math lessons could make math a more accessible subject. “We know that people like games of chance and gambling,” writes Wilczek. “These lead naturally into adventures in probability and statistics.”
Prof. David Kaiser speaks with WGBH Radio’s Edgar B. Herwick about what the addition of four new elements to the periodic table means for scientific research and discovery. "It’s kind of like saying you have a map of the wilderness and by exploring it you want to change the map at the same time," says Kaiser.
The Wall Street Journal’s Monika Auger reports that a team of astronomers, including researchers from MIT, have discovered the largest galaxy cluster formed in the early universe. “Astronomers believe that this galaxy cluster probably began forming only a few hundred-million years after the Big Bang,” explains Auger.
Chris Sweeney writes for Boston Magazine that MIT researchers were part of a team of astronomers that identified the largest galaxy cluster from the early universe. Sweeney writes that researchers “will continue scouring the data in search of additional galaxies while looking for clues to how the universe formed.”
Prof. Alan Guth speaks with Christina Couch of Science Friday about his career and the cosmos. Of what inspired him to pursue a career in science, Guth recalls conducting experiments with a friend and being “very excited about the idea that we can really calculate things, and they actually do reflect the way the real world works.”
MIT researchers have detected the largest galaxy cluster that amassed in the early universe, writes Laura Crimaldi for The Boston Globe. “It’s the most massive cluster to assemble in the first 4 billion years of the universe,” explains Prof. Michael McDonald. “It’s sort of like the first civilization to pop up.”