Prof. R. Scott Kemp and Principal Research Scientist Charles Forsberg speak with Verge reporter Justine Calma about the nuclear proliferation concerns raised by the higher concentrations of uranium used in next-generation nuclear reactors. “We need to make sure that we don’t get in front of ourselves here and make sure that all the security and safety provisions are in place first before we go off and start sending [high-assay low-enriched uranium] all around the country,” says Kemp.
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Daron Acemoglu and University of Chicago Prof. James A. Robinson propose solutions to address growing distrust in democracy. “We need a new democratic social contract that people can believe in,” they write. “Democracy does not need to follow a majoritarian opinion on every topic, but it cannot sideline the views of the majority of the population, even on divisive subjects such as immigration.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Prof. Susan Solomon speaks about her latest book “Solvable: How We Healed the Earth, and How We Can Do it Again,” which offers learnings from past environmental fights to affect future change. “People need to have some hope. We imagine that we never solve anything…but it’s really important to go back and look at how much we succeeded in the past and what are the common threads of those successes,” Solomon says.
Writing for Bloomberg, David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, argues that New York’s halted congestion pricing plan will deprive the state’s MTA of much needed revenue, underfunding maintenance and visible enhancement projects. “New York’s congestion pricing plan would have covered more than half the MTA’s $28 billion capital budget,” he explains. “For the moment, the MTA’s board must strike a precarious balance between politicians’ desire for splashy construction projects and the urgent but hidden needs for system upgrades.”
Prof. Nancy Rose speaks with NPR’s Planet Money hosts Erika Beras and Kenny Malone about the impact of airline deregulation and the aircraft industry. “We need these kind of smaller carriers who want to grow, who want to go in and take share from the majors because they're the ones that are keeping the price pressure on,” says Rose.
Prof. Yasheng Huang joins a Financial Times podcast to speak with James Kynge about how China’s technological advancement and economic growth could be threatened by the country’s increasing authoritarianism. “My own prediction is that if Chinese domestic policy doesn’t change substantially, the pace of technological and scientific progress that we have witnessed during the reform era, that pace is going to slow down,” Huang says.
Prof. Devavrat Shah is interviewed by Forbes’ Gary Drenik on balancing AI innovation with ethical considerations, noting governance helps ensure the benefits of AI are fairly distributed across society. “Our responsibility is to harness [AI’s] potential while safeguarding against its risks,” Shah explains. “This approach to promoting responsible AI development hinges on governance rooted in collaboration, transparency and actionable guidance."
Researchers from MIT have discovered that integrating “Texas’ self-contained electrical grid with the broader national grid could prevent mass power outages,” reports Zack Budryk for The Hill. The researchers “modeled the effects of a bill introduced by Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that would connect the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to the rest of the country,” explains Budryk. “They determined that if such a law had been enacted ahead of the 2021 event, Winter Storm Uri, up to 80 percent of the millions of blackouts caused by the storm could have been averted.”
Researchers from the MIT Climate Policy Center have shown increasing shared transmission reduces outage risk, writes Sara Dinatale for the Star-Telegram. The researchers found connecting the Texas power grid to neighboring systems could have reduced blackouts during Winter Storm Uri in 2021. “What we're trying to do is provide policymakers with data," explains Prof. Christopher Knittel. “We just want policymakers to know what the trade-offs are from interconnecting or not interconnecting. And hopefully they can make a better decision.”
A new proposal aims to transform Massachusetts into “a new leader in climate and environment technology,” with the help with MIT and other Massachusetts-based universities, reports Julia Jacobo for ABC News. “The foundations for seeing environmental initiatives from their inception to public market have long existed in Massachusetts, home to some of the most prestigious research institutions and scientific discoveries in the world, as well as existing infrastructure that allows production to be achieved much faster, according to experts in the state.”
Prof. David Autor speaks with New York Times reporter Jim Tankersley about the economic implications of President Biden’s decision to codify and escalate tariffs on Chinese goods. Autor’s “latest research warns of the economic perils of poorly designed trade policy, but it also explains why presidents might keep pursuing it,” explains Tankersley.
The Hill reporter Tobias Burns spotlights the efforts of a number of MIT researchers to better understand the impact of generative AI on productivity in the workforce. One research study “looked as cases where AI helped improved productivity and worker experience specifically in outsourced settings, such as call centers,” explains Burns. Another research study explored the impact of AI programs, such as ChatGPT, among employees.
In an article for Fast Company, Lecturer Guadalupe Hayes-Mota offers five takeaways concerning the potential impact of AI on healthcare. Understanding AI’s healthcare potential “is crucial for business leaders and policymakers to foster an environment where AI and other analytics tools enhance rather than complicate societal outcomes,” Hayes-Mota writes.
Writing for Bloomberg, David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, discusses new parking fees based on vehicle weight established in Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, a borough in the city of Montreal, to combat congestion and carbon emissions. “Paying more for parking may seem like a modest step, but it sends a clear message about the societal costs that oversized vehicles impose on everyone else,” writes Zipper.
An analysis by The Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein notes despite Republican resistance to electric vehicles, many new production facilities are located in GOP-represented states. MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese explains EV companies are simply seeking space and nearby manufacturing and construction capacity, but said “it’s pretty hard to think of a technology where there was a cheaper, better technology to solve a consumer need and consumers prioritized a cultural or political patina over lower costs and higher quality.”