Prof. Jessika Trancik speaks with the BBC Newshour about her new study analyzing the dramatic decline in the costs of lithium-ion batteries. Trancik explains that the reduced price, “opens up markets for electric vehicles for more people. The battery makes up a substantial portion of the total cost of an electric vehicle and the fact that costs have fallen by 97% over the last few decades means that these cars are no longer just for the wealthy.”
Forbes contributor Roslyn Layton spotlights a new paper by CSAIL researchers that explores the market for domain names. “The authors observe that the intellectual property associated with domain names and the value of DNS itself as embedded, reliable infrastructure,” writes Layton. “However, changing behavior is reducing the value and function of DNS by separating names from addresses.”
Boston.com reporter Mark Gartsbeyn spotlights “Coded Bias,” a new documentary that chronicles graduate student Joy Buolamwini’s work uncovering bias in AI systems. Gartsbeyn writes that in 2018, Buolamwini “co-authored an influential study showing that commercially available facial recognition programs had serious algorithmic bias against women and people of color.”
UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that MIT researchers have developed a new technique for turning plastic into a wearable material. “Engineers at MIT have managed to weave polyethylene into fibers that absorb and evaporate water more quickly than cotton, nylon, polyester and other common textiles,” writes Hays. “The authors of the new paper hope their technology will incentivize plastic recycling.”
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Amy Finkelstein emphasizes the effectiveness of randomized clinical trials. Finkelstein notes that she hopes “truly rigorous testing of social policy will become as commonplace as it is for new vaccines. That would help ensure that government services are delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.”
Prof. Basima Tewfik speaks with BBC reporter Peter Rubinstein about imposter syndrome. Tewfik has found that “by leaning into the feelings of inadequacy – rather than trying to resist or overcome them – and putting extra effort into communication, imposters can actually outperform their non-imposter peers in interpersonal skills,” writes Rubinstein.
A new study by MIT researchers finds that the oceans may begin emitting chlorofluorocarbons by 2075, reports Valerie Yurk for E&E News. “Even if there were no climate change, as CFCs decay in the atmosphere, eventually the ocean has too much relative to the atmosphere, and it will come back out," says Prof. Susan Solomon.
BBC News reporter Helen Briggs writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique to create fabrics from polythene, a plastic found in food packaging and plastic bags. "There's no reason why the simple plastic bag cannot be made into fibre and used as a high-end garment," says research scientist Svetlana Boriskina. "You can go literally from trash to a high-performance garment that provides comfort and can be recycled multiple times back into a new garment."
A new study by MIT researchers finds that using credit cards stimulates the brain’s rewards system and can stimulate cravings for further spending, writes Cory Stieg for CNBC. The researchers found “people were more willing to buy more expensive items with credit than cash and spent more overall when using a credit card,” Steig explains.
Graduate student Crystal Lee speaks with Slate reporter Rebecca Onion about a new study that illustrates how social media users have used data visualizations to argue against public health measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The biggest point of diversion is the focus on different metrics—on deaths, rather than cases,” says Lee. “They focus on a very small slice of the data. And even then, they contest metrics in ways I think are fundamentally misleading.”
Graduate student Caroline White-Nockleby discusses her new white paper that explores the regional impact of the decline in coal production. “Employment in the [coal] industry has decreased from around 3,800 jobs to around 2,800 direct jobs in the past five years,” says White-Nockleby .”They also have a big role in the tax base. Coal companies pay taxes on the value of the coal itself that’s underground, and they also pay property taxes.”
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH, spotlights Prof. Ed Boyden’s work developing a new technology that “enables researchers for the first time to study an intact tissue sample and track genetic activity on the spot within a cell’s tiniest recesses, or microenvironments—areas that have been largely out of reach until now.”
Bloomberg reporters Georgina McKay and Tracy Alloway spotlight a new working paper on income inequality by MIT researchers that finds that highly-paying jobs are now more likely to be located within highly-paid companies. The findings suggest that “a government looking to reduce inequality might want to target sectors where bifurcation between ‘high-paying’ and ‘low-paying’ has been most extreme.”
Research scientist Andreas Mershin speaks with Noam Hassenfeld of Vox about his work developing a new AI system that could be used to detect disease using smell.
MIT scientists have demonstrated a plastic polymer cable that can transmit data 10 times as fast as USB, reports Payal Dhar for IEEE Spectrum. “For newer standards aiming at much higher data rates, we see the cables getting much thicker, more expensive, and commonly short [because of] technical challenges,” says Prof. Ruonan Han. “We hope this research could [enable] much higher speed for our needs.”