Research

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Kara Miller of GBH’s Innovation Hub about his research examining the impact of social media on everything from business re-openings during the Covid-19 pandemic to politics.

A new study by MIT researchers finds that Black homeowners in America continue to have to pay more to own a home, reports Reuters. The researchers found that “the annual difference of $743 in mortgage interest payments, $550 in mortgage insurance premiums and $390 in property taxes, when invested over 30 years results in lost retirement savings of $67,320 for Black homeowners.” 

Writing for The Hill, Martin Greenwald, deputy director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, explores the potential of fusion power. Greenwald examines how recent advances in high-temperature superconductors and recent investments in fusion technology from the private sector could “alter the landscape and offer the possibility of a dramatic speed-up in the development of this new energy source.”

AP reporter Mark Pratt writes that the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital are launching a “six-month study of 10,000 people to help them better understand the prevalence of COVID-19 in the area and to help identify potential surges during the fall and winter.

The Broad Institute and Brigham and Women’s are launching a large-scale research study aimed at testing people for Covid-19 at home, reports Travis Anderson and Emily Sweeney for The Boston Globe. The initiative will “provide information on the prevalence of the virus in the area and could offer an early warning sign of a surge of new cases in the fall and winter,” Sweeney and Anderson explain.

Scientific American reporter Robin Lloyd spotlights how MIT researchers have developed a new app that “allows users to adjust parameters such as mask usage, ventilation, and room size to estimate the indoor transmission risk for SARS-CoV-2 among a given number of people in various types of spaces.”

A new white paper by Prof. Daron Acemoglu and graduate student Andrea Mandera finds that the U.S. tax code incentivizes companies to invest in automation rather than employees, reports Peter Coy for Bloomberg. “Favorable taxation of capital leads to excessive automation,” explains Acemoglu.

MIT researchers have published a series of new papers demonstrating that the design for the SPARC compact nuclear fusion reactor “is both technically feasible and could produce 10 times the energy it consumes,” reports Dino Grandoni for The Washington Post.

Forbes contributor Peter High spotlights how a study from researchers at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) examines the digital savviness of companies and their boards. “We found that of all listed companies in the United States with revenues over a billion, only 24% of their boards were digitally savvy, and their companies had much better performance,” explains Peter Weill, senior research scientist and chairman of CISR.

Popular Mechanics reporter Caroline Delbert writes that new research by MIT scientists provides evidence that the compact nuclear fusion design they are developing should be feasible. Delbert writes that the researchers may be able to get the SPARC reactor online within 10 years by “improving materials and shrinking costs.”

Scientific American reporter Daniel Garisto spotlights how a team of MIT researchers has uncovered hints of anomalous activity in heavy isotopes. “We’re not claiming to have discovered anything like a new particle,” says Prof. Vladan Vuletić. “Most likely, we are measuring new nuclear physics, but there is the possibility of something else going on.” 

New York Times reporter David Leonhardt spotlights a new study by Profs. David Autor, Joshua Angrist and Amanda Pallais of Harvard that examines the impacts of free public college for low-income students. The researchers found that focusing on lower-income students, "could have a big impact while also leaving more money available for other priorities, be it health care, climate change — or investing more money in the quality of education at community colleges.” 

UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that a series of papers by MIT researchers finds that the designs for the SPARC compact nuclear fusion experiment should be viable. “Engineers expect their SPARC reactor, or tokamak, to be much more powerful than previous experimental reactors,” writes Hays. 

Fox News reporter Chris Ciaccia writes that a team of astronomers, including MIT researchers, has found an exoplanet that has a 3.14-day orbit. “The ‘pi planet’ known as K2-315b is relatively close to Earth at 186 light-years away,” writes Ciaccia.

In a series of new papers, MIT researchers provide evidence that plans to develop a next-generation compact nuclear fusion reactor called SPARC should be viable, reports Henry Fountain for The New York Times. The research “confirms that the design we’re working on is very likely to work,” says Martin Greenwald, deputy director for MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.