Forbes reporter Jessica Baron writes that MIT researchers have developed a platform that “addresses the key issue in cloud computing, which is that the data (or “breadcrumbs”) we leave behind online when we search the web, sign up for subscriptions, use social media, make purchases, etc. is stored on remote data servers where the information is then combined and sold to advertisers.”
New York Times reporter Janet Morrissey spotlights Prof. Regina Barzilay and Prof. Dina Katabi’s work developing new AI systems aimed at improving health care. “It’s absolutely the future; it’s even the present,” says Barzilay. “The question is how fast do we adopt it?”
A study by MIT researchers finds that climate change is causing pollution to linger longer over cities and making summer thunderstorms more powerful, reports Tanya Rivero for CBS News. “We found a way to connect changes in temperature in humidity from climate change to changing summer weather patterns that we are experiencing at our latitude,” explains graduate student Charles Gertler.
ABC News spotlights how MIT researchers have found that a lobster’s membrane could serve as inspiration for developing new forms of body armor. “The membrane on a lobster’s underbelly is as strong as the rubber on car tires. It could be used as a guide for body armor that allows more mobility without sacrificing protection.”
A storytelling robot developed by MIT researchers could be used to help boost language skills in young children and could help prepare children for learning in school, report Donna Lu for New Scientist. “If a child doesn’t start kindergarten ready to learn, it is very difficult and very expensive for them to catch up,” explains Prof. Cynthia Breazeal.
Newsweek reporter Hannah Osborne writes that MIT researchers have found that a lobster’s membrane, which protects its underbelly, is made of one of the toughest hydrogels in the world. “Its strength and flexibility,” Osborne explains, could “make it an ideal material to use as a blueprint for body armor.”
Wired reporter Emma Bryce highlights Prof. Dina Katabi’s work developing a wireless system that can help track a person’s health and could be used to monitor Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. Katabi explains that the system “can be used to detect and understand higher level information, not just monitoring the signs and the measurements, but really being able to understand the meaning of those measurements.”
Prof. Rosalind Picard speaks with NBC Mach reporter Jessica Wapner about how wearable devices could be used to help detect and predict episodes of depression. “We’d love to get to you before you get depressed,” explains Picard, “and help you put things back in your life before you get in trouble.”
Washington Post reporter Peter Holley writes that MIT researchers have found that the soft membrane covering a lobster’s joints and abdomen is as tough as industrial rubber. The researchers discovered, “lobsters could offer a solution to the problem plaguing most modern body armors: the more mobility an armor offers, the less it protects the wearer’s body.”
Bloomberg News reporter Eric Roston writes that a new study by MIT researchers finds that climate change is making summer thunderstorms more powerful and urban pollution more potent. “Summertime weather isn’t ventilating American cities at the rate that it did in the past,” explains graduate student Charles Gertler.
NIH Director Francis Collins highlights how MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible device, shaped like the shell of an African leopard tortoise, that can inject insulin directly into the stomach wall. Collins writes that, “this fascinating work serves as a reminder that when it comes to biomedical science, inspiration sometimes can come from the most unexpected places.”
MIT researchers have found that climate change could cause more thunderstorms and stagnant air in the summer, reports Martin Finucane for The Boston Globe. “With temperatures rising globally, and particularly in the Arctic, the energy in the atmosphere is being redistributed,” writes Finucane. “The result is that more energy will be available to fuel thunderstorms.”
Washington Post reporter Taylor Telford highlights a working paper by MIT researchers that examines how misinformation about vaccines spreads on social media. “The majority of misinformation about vaccines is spread by individuals,” explains Prof. Catherine Tucker. “That is a far harder problem to solve, as trying to clamp down on that kind of social sharing has tensions with trying to preserve free speech.”
MIT researchers have developed a new ingestible capsule that in the future could be used to deliver medication to diabetes patients, reports Dr. Erica Orsini for ABC News. “The oral route is preferred by both patients and health care providers,” explains visiting scientist Giovanni Traverso.
A new ingestible pill developed by MIT researchers positions itself against the walls of the stomach and can deliver insulin directly to the bloodstream, reports Gina Kolata for The New York Times. “It’s a very new concept and a really cool idea,” says Edith Mathiowitz, a professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University.