Wired reporter Robbie Gonzalez highlights Prof. David Rand’s research showing that reasoning and critical thinking skills allow people to differentiate between real and fake news. Rand explains that he thinks “social media makes it particularly hard, because a lot of the features of social media are designed to encourage non-rational thinking.”
TIME reporter Precious Adesina writes that researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed an algorithm that measures how many urban trees are seen from a pedestrian’s perspective. Prof. Carlo Ratti explains that in addition to lowering urban temperatures, increasing the number of trees in a city can be “extraordinary in terms of collective well-being.”
UPI reporter Tauren Dyson writes that MIT researchers have developed a coating that can reject up to 70 percent of incoming solar heat. “The film resembles transparent plastic wrap, implanted with tiny microparticles that contain water that releases when met with temperatures higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit,” Dyson explains.
Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno speaks with Marketplace reporter Sabri Ben-Achour about MITEI’s study showing the potential impact of nuclear power in addressing climate change. Buongiorno noted that if costs can be reduced and more supportive policies enacted, nuclear power has the “potential to decarbonize the power sector on a global scale.”
MIT researchers have developed a new see-through film that reflects 70 percent of the sun’s incoming heat and could be used to coat a building’s windows, reports the Xinhua news agency. The material, “can cool a building while still letting in a good amount of light, offering an affordable and energy-efficient alternative to existing smart window technologies,” Xinhua explains.
Graduate student James Clark speaks with Boston Globe reporter Andres Picon about his study that provides evidence laser technology could be used to attract aliens. “A laser produces all of its power in one wavelength,” explains Clark, “so the way that it’s detectable is not that it’s more powerful than the sun, but that it’s very distinct from the sun.”
Writing for Popular Mechanics, David Grossman highlights a feasibility study by MIT researchers that provides evidence that lasers could be used to try to locate aliens. Grossman explains that the light would be targeted toward “areas like Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth, and TRAPPIST-1, a star around 40 light-years away with seven exoplanets in orbit.”
MIT researchers examined why a third of Wikipedia deliberations go unresolved and developed a new tool that could be used to help resolve more discussions, reports Samantha Cole for Motherboard. Cole explains that “the tool uses the data they found and analyzed in this research, to summarize threads and predict when they’re at risk of going stale.”
UPI reporter Tauren Dyson writes that a new feasibility study by MIT researchers shows that existing laser technology could be used to create a beacon light that could attract attention from as far as 20,000 light years away.
MIT researchers have found that laser technology could be used to attract attention from alien astronomers, reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard. The researchers found that amplifying an infrared laser could “produce a signal that would outshine the Sun’s infrared emissions tenfold, an anomaly that would stand out to a smart species observing our solar system from a distant exoplanet.”
Writing for The Conversation, Prof. Tauhid Zaman discusses his research showing how a small number of very active social media bots can have a significant impact on public opinion. Zaman notes that his findings are “a reminder to be careful about what you read – and what you believe – on social media.”
Smithsonian reporter Randy Rieland writes that MIT researchers have developed a machine learning model that can detect speech and language patterns associated with depression. The researchers note that the system is intended to assist, not replace clinicians. “We’re hopeful we can provide a complementary form of analysis,” explains Senior Research Scientist James Glass.
Boston Globe reporter Katie Johnston speaks with several MIT researchers about their work developing technology that is aimed at improving collaboration between humans and robots. Prof. Julie Shah notes that offloading easier decisions onto a machine “would allow people to focus on the parts of job that truly require human judgment and experience.”
Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes that MIT researchers have developed an autonomous system that allows fleets of drones to navigate without GPS and could be used to help find missing hikers. “What we’re trying to do is automate the search part of the search-and-rescue problem with a fleet of drones,” explains graduate student Yulun Tian.
Science reporter Tania Rabesandratana examines how MIT researchers are gathering and identifying gut bacteria from people around the world. The effort is aimed at preserving the human gut’s microbial biodiversity and developing new treatments for diseases. “I'm 100% confident that there are relevant medical applications for hundreds of strains we've screened and characterized,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.