Research

Prof. Sarah Millholland, Prof. Christian Wolf, Prof. Emil Verner, Prof. Darcy McRose, Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi, Prof. Mohsen Ghaffari and Prof. Ariel Furst have received the 2025 Sloan Research Fellowship for “being among the most promising scientific researchers currently working in their fields,” reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “Sloan Research Fellows are chosen in seven scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics,” explains Nietzel. 

Prof. Richard Binzel speaks with CNN reporter Ashley Strickland about the trajectory of asteroid 2024 YR4. “YR4 presents a challenge because it is small and headed away. Telescopes on the ground can track it for a few more months. Then we’ll call (the James Webb Space Telescope) into service to track it even further, if needed,” says Binzel. “While certainty for 2024 YR4 missing the Earth is the outcome we expect, it’s not up to us. It’s for nature to decided. In fact, nature already has settled the question. We just don’t know that answer yet. That’s why our tracking efforts continue.”

Prof. Richard Binzel, Prof. Julien de Wit, and Research Scientist Artem Burdanov speak with NBC 10 Boston reporter Matt Fortin about their new asteroid-detecting method that will be used to track the newly discovered asteroid 2024 YR4 and help protect Earth. “By refining and applying their technique, my colleagues [de Wit and Burdanov] have basically turned the JWST into the most capable asteroid-tracking system in history,” explains Binzel.

Writing for The Boston Globe, President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif highlights the fundamental contributions made by universities across the United States in the advancement of scientific and technological innovations, and the role of government funding in these sectors. “Since World War II, the ideas born in university research laboratories have helped to make America great,” writes Reif. “Universities’ contributions should be recognized, and the systems that allow them to contribute should not be recklessly derailed.” 

Prof. David Autor joins Danielle Pletka and Marc Thiessen on their American Enterprise Institute podcast to discuss his research examining the impact of China entering the World Trade Organization, how the U.S. can protect vital industries from unfair trade practices, and the potential impacts of AI. “If you say, we're running a race against China, and certainly we are in many ways, we have two tools at our disposal. One is we can try to trip them up and hobble them. The other is we could bulk up and run faster. And we're going to have to do both,” says Autor. “We have to be willing to do the expensive stuff as well as the cheap stuff. The cheap stuff is like, let's put tariffs on them. The expensive stuff is let's invest in ourselves. And those are complementary activities.”

In an interview with NBC News reporter Kathy Park, Prof. Richard Binzel, Prof. Julien de Wit, and Research Scientist Artem Burdanov provide insight into astronomer's efforts to learn more about asteroid 2024 YR4. “This is an object that merits tracking by astronomers, merits our attention and that’s simply what we are doing,” says Binzel. 

Profs. Richard Binzel, Julien de Wit and Research Scientist Artem Burdanov speak with Boston Globe reporter Sarah Mesdjian about asteroid 2024 YR4 and their work developing a new method to “find and track far-away asteroids that were previously undetectable by using technology they compared to long-exposure images.” Says Binzel: “With improving technology, we are going to be aware of more and more of these objects.” He adds: “It’s a really important learning process what we’re doing right now. So when we find more and more of them, we know how to quickly process them and assess which of them are really worth looking further into.”

A new study by researchers at MIT has found that “while highly skilled workers reported a 40% surge in performance when artificial intelligence was used within the boundary of its capabilities, overreliance on AI resulted in a performance drop of 19%,” reports Chris Callagher for USA Today. 

David Zipper, a senior fellow at the Mobility Initiative, speaks with WBUR Here & Now co-host Scott Tong about “car bloat,” the trend of increasingly large SUVs and trucks on the road. “I personally believe that car bloat is a major public health issue, it's a major policy issue, but I'll be candid, I don't think the average American does right now,” explains Zipper. “We need people to understand it and appreciate it. And in my view, that's going to need to happen at the grassroots level before we can expect really anybody in Washington to address this problem in the way that it deserves to be addressed.”

Prof. David Autor speaks with NPR Planet Money host Greg Rosalsky about his working paper exploring “what happened to American communities after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001,” also known as the “China Shock." Autor and his colleagues found that while regions impacted by the China Shock did eventually recover, the people hurt by the China Shock did not. “The China Shock research suggests that classic, free market economic theory blinded many to the reality that free trade can destroy the livelihoods of many people and that they have a hard time adjusting," says Rosalsky.

Research Scientist Artem Burdanov speaks with Boston.com reporter Molly Farrar about asteroid 2024 YR4. Burdanov and his colleagues recently developed a new detection method that could be used to track potential asteroid impactors and help protect our planet. “We need to observe it more, and then we can make an informed decision,” says Burdanov, “but it’s good that we have telescopes and scientists who can do this type of work and inform the public about the threat.” 

Research Scientist Artem Burdanov speaks with WBZ News Radio reporter Chaiel Schaffel about his team’s work developing a new detection method that could be used to track potential asteroid impactors like 2024 YR4 and help protect our planet. Burdanov and his colleagues used the new method to detect “138 asteroids ranging in size from a bus to the size of Gillette Stadium.” Burdanov explains that he and his colleagues "used a clever technique to find asteroids that are hidden in the noise.” 

Prof. Ed Boyden and Prof. Li-Huei Tsai have “found that if gamma waves through non-invasive stimulation, were put back into baseline frequency, it could slow down the process in certain brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s,” reports Hansa Bhargava for Forbes. 

In a letter to The Guardian, Research Scientist Florian Metzler, Research Affiliate Matt Lilley and their colleagues highlight the important advancements being made in cold fusion research. “Cold fusion could result in spectacular technologies. But we are convinced that the way forward requires rigorous, open-source scientific investigation, not more claims,” they write. “In many ways, cold fusion’s time has come. Advances in theory and experiment have made the LENR field eminently actionable.” 

Lincoln Lab Senior Scientist Vijay Gadepally speaks with Washington Post reporter Nicolas Rivero about ways to make AI more sustainable. “Whatever we do, energy usage is likely going to go up,” says Gadepally. “That train has left the station.”