In an article for Inside Higher Ed, Ray Schroeder writes about a new tool developed by Media Lab researchers that allows humans to communicate with computers. After summarizing the technology and exploring its potential implications for educators, Schroeder asks: “Are you prepared to leverage this technology in teaching and learning?”
Researchers from the Self-Assembly Lab are collaborating with BMW to develop inflatable objects that could potentially be used in car design, writes Katharine Schwab for Co.Design. Prof. Skylar Tibbits explains that the technology could be used to create adjustable car interiors that, “could be different every time you got in, or for every person who got in.”
Research Specialist Hillary Abraham speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Adrienne Roberts about a new AgeLab study examining why car dealers often have trouble explaining a car’s advanced safety technology. “Ultimately, it seemed to come down to lack of training, high turnover and the expectation of more work post-sale,” Abraham explains.
Elise Takahama writes for The Boston Globe that MIT researchers have developed a new technique to create “xenoproteins,” manmade proteins that could be used to battle infectious diseases like Ebola. Unlike drugs developed with natural proteins, the xenoproteins, “are more stable, easier to administer, and manufactured more quickly,” Takahama explains.
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson discusses the lack of economic measurement of free web services on the BBC World Service podcast, Tech Tent. The ability to measure the impact of technological advances might help us “understand that the last 10 years had not been as bad as we thought for our incomes,” explains BBC presenter Rory Cellan-Jones.
A new study co-authored by Prof. Emilio Castilla suggests that MBA candidates with informal endorsements, rather than letters of recommendation, are more likely to be interviewed for a program, writes Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. “Significantly, the researchers found that the endorsed candidates were not otherwise superior to those without endorsements,” explains Jaschik.
Xinhua news agency reports that MIT researchers have developed a robotic glider based on an albatross that can skim along the water’s surface “while surfing the waves like a sailboat.” “The researchers hope that in the near future, such compact and speedy robotic water-skimmers may be deployed in teams to survey large swaths of the ocean.”
Fast Company reporter Adele Peters writes that MIT researchers have designed a kit that allows scientists to develop diagnostic tests quickly and cheaply. The kit, “uses modular blocks that can be connected in different patterns to replicate the function that would typically be built into a manufactured test for pregnancy, glucose, or an infection or other disease.”
Using LiDAR sensors, MIT researchers have developed an autonomous vehicle navigation system for rural roads with “no detailed, three-dimensional map for the vehicle to reference,” reports Rob Verger of Popular Science. “The solution for urban mapping really doesn’t scale very well to a huge portion of the country,” explains graduate student Teddy Ort.
Coryanne Hicks of U.S. News & World Report highlights research by Prof. Andrew Lo and graduate student Pablo Azar in an article about using Twitter to spot financial trends. The study predicted market shifts based on the emotional context of tweets, finding that "when people start to get nervous, you can detect that very clearly," says Lo.
Research led by postdoc Yevgeni Berzak examined the correlation between eye movement and language proficiency. Sandrine Ceurstemont of New Scientist notes that the team thinks results of the study could be used to “modify” text to a reader’s ability level, “catering to both second language and native speakers.”
Prof. Sara Seager speaks with Nova Wonders about the hope of finding “some sign of life” with the TESS mission. "We'd like to see methane and other gases,” says Seager. “And some of these, on their own or together, would help make the case for life on another planet.”
Yobe, a company co-founded by alumnus S. Hamid Nawab, uses a signal processing device to make it easier for machines to identify a specific voice in noise or among other voices. This technology has potential applications for “law enforcement, hearing aid manufacturers and meeting transcription services,” writes Ron Miller for TechCrunch.
In a commentary on CNBC, graduate student J. Daniel Kim and a co-author describe research with Prof. Pierre Azoulay and the U.S. Census Bureau on the average age of successful entrepreneurs. By working with the U.S. Census Bureau, they were able “to examine all businesses launched in the U.S. between 2007 and 2014, encompassing 2.7 million founders.”
In an article for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, discusses the results of a study on generational attitudes about the environment. While Millennials often believe their older peers committed “unforgivable environmental sins over past decades,” Coughlin argues the data also show that older adults “might just be the catalyst and be the best hope we have for a more sustainable society in the coming century.”