Research

Politico Pro reporter Alex Guillén writes that David Goldston, director of government affairs for the National Resources Defense Council, has been selected to lead MIT’s Washington Office. 

In an article for Forbes about how companies and colleges need to collaborate more to spur innovation, Harold Sirkin writes that “MIT has mastered the art of industry collaboration.”

AP reporter Seth Borenstein writes that a study by Media Lab Research Scientist Nick Obradovich shows that as climate change brings about milder winters, people may be more likely to exercise. "It's a small little tiny silver lining amid a series of very bad, very unfortunate events that are likely to occur," says Obradovich. 

Researchers from the Self-Assembly Lab have developed a method of 3-D printing that creates large objects, such as furniture, in minutes, reports Alex Knapp for Forbes. "Our process does not print with layers, does not need support materials, can be printed in seconds to minutes and uses everyday industrial liquid materials," explains Prof. Skylar Tibbits. 

Graduate student Carrie Cai speaks with BBC News reporter Gareth Mitchell about a tool named “WaitSuite” that can help users learn a foreign language during idle moments. Cai explains that WaitSuite, “might detect that you are waiting for WiFi and alert you to the fact that there is a word you could be learning.”  

IEEE Spectrum reporter Dexter Johnson writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique for producing cheaper semiconductor wafers using graphene. The method could “make the use of exotic semiconductors more accessible to industries by preparing semiconductor thin films without the high cost of using bulk wafers.”

Prof. Marta González writes for Salon about her research showing drivers typically do not choose the optimal route that minimizes travel time. She explains her findings can be used to “design incentive mechanisms to alleviate congestion on busier roads, or carpooling plans based on individuals’ preferred routes.”

Prof. Daniela Rus speaks with Siti Rahil of Kyodo News about how researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) are working autonomous vehicles. Rus explains that a challenge facing the field is enabling driverless cars to operate in environments where "some of the cars are driven by people and some of the cars are driven automatically."

Prof. John Hauser writes for CBS News about his research examining how companies can rebuild customer trust. “It’s critical to actually prove, again and again, that a company and its products can indeed be trusted – and customers must be provided with tangible, observable proof that a company has changed its ways and the quality of its products.”

In a WBUR segment examining efforts to make electrical grids more resilient, Bruce Gellerman highlights how MIT researchers are developing a digital test bed that “will set national standards for the control devices that will manage the complex microgrids, making sure power from large utilities meshes perfectly with that produced by local intermittent sources like wind, solar and backup batteries.”

CNN reporter Kaya Yurieff writes that MIT researchers have created a device that can harvest drinking water from the air, even in desert climates. “I'm most excited about being able to realize a functioning device in these remote areas and to be able to provide clean water to all the people who need it," says Prof. Evelyn Wang. 

A new study by MIT researchers provides evidence that running can be socially contagious, reports Gretchen Reynolds for The New York Times. Prof. Sinan Aral explains that the study showed, “In general, if you run more, it is likely that you can cause your friends to run more.”

In an article published by Scientific American, Amin Al-Habaibeh writes about a device developed by MIT researchers that can extract drinking water from the atmosphere. Al-Habaibeh notes that the device’s ability to harvest water in dry regions, only using solar power, makes it a “particularly promising technology for harvesting water in arid or desert regions of the world.”

Los Angeles Times reporter Amina Khan writes that a study by MIT researchers shows that exercise can be contagious. The researchers found that a “runner’s peers did influence him or her to run more — but they also discovered that not all users influenced their buddies equally. Individuals were more likely to be prodded to up their game by less-active peers.”

President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach about the potential impact of proposed budget cuts to federally-funded scientific research. Achenbach writes that Reif notes, “America’s leadership in science is at stake.”