In an article for The Wall Street Journal about creating complementary work teams, Stu Woo highlights how Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s research group is trying to improve workplace relations by gathering data on how people interact. “Simply seeing the data encourages employees to adapt their behavior, such as trying to boost engagement among the more silent members,” Woo explains.
Louis Columbus of Forbes writes about MIT Technology Review’s 2017 list of technological breakthroughs, which features several innovations from MIT researchers. Featured MIT research includes a new solar cell design that could double the efficiency of conventional solar cells, and the Cell Atlas, an initiative to catalog every cell type in the human body.
Science reporter Elizabeth Pennisi spotlights Institute Professor Sallie “Penny” Chisholm’s pioneering research into uncovering the secrets of Prochlorococcus. Prof. Michael Follows says that Chisholm, "has beautifully shown us how this microbe works and how the ocean world is organized."
MIT researchers have developed a new low-power chip that could make voice control practical for simple electronic devices, reports Tim Moynihan for Wired. While other speech-processing platforms use the cloud to process voice commands, “the MIT chip handles much more of that processing itself.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Carlo Ratti finds ride-sharing is feasible in different cities around the world, reports Eleanor Cummins for Popular Science. “The key thing is how this can transform our cities. Every car you remove from the road, you are removing pollution and traffic,” explains Ratti.
New Scientist reporter Sam Wong writes that MIT researchers used high-speed cameras to examine how raindrops can spread soil bacteria. “The researchers estimate that a single raindrop can transfer 0.01 per cent of bacteria on the soil surface into the air, and up to a quarter of bacteria emitted from the land might become airborne in this way.”
A study by MIT and Harvard researchers provides evidence that a new executive order on immigration could reduce the number of doctors in portions of Appalachia and the Industrial Midwest, reports Sam Petulla for NBC News. "In these places, there are lots of incentives for American-trained doctors and foreign-trained doctors to move and work," explains graduate student Michael Stepner.
Using high-speed cameras and fluorescent dye, MIT researchers have uncovered how rain drops can spread soil bacteria, reports Rae Ellen Bichell for NPR. The researchers found that in a few microseconds “a single raindrop can create hundreds of tiny airborne droplets, each one carrying as many as several thousand live bacteria.”
Popular Science reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis writes about a new study by MIT researchers that examines how rain drops help spread soil bacteria. The researchers found that “a single rain drop can transfer 0.01 percent of bacteria on the soil surface to the atmosphere.”
Boston Globe reporter Felice Freyer writes that a study by MIT and Harvard researchers examines how an executive order on immigration could impact the number of doctors in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. Doctors from the countries included in the order “handle about 14 million patient visits a year…often settling in areas where American doctors are reluctant to work.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows robots to correct their mistakes based on input from the brainwaves of human operators, reports Wired’s Matt Simon. “It’s a new way of controlling the robot,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus, “in the sense that we aim to have the robot adapt to what the human would like to do.”
Anthony Cuthbertson of Newsweek writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows robots to change their actions based on feedback from the brain waves of a human operator. “Imagine robots or smartphones that could immediately correct themselves when you realize they’re making a mistake,” says PhD candidate Joseph DelPreto.
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows robots to detect brain signals generated by human operators, writes Oscar Williams of Huffington Post. The researchers hope the new system could “pave the way for more seamless interactions between robots and humans.”
A feedback system developed by CSAIL researchers allows humans to correct a robot’s mistakes using brain signals, writes Janet Burns for Forbes. The system could be used as a “communication method for those who can't use verbal means, such as immobilized or even 'locked in' victims of paralysis,” explains Burns.
MIT researchers have developed a device that allows humans to guide robots using brainwaves, reports Clive Cookson for the Financial Times. The prototype brain-computer interface “enables a human observer to transmit an immediate error message to a robot, telling it to fix a mistake when it does something wrong.”