UPI reporter Amy Wallace writes that MIT researchers have applied a computer vision system to help quantify the physical improvement of American neighborhoods. The researchers found that “density of highly educated residents, proximity to central business districts and other attractive areas, and the initial safety score assigned by the computer system are strongly related to improvements.”
The Washington Post Editorial Board highlights a paper co-authored by Prof. David Autor examining how technological advancements are impacting the labor market. Autor found that productivity growth associated with new technologies results in higher overall employment, but that job growth has been highly polarized. The study shows the need for societies to, “redouble their efforts to provide education and training.”
In an article about metal organic frameworks (MOFs), Max Opray of The Guardian highlights Prof. Evelyn Wang’s work developing a device that can extract water from the air. The transparent box developed by Prof. Wang and her team “delivers enough drinking water for a person’s daily needs,” explains Opray.
A study by MIT researchers shows that carpool lanes can help reduce a city’s traffic, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. The researchers found that the removal of HOV lanes increased driving times across Jakarta, Indonesia. "The magnitude was enormous and more than I would've expected," says Prof. Ben Olken.
Boston Globe reporter Jeremy Fox writes about a new study by MIT researchers examining whether math games can be beneficial in helping children learn. The researchers found that, “children who played math games consistently showed a better grasp of the concepts…but that understanding did not appear to help in elementary school.”
Ta-Hsuan Ong of Lincoln Lab has developed a new monitoring device that could help train dogs tasked with detecting hidden explosives, according to The Economist. The device, “lets handlers check instantly whether an apparent mistake by a dog is a real one.”
Los Angeles Times reporter Karen Kaplan writes that a new study by MIT researchers provides evidence that high-occupancy vehicle lanes can reduce traffic. The researchers found that when a carpool policy in Jakarta, Indonesia was canceled, there was a “46% increase in commuting time in the morning and an 87% increase in the evening.”
Scientists at the Broad Institute are trying to map every cell in the human body, reports Sy Mukherjee for Fortune. Once complete, the human cell atlas could “ultimately tailor drug discovery and treatment to a person's genetic makeup,” explains Mukherjee.
MIT researchers have designed a drone that can stay aloft for several days and could serve as an airborne telecommunications hub for disaster zones, reports Katherine Lin for NBC News. Prof. Warren Hoburg explains that the aircraft has a, “five-day endurance that is sized to carry a 10-pound payload at 15,000 feet.”
Wired reporter Aarian Marshall writes that researchers from the MIT AgeLab are examining driver behavior in an effort to reduce distracted driving fatalities. The researcher developed an algorithm that can help predict crashes based on driver behavior, which could eventually be used to “build and then test products that are safe to use in the car.”
NPR’s Shankar Vedantam reports on a study by Prof. Joseph Doyle that finds that second-born children, compared to their older siblings, are much more likely to end up in serious trouble. While only a minority of children end up getting into serious trouble, Doyle found that, “there appear to be sizable differences between first- and second-born brothers.”
FOX News reporter Grace Williams writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system to assist people with visual impairments in navigating their surroundings. “We wanted to primarily complement the white cane to allow users with visual impairments to quickly assess their environment in a contactless manner,” explains graduate student Robert Katzschmann.
Writing for STAT, Anna Spier, a senior policy associate for J-PAL, emphasizes the importance of relying on scientific evidence when policymakers determine which opioid addiction programs to fund. “As governments and philanthropists collaborate to learn what’s working to fight opioid addiction, establishing an infrastructure to share knowledge across local, state, and federal agencies will accelerate their collective work.”
MIT researchers have developed a laser sensing technique that can decipher the makeup of space debris orbiting around Earth, reports Alex Kingsbury for The Boston Globe. Knowing what material the debris is made of, “will allow for more precise calculations of momentum, velocity, and the danger they may pose to other objects aloft in orbit,” explains Kingsbury.
UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that MIT researchers have simulated a tiny motor that can be powered by light. Hays explains that the researchers designed, “a particle that could be powered and manipulated by simple light sources,” adding that the technique could be applied in medicine, in addition to a number of other fields.