Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a method to 3-D print robots with customized shock absorbers. The researchers hope that the “shock absorbing material could be used to create better shock absorbers for delivery drones, shock-resistant shoe soles, and even helmets.”
In a Boston Globe article about sensing technologies, Kevin Hartnett highlights Vice President Sanjay Sarma’s work developing techniques to detect where energy is leaking from a building and the condition of street lights. “Many cities have poor inventories of their infrastructure and don’t know if enough light is being delivered on the ground,” says Sarma.
Adam Piore spotlights Prof. Earl Miller’s research into the mechanisms behind working memory in an article for Discover. “Earl is kind of a rock star,” says Prof. Brad Postle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When he says something, a lot more people notice it.”
A study by Prof. Antoinette Schoar finds that hiring a CEO whose first job was during a recession can help boost a company’s shares, writes Alina Dizik for The Wall Street Journal. The researchers found a close connection between “starting one’s career in a recession and developing a reputation as a conservative, low-risk manager.”
In this video, CNN spotlights how researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed a robot, named Luigi, to collect bacteria from the sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "Sewers represent a unique opportunity where health data from everybody in a community is pooled together,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.
MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain responsible for forming habits, reports Anil Ananthaswamy for New Scientist. The researchers found that when performing an action, the prefrontal cortex, communicates with the striatum. “Over time, input from the prefrontal circuits fades, to be replaced by loops linking the striatum to the sensorimotor cortex,” Ananthaswamy explains.
MIT researchers have developed an app that compares automobile emissions and emissions reduction targets to allow consumers to find the most affordable and climate-friendly vehicles, reports Dana Nuccitelli for The Guardian. The app “allows consumers to check how their own vehicles – or cars they’re considering purchasing – stack up on the carbon emissions and cost curves.”
MIT researchers have developed a system to map streetlights, writes Linda Poon for The Atlantic CityLab. Using sensors mounted on top of vehicles, the system measures illumination levels, gathers data into a map, and distinguishes between background light and streetlights through machine learning, explains Poon.
Dr. Mallika Marshall reports for CBS Boston that MIT researchers have created a robot that helps maternity nurses make scheduling and placement decisions. “What we found was that the suggestions of the robot were accepted 90 percent of the time, which was very exciting for us,” explains Prof. Julie Shah.
MIT researchers have found that low-emissions vehicles are among the least expensive to drive. Based off their findings, the researchers developed an app that helps consumers evaluate a car’s carbon impact, reports John Schwartz for The New York Times. “Consumers can save money and save emissions at the same time,” explains Prof. Jessika Trancik.
Wall Street Journal reporter Melinda Beck spotlights the MIT D-Lab’s emphasis on flexible business plans and designs when developing innovations for developing nations. Beck highlights two D-Lab projects, an effort to make low-cost sanitary pads available in rural India and SurgiBox, a “collapsible tent that creates a sterile space around the portion of a patient undergoing surgery,” as examples.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about pay equity, Lauren Weber highlights Prof. Emilio Castilla’s research on manager bias. Weber explains that Castilla designed a system that “increased transparency and accountability for managers’ merit-pay decisions,” and found that pay gaps based on race, gender and nationality almost disappeared.
Eric Boodman writes for STAT that MIT researchers have developed a technique to produce biopharmaceuticals in remote locations. “Instead of making the drugs and then trying to keep them refrigerated over thousands of miles,” Boodman writes, the researchers, “want to give people the ingredients. These components don’t require refrigeration, and the instructions are as simple as they come: Just add water.”
CSAIL researcher have created a device that uses changes in heart beat and breathing to detect emotions, writes Forbes’ Kevin Murnane. The heart of the system,” writes Murnane, “is the algorithm that extracts the heartbeat from the RF signal. It’s an impressive achievement that solves a difficult problem.”
A device created by CSAIL researchers can detect emotions by wirelessly measuring heartbeats, according to the Associated Press. The device is “87 percent accurate in using heartrate and what it’s already learned about a person to recognize joy, pleasure, sadness or anger.”