Boston Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz writes that scientists have been able to detect gravitational waves for the second time. “It’s a wondrous thing,” said David Shoemaker, who leads the MIT lab that helped build the detectors. “Three months apart, 1.4 billion years ago, these two events happened at two different places in the sky.”
Scientists have observed a second pair of black holes colliding using the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times. Overbye writes that LIGO provides “a way of hearing the universe instead of just looking at it.”
In an article for New Scientist, Lisa Grossman writes that for the second time the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) has detected gravitational waves. “This gives us confidence,” says MIT research scientist Salvatore Vitale. “It was not just a lucky accident. Seeing a second one tells us clearly that there is a population of black holes there.”
Prof. Rainer Weiss speaks with Clara Moskowitz of Scientific American about why he is excited by the public’s reaction to the successful detection of gravitational waves. Weiss says that for him one of the most gratifying things is if he and his colleagues can help “make the argument that science is something everybody gets benefit from.”
Jarrod Goentzel and Fredrik Eng Larsson of the Center for Transportation and Logistics write for The Wall Street Journal that companies seeking greater supply chain visibility must quantify the benefits of such information. They write that “to make a clear case for investment in visibility systems, companies must focus on the tools that transform data into structural improvements.”
Writing for the Financial Times, Clive Cookson reports that MIT researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system capable of producing realistic sounds for silent movies. Cookson explains that another application for the system could be “to help robots understand objects’ physical properties and interact better with their surroundings."
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes that MIT researchers have created an algorithm that can produce realistic sounds. “The findings are an example of the power of deep learning,” explains McFarland. “With deep learning, a computer system learns to recognize patterns in huge piles of data and applies what it learns in useful ways.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that can learn how to predict sound. The algorithm “can watch a silent movie and create sounds that go along with the motions on screen. It's so good, it even fooled people into thinking they were actual, recorded sounds from the environment.”
A new study co-authored by researchers at the Broad Institute examines how exposure to microbes during childhood can impact the development of immune systems, reports Elissa Strauss for Slate. The researchers found that “while our individual habits are a factor in autoimmune disorders, they’re hardly the only cause.”
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that astronomers have observed a black hole consuming cold gas. Feltman notes that “this is the first time a black hole has been seen eating such a refreshing meal: Scientists previously had only observed black holes eating slow, steady meals of hot gas shed by the spiraling galaxies they call home.”
TIME reporter Jeffrey Kluger writes that MIT researchers have designed an algorithm to produce an image of a black hole. Kluger explains that the algorithm will allow researchers “visualize the event horizon that surrounds the black hole at the center of our own galaxy.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Karen Zheng examines how fear that items will go out of stock can motivate shoppers to pay full price, increasing stores’ profits, reports CNBC reporter Susie Poppick. “It turns out people tend to believe certain products will be sold faster or sooner than they actually are,” explains Zheng.
A team of astronomers, including MIT Prof. Michael McDonald, has observed a black hole feasting on cold gas. BBC News reports that the team “discovered a supermassive black hole and saw clouds speeding towards it at 800,000 mph. The observation supports a theory black holes feed on clouds of cold gas.”
Prof. Linda Griffith speaks with Wired reporter Sarah Zhang about her work developing chips that can mimic human organs in an effort to better understand interactions between the immune system and the liver. Griffith is currently working to connect at least 10 miniature organs on a chip to study, for example, how breast cancer can spread to the liver.
In this video, BBC World News reporter Adam Shaw learns about the stretchy, water-based hydrogel MIT researchers developed that could be used as a smart bandage to sense temperatures and deliver medication. “This is a new way to think about this interface between the human body and electronic devices,” explains Prof. Xuanhe Zhao.