Washington Post reporter Jim Tankersley writes about a new MIT study that found trade may not help countries cope with climate-induced agricultural problems. The researchers found countries needed the “ability to substitute new crops for the ones that don’t grow as well under climate change.”
Jeff Guo of The Washington Post reports on Prof. David Autor’s research examining the academic achievement gap between boys and girls. “It’s well known that young women have surpassed young men in schooling but what struck us was that these gaps vary so much across race and socioeconomic status,” says Autor.
MIT researchers have found that the high-velocity cloud created by the average human sneeze can contaminate a room in minutes, writes Robert Preidt for U.S. News & World Report. Sneeze droplets "undergo a complex cascading breakup that continues after they leave the lungs, pass over the lips and churn through the air," explains Prof. Lydia Bourouiba.
Lincoln Lab researcher Albert Swiston speaks on NPR’s All Things Considered about the new sensor developed by MIT researchers that monitors vital signs through the gastrointestinal tract. “There are some bits of information from the body—namely the temperature of the body—that can only be monitored from inside the body,” explains Swiston.
MIT researchers have determined that the Earth’s geomagnetic field will not flip in the near future, reports Felicia Gans for The Boston Globe. While the intensity of the Earth’s geomagnetic field is decreasing, the current level is “double the planet’s average intensity over the past 5 million years.”
Researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed an ingestible device that monitors vital signs, reports Dialynn Dwyer of Boston.com. Dwyer explains that the device is a “pill-sized stethoscope with a microphone that, once swallowed, transmits data from inside the body.”
Writing for Popular Science, Lindsey Kratochwill reports that MIT researchers have discovered that the hundreds of eyes on a chiton's shell can see. Kratochwill explains that the researchers hope that by “understanding how these eyes work and the materials that make them up could lead to manmade materials that are both protective and perceptive of their environments.”
Atlantic reporter Ed Yong writes that MIT researchers have found that chitons, a type of mollusk, have a suit of armor dotted with hundreds of eyes that can perceive objects. The researchers found that chitons could “detect the shape of a 20-centimeter fish from a few meters away.”
Nidhi Subbaraman reports for BetaBoston that MIT researchers have devised an ingestible microphone that allows doctors to monitor a patient’s vital signs. “A key innovation was developing algorithms that would distinguish important signals…from the noisy gurgling of the gut, and then translate them into numbers a physician can read and understand,” writes Subbaraman.
Graduate student Daniel McDuff is developing a computer system that can read human emotions by monitoring facial movements, reports Jane Wakefield for BBC News. “It translates that into seven of the most commonly recognized emotional states - sadness, amusement, surprise, fear, joy, disgust and contempt,” McDuff explains.
Researchers at MIT have developed an ingestible sensor that can measure vital signs without any external contact, reports Emily Reynolds for Wired. “The sensor works by using microphones—like ones found in mobile phones—that are able to pick up sound waves from the heart and lungs,” writes Reynolds.
Scientific American reporter David Biello writes about the growth of clean energy technologies, highlighting a new MIT report that finds that commitments from the U.S., Europe and China to cut greenhouse gas emissions could drive cost reductions in wine and solar technologies.
Emily Reynolds reports for Wired that NASA has awarded an R5 “Valkyrie” humanoid robot to a team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake. Reynolds explains that the team “will develop algorithms to make the robot more dexterous” so that they could potentially take the place of humans during extreme space missions.
A team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake has been awarded one of NASA’s R5 “Valkyrie” robots to develop software that could allow humanoid machines to assist astronauts in space, reports Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. Feltman writes that Tedrake’s team was awarded the robot based on its strong performance in the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
NASA has awarded two humanoid robots to research groups at MIT and Northeastern, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. The robots “are seen as potential tools to aid astronauts in future Mars expeditions,” writes Mastroianni. “They could potentially assist or even replace humans in extreme environments.”