According to a new MIT study, airlines could handle flight delays more equitably by distributing them among themselves, reports Lloyd Mallison for Boston.com. The new system “would mean that two hypothetical planes could both have a 15-minute delay rather than one having no delay, and one having a 30-minute wait,” Mallison explains.
Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that MIT researchers have developed a new digitized pen that could be used to improve a test that screens for Alzheimer’s and other cognitive impairments. “What the pen does is capture the writing with considerable temporal and spatial accuracy,” Prof. Randall Davis explains.
A new study by MIT researchers shows how airlines could juggle delays more equitably by distributing disruptions among themselves, reports Bart Jansen for USA Today. The researchers found that airlines could distribute delays “without adding significantly to the overall delays.”
In collaboration with Columbia University and the University of Nairobi, MIT researchers have created a map of Nairobi’s informal matatu (or mini-bus) transit system, writes Shara Ton for Wired. Ton explains that, “Just as New York commuters can plot their subway routes on the service, residents of Nairobi can now jack into the matatu system on their smartphones.”
Dominic Basulto writes for The Washington Post about the implications of a new method for 3-D printing glass created by MIT’s Mediated Matter Group. Basulto writes that the technology could eventually give us “the ability to create objects and applications that do not exist today.”
MIT researchers have developed a file system that is guaranteed not to lose data during a computer crash, reports Michael Rundle for Wired. “The research proves the viability of an entirely new type of file-system which is logically unable to forget information accidentally,” explains Rundle.
Brian Barrett writes for Wired about the new, low-cost 3-D printer developed by researchers at MIT CSAIL that can print 10 different materials at once. Research engineer Javier Ramos explains that the team wanted to make the printer, “inexpensive, and a software platform that we would keep open and hackable.”
Motherboard reporter Victoria Turk writes that MIT researchers have developed a 3-D printer that can print up to 10 different materials at once. Turk describes how the printer can create “a lens on top of an LED bulb" and other objects.
Researchers from MIT CSAIL have created a 3-D printer that can print 10 different materials simultaneously, reports Kelsey Atherton for Popular Science. The new printer can also “incorporate other, finished parts directly into the design— all at a fraction of the cost of complex industrial 3D printers.”
Prof. Kerry Emanuel writes for The Conversation about what scientists have learned since Hurricane Katrina about how hurricanes are influenced by climate. Emanuel writes that, “the incidence of the strongest hurricanes – those that come closest to achieving their potential intensity – will increase as the climate warms, and there is some indication that this is happening.”
Wired reporter James Temperton writes that researchers at MIT have developed a new method for 3-D printing glass. Temperton writes that the process is “better understood as additive manufacturing, with layers of molten glass being slowly drizzled into shape through a nozzle.”
Lloyd Mallinson reports for Boston.com that researchers from MIT and Harvard have discovered the link between obesity and genetics. “The uncovered cellular circuits may allow us to dial a metabolic master switch for both risk and non-risk individuals, as a means to counter environmental, lifestyle, or genetic contributors to obesity,” explains Prof. Manolis Kellis.
Prof. Manolis Kellis speaks with BBC reporter Andrew Peach about the discovery of a genetic “master switch” inside fat cells. This switch “decides whether every time we have a meal the excess calories will be stored as fat or whether they will actually be burned away as heat,” explains Kellis.
Prof. Manolis Kellis and his colleagues have discovered a metabolic switch linked to obesity, reports Chukwuma Muanya for The Guardian. “Obesity has traditionally been seen as the result of an imbalance between the amount of food we eat and how much we exercise, but this view ignores the contribution of genetics to each individual’s metabolism,” explains Kellis.
According to The Economist, MIT researchers are using 3-D printing to modernize the coiling method of glass production. The researchers have “already used their device to print a range of objects, including optical prisms and decorative vessels.”