Huffington Post reporter Thomas Tamblyn writes that a team of MIT scientists has found that the Mars One colonization plans are flawed. The researchers found that Mars colonists are unlikely to survive as the production of crops will over saturate the living environment with oxygen, Tamblyn writes.
Sharon Crowley of Fox News reports on the new study co-authored by MIT economist Dr. Sara Ellison on diversity in the workplace. The study found that while diverse workplaces are more productive, workers are happier in single-sex offices.
Researchers from MIT have detected the brightest pulsar ever recorded, reports Brook Hays of UPI. “Despite its small dimensions and modest mass, the pulsating dead star is burning with the energy of 10 million suns,” writes Hays.
Atlantic reporter Tim Fernholz writes that MIT researchers have analyzed Mars One’s plans for a colonization project on Mars. The researchers found that “growing plants would increase the amount of oxygen in the air to the point where it would need to be vented outside of the habitat to avoid increasing the pressure within the life support unit,” writes Fernholz.
In a piece published by The Huffington Post, Chad Brooks writes about a new study co-authored by Dr. Sara Ellison, which found that increasing gender diversity in the workplace can make businesses more productive. “Despite the improved production, individual employees may prefer a less diverse setting,” writes Brooks of the study’s findings.
Zeninjor Enwemeka of WBUR writes about a new study examining diversity in the workplace by MIT economist Dr. Sara Ellison. The study found that while many workers actually prefer a homogenous workplace, shifting to an office evenly split along gender lines could increase revenue.
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe reports on a new paper by MIT Prof. Pawan Sinha and others that says an inability to make good predictions may explain autism. “Researchers suggest people with autism spectrum disorder may perform repetitive behaviors because personal habits and rituals are a safe harbor in a world they find alarmingly out of control,” writes Johnson.
The Economist reports on an MIT study on the effectiveness of massive open online courses or MOOCs. Researchers found that MOOC participants “learned slightly more than they typically would in lectures.”
Boston Globe reporter Katie Johnston writes about a new MIT study showing that while employees are happier when they work with people of the same sex, single-sex workplaces aren’t nearly as productive. Employees “liked the idea of diversity more than they liked actual diversity,” says Dr. Sara Ellison, co-author of the study.
Professor Ernest Moniz, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, participates on NPR’s quiz show Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!. “A number of young scientists around the country considered the pathway I've taken one that inspires them. And it's really a pleasure to be able to hopefully encourage these young students,” says Moniz.
Niina Heikkinen reports for Scientific American that MIT researchers have identified a new way to make yeast more ethanol-tolerant. The researchers were able to improve “alcohol tolerance and extend the amount of time that individual cells could produce ethanol.”
Colleen Shalby reports for the PBS NewsHour that MIT is launching a new laboratory to examine how people use social media, in particular Twitter. Twitter is granting MIT researchers access to every tweet sent in the social network’s history as part of this new project.
WBUR reporter Zeninjor Enwemeka writes about the new MIT laboratory launched this week to analyze social media. “The new lab will focus on understanding how people behave across various types of media, and develop tools to make sense of social patterns,” writes Enwemeka.
Macrina Cooper-White of The Huffington Post writes that MIT researchers have found evidence that the giant basin on the moon was created by ancient volcanic eruptions and not from an asteroid impact. An asteroid would have created a circular basin, but researchers found that the basin is actually more rectangular in shape, Cooper-White reports.
WCVB reports that researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a pill coated with tiny needles that can deliver drugs directly into the digestive tract. The pill was found to deliver insulin more efficiently than current methods, WCVB reports.