Research

“Researchers at NASA and MIT have figured out how to beam wireless connectivity from a ground base in New Mexico to the moon using telescopes and lasers,” writes Timothy McGrath in a piece posted on Salon. 

MIT researchers have helped to produce an algorithm that applies professional photograph editing to self-portraits, writes Billy Steele for Engadget. The software uses existing works to make a match with the captured image, explains grad student YiChang Shih. 

The BBC reports on a suit developed by the MIT AgeLab that simulates the aging process and the physical difficulties that come with age. The suit is designed to give young people a better idea of the challenges faced by the elderly.

Wall Street Journal reporter Brenda Cronin features David Autor’s new research on inequality. “Two ‘destructive’ points that Mr. Autor tries to skewer with his most recent work are the idea that prospects are dim for all but the financial elite—and the notion that too many students are giving rise to a “college bubble,” Cronin writes. 

“A new study has revealed an overlooked trend: tropical cyclone activity is shifting away from the tropics and toward the poles,” writes Andrea Thompson in a Huffington Post piece on new research from MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel. 

NPR reporter Scott Neuman writes about how researchers have found that storms are, “migrating out of the tropics, reaching their peak intensity in higher latitudes, where larger populations are concentrated.”

Scientific American reporter David Biello discusses new research that shows that major storms are shifting towards the poles. “The record reveals that peak cyclone location has been shifting toward both poles at a rate of about 35 miles per decade, roughly one-half a degree of latitude,” Biello explains.

A new study co-authored by MIT’s Kerry Emanuel finds that as the Earth’s oceans have warmed, destructive storms have moved further from the equator, writes Jason Samenow for The Washington Post. 

Benjamin Winterhalter interviews graduate student Michael Chen for this Atlantic article about the importance of scientific research that enhances our understanding of the world in general. “Without these theoretical realizations, we'll never get to new places," says Chen.

Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Peter Coy writes about how researchers from MIT and other universities simulated 549 storm surges in New York City and analyzed the effectiveness of different defenses. The researchers found that the most cost-effective method is to allow storm waters to flood the city while protecting critical infrastructure.

Austin Hess reports on MIT’s new environment initiative in an article for The Tech. “MIT undertakes initiatives to inspire genuinely new ideas and the initiative on the environment will be no exception,” Maria T. Zuber, MIT Vice President for Research, told The Tech.

GreenWire reporter Katherine Ling writes about MIT’s new environment initiative. The initiative will, "use interdisciplinary research across physical and social sciences, engineering, and urban planning and policy to address environmental problems.”

ArchDaily reporter Karissa Rosenfield reports on plans to construct a new facility on the MIT campus for nanoscience and nanotechnology research. “Centrally located at the heart of MIT, the new glass-encased, four-story structure will house two floors of high-performance cleanrooms, as well as imaging and prototyping facilities that are all designed to foster innovation through cross-discipline collaboration,” writes Rosenfield.

Kath Xu writes about plans for the new MIT nanotechnology facility in an article for The Tech. “For a long time, [nanotechnology] was just science and we were playing in the lab and doing measurements and it was really fun,” Professor Polina Anikeeva told The Tech. “But now it’s exploding and it’s really becoming its own field… Nanotechnology has entered every part of engineering.”

MIT.nano "will break down barriers traditionally separating subjects in the name of nanoscale research,” writes Chemistry World reporter Andy Extance, who quotes MIT’s Moungi Bawendi as explaining: “It is a shared space in a state-of-the-art building that will house state-of-the-art instrumentation. I expect there will be many new activities fostered by this new space.”