Research

Prof. David Autor speaks with Nature reporter Dalmeet Singh Chawla about the long-term impact of his research on policy documents. Autor’s work from November 2003 “is now the third most cited in policy documents worldwide,” writes Chawla. “Autor thinks his study stands out because his paper was different from what other economists were writing at the time. It suggested that ‘middle-skill’ work, typically done in offices or factories by people who haven’t attended university, was going to be largely automated, leaving workers with either highly skilled jobs or manual work.”

Prof. Kieran Setiya speaks Sean Illing, host of Vox’s The Gray Area podcast, about how philosophy can be used as a tool when handling midlife crises. “There’s a real continuity between the literary and human description of phenomena like grief and philosophical reflection,” says Setiya. “Because often what philosophical reflection provides is less a proof that you should live this way and more concepts with which to articulate your experience and then structure and guide how you relate to reality. And seen that way, we can understand how philosophy can operate as self-help.”

Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. S.P. Kothari and Senior Lecturer Robert Pozen explain why U.S. consumers “continue to feel they are suffering from inflation, although the annual rate of inflation dropped sharply during 2023.” “The answer is that consumers have a broader time horizon,” they write. “[Consumers] are looking at the rate of price increases over the past three years. From January 2021 to January 2024, the consumer price index for all items rose by 17.96%.”

Researchers at MIT have discovered that a previously witnessed supermassive black hole has “a smaller companion black hole zipping around it, kicking up dust every time it goes by,” reports John Wenz for Astronomy. This discovery “shakes up our thinking of what the environment at the core of the galaxy looks like,” explains Wenz. “Instead of a simple disk of matter surrounding the central black hole, steadily swirling across its event horizon, the centers of galaxies could host multiple black holes of different sizes, leading to more complex feeding behavior.”

Prof. Emeritus Olivier Blanchard speaks with New York Times reporter Peter Coy about the impact of wage increases on inflation. “Fundamentally, it is hard to believe that when the economy is overheating there is not going to be pressure of some sort on wages and prices,” says Blanchard.

MIT researchers have developed a new type of spring-like device that uses a flexible element to help power biohybrid robots, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. “The muscle fiber/flexure system can be applied to various kinds of robots in different sizes,” Heater writes, adding that the researchers are, “focused on creating extremely small robots that could one day operate inside the body to perform minimally invasive procedures.”

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere explored the effectiveness of climate commitments made by banks to mitigate the effects of climate change, reports Nicole Goodkind for CNN. “Our results cast doubt on the efficacy of voluntary climate commitments for reducing financed emissions, whether through divestment or engagement,” the researchers note.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have found that climate pledges made by banks to reduce carbon emissions and finance energy transitions may not be as effective as previously thought, reports Eshe Nelson for The New York Times. “The researchers found that since 2018 the banks had reduced lending 20 percent to sectors they had targeted in their climate goals, such as oil and gas and transport,” explains Nelson. “That seems like progress, but the researchers argued it was not sufficient because the decline was the same for banks that had not made the same commitment.”

Prof. David Autor speaks with PBS host Walter Isaacson about the fear surrounding AI’s impact in the workforce and his view that AI could provide new opportunities for middle class workers. “Most of the time, technology is good for the elite and not so good for everybody else,” says Autor. “[AI] is a case where the technology might compete a little bit more with the elite and enable more people to do valuable work,” resulting in higher wages and more job opportunity for the middle class. 

MIT researchers have developed a 3D printer that can use “unrecognizable printing materials in real-time to create more eco-friendly products,” reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. The engineers “detailed a newly designed mathematical function that allows off-the-shelf 3D-printer’s extruder software to use multiple materials—including bio-based polymers, plant-derived resins, or other recyclables,” explains Paul.

Postdoc Xuhai Xu and his colleagues have developed an AI program that can distribute pop-up reminders to help limit smartphone screen time, reports Jeremy Hsu for New Scientist. Xu explains that “a random notification to stop doomscrolling won’t always tear someone away from their phone. But machine learning can personalize that intervention so it arrives at the moment when it is most likely to work,” writes Hsu.

MIT researchers have found that a textured surface, designed like a shark riblet, can improve the towed sonar arrays (TSAs) that are "vital for marine vessels engaged in underwater security or exploration projects," reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “Utilizing computational modeling, researchers tested various riblet shapes and patterns interacting with simulated water environments,” explains Paul. “From calm currents to the more commonly unpredictable flows seen in oceans, the team observed how smooth, triangular, trapezoidal, and scalloped riblets might affect fluid dynamics and acoustics.”

Science reporter Jennifer Sills asked scientists to answer the question: “Imagine that you meet all of your research goals. Describe the impact of your research from the perspective of a person, animal, plant, place, object, or entity that has benefited from your success.” Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, a Schmidt Science Fellow in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering, shares his response from a photon’s perspective. “I am a photon,” writes Cao. “I started my journey entangled with my significant other at the beginning of the Universe. In the past, humans couldn’t understand me, but then physicists created a quantum computer. At last, I have been reunited with my life partner!”

Prof. Joseph Doyle and his colleagues are studying whether type 2 diabetes could be treated or improved by nutrition, reports Donna Eastlake for Food Navigator.

Senior lecturer Renée Richardson Gosline speaks with Boston Globe reporter Maddie Khaw about new marketing strategies and how they are being used to promote the latest water bottle trends.  “If you can get the right influencer to talk about your stuff, you’ve got more targeted communications,” says Gosline. “What people buy has started to replace a sense of social connection and identity that is missing for many people.”