MIT researchers have found that colon cancer cells can “change their identity, allowing them to travel through the body and form new tumors,” reports Daniella Gray for Newsweek. The findings could point to future treatments that can prevent metastasis—the leading cause of death for colorectal cancer patients, Gray explains.
In an interview with Fortune reporter Nick Lichtenberg, Prof. Daron Acemoglu discusses AI’s economic impact and his book, What Happened to Liberal Democracy. Acemoglu estimates AI will deliver roughly 0.55% in total factor productivity gains. “It’s not that you cannot get big productivity gains from automation. It is that it’s not as easy as sometimes it’s presumed,” says Acemoglu.
Prof. Eric So joins CBS News Tech Watch to discuss a new Pew Research Center study that reveals 40% of U.S. adults perceive AI’s future impact to be negative, as well as his upcoming book, The Collision: What AI Does to Us. “The growth of AI is simply overwhelming for so many people in terms of the pace of progress. But also, a reflection of the fact that for so much of human history, human level intelligence was our most scarce resource, our most defensible advantage,” says So. “It was why we were paid the salaries that we are. And now AI is increasingly commoditizing that. It’s being mass produced in a way that really causes us to question what’s going on to make us valuable in the future.”
Prof. David Kaiser joins GBH “Particles of Thought” podcast host Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi to discuss his hunt for primordial black holes. “It’s a lot easier to find stuff coming off of a very bright, hot source, than a cold, dim one. So, the Hawking temperature of a black hole that has the same mass as our sun, or a little bigger would be so cold we would literally never be able to measure [its] radiation,” says Kaiser. “You’ll never see it [Hawking Radiation] from stellar collapse black holes, you’ll never see it from supermassive black holes, or even colder. The only hope to ever see it would be a smaller mass black hole.”
For Scientific American’s special section “The Young American Scientists,” Prof. Feng Zhang speaks with Tara Haelle about the importance of investing in science and education, noting that “American science has long been the strongest engine of discovery and innovation in the world.” Zhang shares: “I’m fortunate to work with extraordinary students and postdocs, but the infrastructure that lets them do their best work is under real stress: funding instability..., immigration uncertainty for international scientists and an erosion of public trust in expertise. We can lose the lead rapidly if we do not protect our innovation ecosystem.”
Prof. Emery Brown speaks with Scientific American reporter Tara Haelle for Scientific American’s special “Young American Scientists” section, discussing the evolution of the field of neuroscience and why he is optimistic about the future of scientific research in the U.S. “I am optimistic because I see new and exciting findings being discovered every day,” says Brown. “With [MIT] President [Sally] Kornbluth’s support, [the university] has developed its Health and Life Sciences (HEALS) program to encourage MIT faculty to look more deeply into solving health care problems. The enthusiasm for HEALS has been contagious across the campus.”
Scientific American reporter Deni Ellis Béchard spotlights graduate student Alex Zhang for the publication’s special section featuring 28 rising young scientists. “The types of research that I want to work on are things that I think should be shared for the benefit of people in general,” Zhang says of his work aimed at improving AI user experience with recursive language models.
For Scientific American’s special section “The Young American Scientists” Bob Mumgaard PhD ‘15, co-founder and CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, speaks with Tara Haelle about the commercialization of fusion science and how automated tools have accelerated research. “Whether in areas such as fusion—or in drugs by design for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s or in [the creation of] materials we never thought possible—our ability to use new tools to tackle some of these big, meaty problems is super exciting,” says Mumgaard.
In an interview conducted by Scientific American reporter Andrea Thompson for “The Young American Scientists” special section, seismologist Lucy Jones, PhD ‘81, emphasizes the importance of collaboration between scientists and policymakers to develop solutions to big issues, including natural disasters. “Solutions have to be done in collaboration, which means spending time with policymakers,” says Thompson. She adds: “I do see a change in attitude about the worthiness of applying science—of activation. That’s relatively new and really important.”
Prof. Alan Guth chats with Scientific American reporter Joseph Howlett about the future of the field of cosmology and his advice for early-career physicists for “The Young American Scientists” special section. Guth shares that thanks to advances in technology, “we’re able to unravel, to make sense out of, what we’re observing. A lot of progress has been made on those lines.”
For the Scientific American special section “The Young American Scientists,” Institute Prof. Robert Langer speaks with Megha Satyanarayana about the “spectacular” history of American innovation and education, and why he feels it’s important to celebrate scientific achievements in the same way we honor celebrities and sports stars. “I’m just a big believer in the resilience of people,” says Langer. “I look at the history of American innovation and education over the past 250 years, and it’s been spectacular. We’ve had world wars, you know, we’ve had depressions, and people keep persisting and keep learning. They keep discovering and they keep inventing.”
For Scientific American’s “The Young American Scientists” special section, reporter Tara Haelle interviews Prof. John Urschel, a former NFL player, exploring his views on the benefits for aspiring young scientists of having a broad background to draw upon. “A lot of good research happens when people can draw on tools, techniques and insights from different areas, disciplines and even fields,” says Urschel. “I hope we can encourage promising young scientists to establish strong, broad backgrounds and to communicate frequently with those outside their particular areas.”
Prof. Alan Lightman details how his childhood fascinations with science experiments and writing helped shape his self-confidence, humanity, and connection to the physical world in an essay for Scientific American’s special section, “The Young American Scientists.” Lightman writes: “Science has given us automobiles, antibiotics, computers. The humanities have given us values and guidance on how to live our lives. Now more than ever, when much of the world, including the U.S., has lost its moral compass, leading to a dog-eat-dog mentality, we need science combined with literature, philosophy, history and art.”
Visiting Scientist Alice Stanton speaks with Scientific American reporter Tanya Lewis about her work developing miBrain, a 3D model of the human aimed at helping scientists “better understand neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s so researchers can develop personalized treatments for them.” Says Stanton of the need for stable support for scientific research: “When we have a loved one who gets sick, we want a treatment—we want something to cure them. It doesn’t come out of thin air.”
Fast Company reporter Jude Cramer spotlights a new study by MIT researchers that finds individuals who rely on AI to verify facts saw a 15% decline in their ability to detect fake news when unassisted by AI. “AIs that ‘tell’ by providing direct answers are more likely to foster reliance, while those that ‘ask’ via Socratic questioning are better at engaging someone to actually learn how to discern the truth on their own,” says graduate student Valdemar Danry. “But it’s very much a trade-off between speed and effort.”