NPR reporter Jeff Brady spotlights a study by Prof. Jessika Trancik and Marco Miotti PhD ’20 that found “across most of the U.S., electric vehicles are cost-competitive with their gas counterparts. And it found that in most locations, EVs also reduce emissions between 40% and 60%.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Michiel Bakker finds that use of AI tools can impact cognitive function and problem-solving abilities in a relatively short period of time, reports Rob Taub for NewsNation. “We show that just 10–15 minutes of AI interaction can result in significant impairments in independent performance and persistence — capacities that are foundational to lifelong learning,” the researchers explain. “If brief exposure produces measurable erosion, the cumulative effects of daily AI use over months or years may be profound and difficult to reverse.”
Reporting from MIT, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza highlights how MIT is launching a “major effort to advance quantum computing, with a state investment of $25 million to help build a new research facility in Cambridge.” Said President Sally Kornbluth: “Everything you can think of that uses classical computing now, think about quantum speeding it up, making it more efficient. We think about the AI revolution and the expenses of AI and data centers. This is going to be impacted by a whole new different way of computing.”
President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced the establishment of a new quantum hub at MIT, called the Quantum Systems Laboratory, which is aimed at enabling scientists to undertake impactful work applying quantum research across practical domains, including life sciences and national defense, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. “Greater Boston has the greatest concentration of quantum talent anywhere in the world,” said Kornbluth. “It has been clear to us for some time that if we could magnify all of that talent with the right facilities and shared quantum toolbox, we could establish Massachusetts as a national hub for quantum innovation.”
To help establish Massachusetts and the nation as a quantum leader, President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced plans for a new share-used quantum research facility at MIT, writes Axios reporter Steph Solis. The Quantum Systems Laboratory would “host teams focused on using quantum mechanics for life sciences and defense research, but what would set the MIT project apart from existing labs is its ability to power direct communication among multiple quantum computers,” Solis explains.
Thanks in part to a $25 investment from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MIT plans to open the Quantum Systems Laboratory, which will “provide quantum experts from across Massachusetts access to quantum hardware and specialized equipment,” reports Lucia Maffei for the Boston Business Journal. "This is good news for MIT, good news for Massachusetts and, frankly, good news for the world," said Governor Maura Healey. "This is really setting the stage to have cutting-edge quantum computers be able to operate in that building," said President Sally Kornbluth. "There will be many people throughout Massachusetts who come to use this facility. It's really a hub to make Massachusetts a quantum center.”
State House News Service reporter Katie Castellani writes that President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced a new shared-use quantum facility at MIT, the Quantum Systems Laboratory (QSL), aimed at providing scientists the opportunity to apply quantum research across various sectors, including defense and the life sciences. The QSL will “bring quantum computers together with quantum sensors and peripherals through physical channels that transfer information,” Castellani explains.
MIT engineers have developed a new low-temperature process for extracting battery-grade lithium from hard rock, while also reducing waste, reports Gayoung Lee for Gizmodo. “Mining is essential to technology and therefore to society, yet it is perceived negatively by much of the public as a destructive, polluting industry, in some cases with good reason,” explains Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang. “We hope to help change that perception by showing that there are cleaner, more sustainable ways to do it.”
The Economist reports on the growing popularity of ingestible sensors, including work at MIT where researchers are using the devices to “sense internal conditions and act on what they find.” The MIT team “received $66m from ARPA-H, a federal grant system that pushes high-risk, transformative health-care technology, to develop ingestible devices for the oral delivery of mRNA treatments.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, President Sally Kornbluth emphasizes the importance of investment in discovery science, what she calls “curiosity on a mission." Kornbluth notes: “When someone we love needs therapies that could have emerged but didn’t or when other countries now investing in science can launch new science-based industries or run their societies on vast resources of fusion energy or reap the benefits of quantum computing power or advanced medical breakthroughs, America will wish it sustained its leadership in scientific research here and now.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new online tool called the “AI Labor Exposure Map,” which breaks down different job tasks by those that can be performed by AI, and those that cannot. The team found that, “[i]n many cases, the human-centric parts of a job are still essential,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “Instead of laying off workers, an employer could use the research to identify tasks that could be automated, so that the workers can be reassigned to handle only the uniquely human tasks.”
7 News reporter Polikseni Manxhari spotlights Erin Dawicki Sloan Fellow MBA ’24 and her work developing LymeAlert, an at-home kit that can test ticks for Lyme disease. “We really see this as a community-based healthcare initiative where we can all contribute significant information and hopefully figure out how to stop these little buggers in their tracks,” says Dawicki.
During a live interview in the GBH studios with Curiosity Desk host Edgar B. Herwick III, Research Scientist AJ Perez shares his work developing a new method to reuse recycled plastic to 3D print construction-grade materials for home building, which could help reduce home construction costs. “This all started with the idea of trying to build the roughly one billion homes the world needs,” says Perez.
A new at-home test developed by Erin Dawicki Sloan Fellow MBA ’24 can identify Lyme disease in a tick in just 15 minutes, Juli McDonald for CBS Boston. "Our goal is to get this into everybody's medical kits. Not everyone finds the tick, but when you do, if you can test it immediately at home and know you've been exposed," Dawicki explains.
Washington Post reporter Kevin Schaul examines the impact of AI on a number of fields, highlighting a recent study co-authored by graduate student Anand Shah that found that over the past few years there appears to have been an increase in self-represented and AI-generated legal filings. “Every system that has decreased cost to entry from AI should expect increased demand,” says Shah.