Research Scientist Jim Aloisi, director of the MIT Transit Research Consortium, joins WBUR’s Radio Boston to discuss the indefinite pause on New York’s congestion pricing program. The main failure recently seen, Aloisi explains, is lack of communication about congestion pricing, which fails to “let people understand how flexible and therefore fair and equitable this pricing tool can be, if we want it to be.”
Writing for The New York Times, Kenji López-Alt '02 slices into his research with Rui Viana '05 on the best method for cutting an onion. Using “computer models of the cross section of an onion,” López-Alt and Viana simulated “various cutting geometries and to calculate basic information, such as the number of pieces cut with each method, their average size and the standard deviation from the norm within that group" to see which method is a cut above the rest.
Writing for Climatewire, Scott Waldman interviews experts about New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to pause congestion pricing. David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, says “I think other cities will keep looking at it no matter what happens in New York.” He adds: “But I would say that, if congestion pricing goes forward in New York, that can basically turbocharge efforts in other cities to adopt it.”
MIT is the world’s No.1 university for the 13th year in a row, according to the latest global university rankings from publisher QS Top Universities.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Research Scientist James Aloisi, director of the MIT Transit Research Consortium, highlights the current difficulties facing transportation funding, arguing for congestion pricing as a “highly agile and strategic revenue tool.” "Congestion pricing is one of the most feasible approaches to replacing the gas tax," writes Aloisi, "and providing a stable, fair, and equitable approach to raising revenue for both transit and roadways."
Reporting in Portuguese, Correio Braziliense highlights researchers at MIT who have developed a new technique that uses light stimuli to benefit people with paralysis or amputations. “Our work could help bring the use of optogenetics closer to humans in the realm of neuroprosthetics that control paralyzed muscles and other functions of the peripheral nervous system,” says graduate student Guillermo Herrera-Arcos.
Prof. Albert Saiz speaks with USA Today reporter Bailey Schulz about the growing popularity of build-to-rent communities. With the U.S. estimated to be short anywhere between 1 million and 7 million single-family homes, depending on the source, “more housing is always better,” Saiz notes. He adds: “If you did not have this built-to-rent outlet for development, you wouldn't have these developments happen.”
Writing for STAT, Prof. Kevin Esvelt explores how, “the immense potential benefits of biotechnology are profoundly vulnerable to misuse. A pandemic caused by a virus made from synthetic DNA — or even a lesser instance of synthetic bioterrorism — would not only generate a public health crisis but also trigger crippling restrictions on research.” Esvelt adds: “The world has too much to gain from the life sciences to continue letting just anyone obtain DNA sufficient to cause a pandemic.”
Prof. Carlo Ratti and the WeBuildGroup have developed a proposal to help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, reports Anna Cooban for CNN. Ratti explained that the blueprint was designed to “produce a safer bridge by widening the channels through which ships can pass, among other measures.” The design will help prevent “the risk of a tragedy such as the one of March 26 happening again,” Ratti explains.
Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights how MIT President Sally Kornbluth is “determined to harness MIT’s considerable brainpower to tackle” climate change. During a clean-tech entrepreneurship event hosted by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Kornbluth highlighted the newly announced Climate Project at MIT, “which commits $75 million and dozens of faculty to solving some of the biggest climate problems.” Kornbluth also noted that MIT’s “culture of entrepreneurship” makes the Institute uniquely positioned to help address the challenges posed by climate change.
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.
David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Lab, writes for Bloomberg about how the findings of William Whyte, an urbanist observer and writer, on what attracts people to urban spaces could be used to help draw people back to downtown areas after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Whyte’s insights suggest a need to build comfortable, pleasant places that invite people to linger, perhaps eating a meal or buying a new shirt while they’re there,” writes Zipper. “And his research serves as a reminder that good public spaces strengthen human relationships, offering an antidote to the loneliness epidemic said to afflict a growing number of Americans.”
Financial Times reporters Andrew Hill and Emma Jacobs spotlight how Prof. Carlo Ratti and his colleagues have found that “people are traveling less far from their homes, consistent with more remote working.” The findings demonstrate a more flexible approach to commuting. “That’s good news [for cities], because the problem is not a problem of capacity, it’s a problem of peaks,” Ratti explains.
Birago Jones SM '12 and Karthik Dinakar SM '12, PhD '17 co-founded Pienso – an AI platform that “lets users build and deploy models without having to write code,” reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “Pienso’s flexible, no-code interface allows teams to train models directly using their own company’s data,” says Jones. “This alleviates the privacy concerns of using … models, and also is more accurate, capturing the nuances of each individual company.”
Mashable reporter Adele Walton spotlights Joy Buolamwini PhD '22 and her work in uncovering racial bias in digital technology. “Buolamwini created what she called the Aspire Mirror, which used face-tracking software to register the movements of the user and overlay them onto an aspirational figure,” explains Walton. “When she realised the facial recognition wouldn’t detect her until she was holding a white mask over her face, she was confronted face on with what she termed the ‘coded gaze.’ She soon founded the Algorithmic Justice League, which exists to prevent AI harms and increase accountability.”