Melik Kaylan writes for The Wall Street Journal about “Syria: A Living History,” an exhibit curated by Prof. Nasser Rabbat. Kaylan writes that the exhibit is “a poignant, cathartic show. The visitor can’t help feeling awe and veneration for the immortal works of art mixed with a bittersweet sense of what humans are capable of—at their best and worst.”
In this video, CNN spotlights how researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed a robot, named Luigi, to collect bacteria from the sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "Sewers represent a unique opportunity where health data from everybody in a community is pooled together,” explains Prof. Eric Alm.
An article co-written by Prof. Carlo Ratti for The Guardian describes how the internet has changed people’s attitudes towards consumption. “The internet has heightened the prestige of sharing by turning it into a communicable experience,” Ratti notes.
MIT researchers are studying the possibility of developing autonomous boats and floating vessels, writes Stephanie Mlot in a Fox News article. The research, which is being conducted in collaboration with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, “aims to serve as an inspiration for urban areas around the globe.”
Daniel Akst of The Wall Street Journal writes that by bouncing electromagnetic waves off of pages, MIT researchers have developed a way to read closed books. The system could potentially be used also be used to count stacks of money and detect counterfeit currency, Akst explains.
Prof. Ramesh Raskar has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT prize for his “trailblazing work which includes the co-invention of an ultra-fast imaging camera that can see around corners, low-cost eye-care solutions and a camera that enables users to read the first few pages of a book without opening the cover,” writes Krishna Pokharel for The Wall Street Journal.
A new device developed by MIT researchers can read the pages of a book without opening the cover, reports Nsikan Akpan for the PBS NewsHour. The tool may “unlock the secrets of old books or ancient texts too fragile to be disturbed by human touch.”
MIT researchers have developed a system that uses terahertz waves to read the pages of a closed book, reports Michael Casey for the AP. Research scientist Barmak Heshmat explains that the system works better than X-rays, as “it can contrast between the blank paper and the part that has ink.”
Writing for CBS News, Charles Choi explores a system developed by MIT researchers that can identify letters in a closed book. The system could be used to examine ancient books or to “scan through large amounts of documents without having to mechanically separate the pages, which could be useful for libraries, banks and others,” says research scientist Barmak Heshmat.
MIT scientists have developed a device that can evaluate the ripeness of an apple by measuring the glow of chlorophyll in the fruit’s skin, writes Jesse Emspak for CBS News. “Such a gadget could make a big difference for apple distributors, who sometimes have to guess when deciding where to send their stock,” explains Emspak.
Salon reporter Scott Eric Kaufman writes that MIT researchers have created a system that can read the pages of a closed book and could be used to examine manuscripts too fragile to handle. “The system works by shooting pulses of radiation from a terahertz camera and measuring how long it takes for them to bounce back."
MIT researchers have developed a new computational imaging technique that can read closed books, reports G. Clay Whittaker for Popular Science. The technique could be useful for “rare book research, where opening a book may be impossible due to damage, or not worth the risk of damage.”
MIT researchers have developed a handheld sensor that can determine the ripeness of a piece of fruit, reports Deborah Netburn for The Los Angeles Times. The new device could “help farmers determine the optimal time to harvest fruit, or help them rapidly sort apples in storage facilities based on their ripeness.”
MIT has been named the top university in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings, reports Nick Morrison for Forbes. This is the fifth consecutive year that MIT has earned the number one spot in the QS rankings.
Liz Stinson writes for Wired that MIT researchers are using bees to help map the microbial makeup of cities around the world. “The goal in all of this is to produce an imagination around the microbiome,” explains Prof. Kevin Slavin.