School of Architecture + Planning

Writing for Forbes, Keith Flamer explores Prof. Carlo Ratti’s design for the world’s highest vertical park. “Imagine you take New York’s Central Park, turn it vertical, roll it and twirl it,” says Ratti of his design. 

The Tangible Media Group created HydroMorph to examine water manipulation on smooth surfaces, writes Liz Stinson for Wired.  The researchers say they “envision a world filled with living water that conveys information, supports daily life, and captivates us.” 

Engadget’s Timpthy Seppala reports that MIT researchers have developed a model for estimating gas and electricity for every building in Boston. Seppla explains that, “the idea here is to use the model as a way of making Beantown more energy efficient across the board.”

In an article for Slate, Madeleine Clare Elish highlights a study by Prof. Frank Levy that found that only certain tasks in the field of law could be automated. Levy and his colleagues found that “dramatic impacts are unlikely due to technical limitations of machine intelligence as well as social expectations of a lawyer’s value.”

Prof. Neri Oxman’s work will be featured at the Beauty – Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial exhibit. Wall Street Journal reporter Andy Battaglia writes that Oxman’s work, “materialized through 3-D printing, the theoretical body aid is part of a project that calls on ideas culled from robotics.”  

Wall Street Journal reporter Sue Shellenbarger speaks with Prof. Mitchel Resnick about the benefits of teaching children how to code.  Shellenbarger writes that Resnick explained that “coding games and puzzles helps children go beyond a passive role with technology…to seeing it as a tool for creating things, expressing their ideas and sharing them with others.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Alexandra Wolfe profiles Prof. Cynthia Breazeal and examines her latest work developing a robot, dubbed Jibo, that can assist humans with daily tasks and serve as a companion.  “I’m really thinking about social robots as an extender of our human capacity,” Breazeal explains.

Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach writes about the life and work of Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, who died on Sunday. Achebach writes that Minsky’s colleagues knew him “as a man who was strikingly clever in conversation, with an ability to anticipate what others are thinking -- and then conjure up an even more intriguing variation on those thoughts.”

In an article for The Boston Globe, Bryan Marquard writes about Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, co-founder of the former AI Lab (now CSAIL), a founding member of the Media Lab, and a pioneer in the field of AI, who passed away on Sunday.  

Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, one of the founders of the field of artificial intelligence, died Sunday at age 88, reports Glenn Rifkin for The New York Times. Rifkin writes that Minsky “combined a scientist’s thirst for knowledge with a philosopher’s quest for truth as a pioneering explorer of artificial intelligence.”

BetaBoston reporter Nidhi Subbaraman writes about Koko, an app developed by MIT researchers that allows users to crowdsource advice.  “It’s really teaching people to think more flexibly about stressful situations,” said MIT alumnus and co-founder Robert Morris. 

Ray Brescia writes for The Huffington Post about a new paper co-authored by Prof. Frank Levy that examines the impact of automation on lawyers. The research suggests that, “at the core of what we value the most about the practice of law are things that lawyers can do better than computers.”

Prof. Tod Machover writes about the work of French composer Pierre Boulez, who died January 5, in an article for The Wall Street Journal. “[Boulez] has left a legacy as a bold fighter for the seriousness, sophistication and transformative power of music at a moment when we have often forgotten how…to really listen,” writes Machover. 

In a New York Times article about automation and employment, John Markoff highlights the work of several MIT researchers. A new study by Prof. Frank Levy that examines how automation could impact lawyers finds that “for now, even the most advanced A.I. technology would at best make only modest inroads into the legal profession.”

Lindsay Holmes writes for The Huffington Post about Koko, an application developed by MIT researchers to help users fight stress by crowdsourcing their questions and worries. “We want to take the same principles that keep our eyes glued to Facebook and Instagram 24 hours a day and redirect them to promote well-being,” explains founder Robert Morris.