Fast Company reporter Adele Peters highlights how MIT researchers have developed a robot that can swim through pipes and identify leaks. Peters writes that alumnus You Wu estimates that “if half of the leaks in the world could be found and fixed, that would recover enough water to support 1 billion people.”
MIT alumnus You Wu has spent six years perfecting robots that can travel through pipes to identify water leaks, writes Anne Quito for Quartz. “Over 240,000 water pipes burst in the US each year, with each incident costing an average of $200,000 in infrastructure damage,” notes Quito.
MIT researchers have identified how blood cells clump together in patients with sickle-cell disease, writes Shi Yinglun for the Xinhua News Agency. Yinglun explains that the findings represent "a step toward being able to predict when these events known as vaso-occlusive pain crises might occur.”
MIT researchers have developed a new system that can detect depression by examining a patient’s speech and writing, reports John Biggs for TechCrunch. Biggs writes that the system could “help real therapists find and isolate issues automatically versus the long process of analysis. It’s a fascinating step forward in mental health.”
Axios reporter Ben Geman writes that a MIT Energy Initiative study shows that while nuclear power is critical to cutting carbon emissions, expanding the industry will be difficult without supportive policies and project cost reductions. The report’s authors explain that the increasing cost of nuclear power undermines its "potential contribution and increases the cost of achieving deep decarbonization."
A new MIT Energy Initiative study details how nuclear power could help fight climate change, reports Jonathan Tirone for Bloomberg News. The study’s authors explain that U.S. policy makers could support the nuclear industry by putting a “price on emissions, either through direct taxation or carbon-trading markets. That would give atomic operators more room to compete against cheap gas, wind and solar.”
MIT scientists have developed a new coating that uses solar-power to melt and prevent ice buildup, reports the Xinhua News Agency. The coating, which does not use harmful chemicals, “collects solar radiation, converts it to heat, and spreads that heat around so that the melting is not just confined to the areas exposed directly to the sunlight.”
A study by MIT researchers demonstrates how air pollution can significantly reduce profits from solar panel installations, reports Avery Thompson for Popular Mechanics. The researchers found that in Delhi, “electricity generation is reduced by more than 10 percent,” Thompson explains, “which translates to a cost of more than $20 million.”
Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson writes that MIT researchers have developed a new tool for computer-aided drafting software that can optimize the design for any product. Wilson explains that the tool could “help designers optimize their existing processes–and, crucially, deconstruct what works and what doesn’t, sooner.”
WCVB’s Mike Wankum visits the Beaver Works Summer Institute to see how high school students are gaining hands-on engineering experience. Robert Shin, director of Beaver Works, explains that the program is aimed at “inspiring the next generation.”
Prof. Donald Sadoway speaks with Forbes contributor Arne Alsin about the future of sustainable energy and battery design. “We definitely have to be bolder in our innovation when it comes to what goes beyond lithium-ion,” says Sadoway. “We have to apply the criterion ‘If successful, how big is the impact?’ And we have to have the courage to fail.”
Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found that cellular changes lead to chronic sinus inflammation, reports Allen Cone for UPI. Cone explains that the findings could also “help patients with chronic inflammatory diseases of barrier tissues, such as asthma, eczema, and inflammatory bowel disease.”
By analyzing thousands of human cells and creating a cellular map of human barrier tissue, MIT researchers have identified the mechanism that may cause chronic allergic inflammation in the sinus, according to Xinhua News Agency. The findings could have “implications on treatment of other chronic inflammatory diseases of barrier tissues, such as asthma, eczema, and inflammatory bowel disease.”
Molly Webster of WNYC’s Radiolab visits the Picower Institute to learn more about how researchers are investigating new techniques that might eventually be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Prof. Li-Huei Tsai speaks about her group’s work using flickering light to reduce the beta amyloid plaque found in Alzheimer’s patients, and graduate student Dheeraj Roy discusses his work recovering memories with light.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Yossi Sheffi writes that by banishing plastic straws, companies are improving their public image without taking consequential action to protect the environment. “Eliminating these small tubes enables companies to deliver a ‘feel-good’ message to customers and generate copious amounts of positive publicity, without committing a lot of resources to the environmental effort,” Sheffi explains.