Boston Globe reporter Cristela Guerra writes that Profs. Janet Conrad and Lindley Winslow helped ensure the science in the new “Ghostbusters” was as accurate as possible. “I am very fond of the original ‘Ghostbusters’,” says Conrad. “I have even used ‘Ghostbusters’ as a theme for my colloquium on neutrino physics, since neutrinos are often called the ghost particle.”
Researchers from MIT and Ford are collaborating on a new project to measure pedestrian traffic and predict the need for on-demand shuttle services, reports Kirsten Korosec for Fortune. The researchers hope to use the data they collect to predict demand for shuttles, and then "routing those vehicles to areas where they’re needed most at the corresponding times.”
Oscar Williams writes for The Huffington Post about a new prototype for a glasses-free, 3-D movie screen developed by CSAIL researchers. The prototype "harnesses a blend of lenses and mirrors to enable viewers to watch the film from any seat in the house.”
In this CBS News article, Michelle Star writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a method that allows moviegoers to see 3-D movies without wearing glasses. Star notes that the prototype “has been demonstrated in an auditorium, where all viewers saw 3-D images of a consistently high resolution.”
By projecting images through multiple lenses and mirrors, CSAIL researchers have developed a new prototype movie screen that allows viewers to see 3-D images without glasses, reports Aaron Smith for CNN Money.
Samantha Cole writes for Popular Science that researchers from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics are developing boots that pulse and vibrate to warn the wearer of nearby obstacles. Cole explains that the researchers see the technology “as valuable not only for space walks, but for firefighters, the elderly, or those with compromised sensory systems.”
MIT researchers have developed a prototype for a cinema-sized 3-D movie screen that would allow users to watch 3-D movies without glasses, reports Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. As people generally sit in fixed seats in a cinema, the researchers developed a prototype that “can tailor a set of images for each individual seat in the theater.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a way for people to watch 3-D movies without glasses, writes Kevin Slane for Boston.com. The new display the researchers developed “would use a series of lenses and mirrors to allow audiences to see the same three-dimensional image from any seat in a theater.”
MIT researchers have developed a new lithium-oxygen battery concept that improves energy efficiency and longevity, and could potentially be used in long-distance electric cars and smartphones, reports Ben Woods for Wired. The new approach results in “faster charging and more efficient batteries, due to lower heat wastage,” Woods explains.
CSAIL researchers trained a robot to analyze and make scheduling suggestions in a hospital labor ward, writes Kelsey Atherton for Popular Science. Atherton writes that “by adding in a robot that can analyze scheduling needs, hospitals could make better informed decisions.”
CNN reporter Sara Ashley O’Brien writes that CSAIL researchers have demonstrated that a robot could help schedule tasks in a hospital’s labor and delivery unit. The researchers trained a robot to understand a nurse’s scheduling decisions and “90% of the time the Nao robot made suggestions that doctors and nurses carried out.”
In this SINC article (published in Spanish), Federico Kukso spotlights Prof. Alberto Rodriguez’s work developing robotic hands in an effort to provide robots with a better way to interact with the world. Rodriguez says that he was inspired to pursue a career in robotics as he wanted to do “something that had a real impact on the world."
The curved origami sculptures created by Prof. Erik Demaine and his father Martin Demaine are featured in the exhibit “Above the Fold: New Expressions in Origami,” writes Solvej Schou for the Associated Press. The father-son duo use math algorithms to solve paper-folding problems. "Our work grows directly out of our decades collaborating together in mathematics and sculpture," explains Prof. Demaine.
MIT researchers have developed a new water-based material that could be used to make artificial skin, long-lasting contact lenses and drug-delivering bandages, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. “It’s interesting to imagine a world where your medicine cabinet is stocked with hydrogel-elastomer hybrids instead of contact lenses and Band-Aids,” writes Ducharme.
Mary Beth Griggs writes for Popular Science that CSAIL researchers have created an algorithm that can predict human interaction. Griggs explains that the algorithm could “lead to artificial intelligence that is better able to react to humans or even security cameras that could alert authorities when people are in need of help.”