MIT researchers have found that low-emissions vehicles are among the least expensive to drive. Based off their findings, the researchers developed an app that helps consumers evaluate a car’s carbon impact, reports John Schwartz for The New York Times. “Consumers can save money and save emissions at the same time,” explains Prof. Jessika Trancik.
Prof. Emeritus Rodney Brooks and Prof. Michael Stonebraker are featured in Boston Magazine’s list of the 30 most influential people in the local technology scene. Brooks was honored for his work in the field of robotics, and Stonebraker for his work developing new ways for data to be stored and analyzed.
Eric Boodman writes for STAT that MIT researchers have developed a technique to produce biopharmaceuticals in remote locations. “Instead of making the drugs and then trying to keep them refrigerated over thousands of miles,” Boodman writes, the researchers, “want to give people the ingredients. These components don’t require refrigeration, and the instructions are as simple as they come: Just add water.”
CSAIL researcher have created a device that uses changes in heart beat and breathing to detect emotions, writes Forbes’ Kevin Murnane. The heart of the system,” writes Murnane, “is the algorithm that extracts the heartbeat from the RF signal. It’s an impressive achievement that solves a difficult problem.”
Martha White of Money writes about MIT’s MicroMasters program, a pilot that provides students an opportunity to gain a master’s degree through online and on-campus courses. "Experts say this could be a breakthrough because MIT and the other schools rolling out similar graduate degree on-ramp programs have excellent academic reputations,” writes White.
A device created by CSAIL researchers can detect emotions by wirelessly measuring heartbeats, according to the Associated Press. The device is “87 percent accurate in using heartrate and what it’s already learned about a person to recognize joy, pleasure, sadness or anger.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine a person’s mood using wireless signals, write Jordan Graham and Donna Goodison for The Boston Herald. “We view this work as the next step in helping develop computers that can better understand us at an emotional level,” explains Mingmin Zhao.
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine emotion by analyzing reflections from wireless signals bounced off the human body, writes Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. “Because it can measure heart rate, it might also be a less invasive way for doctors to monitor patient's heartbeats, potentially watching for conditions like arrhythmias,” writes Griggs.
Carl Straumshein writes for Inside Higher Ed that 13 universities are adopting the MicroMasters model pioneered by MIT that provides the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree through a combination of online and on-campus courses. “We believe that a MicroMasters will start a new trend in academia,” explains edX President Anant Agarwal.
In a Huffington Post video, Prof. Daniela Rus explains that the ingestible origami robot her team developed could enable incisionless surgery. “What we have developed so far is a proof of concept that shows that you could have tetherless machines that can do active and important functions inside the body,” she explains.
In an article about the increasing number of women studying electrical engineering and computer science at some of the nation’s leading universities, Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson highlights how “more than half of engineering bachelor’s degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology went to women in 2015.”
MIT has been named one of the top 10 universities in the country by U.S. News & World Report, writes Dylan McGuiness for The Boston Globe.
Popular Science reporter Sarah Chodosh writes that MIT researchers have developed a strategy to deliver beneficial bacteria to the GI tract. The researchers used layers of different sugars "to coat individual cells of Bacillus coagulans, which is used to treat irritable bowel syndrome."
CSAIL Director Daniela Rus speaks with Peter High of Forbes about the lab’s research, history and mission. Rus notes that CSAIL researchers are focused on "inventing the future of computing. We want to use computer science to tackle major challenges in fields like healthcare and education.”
Prof. Robert Langer talks to Jessica Harris from NPR about his research on tissue engineering and drug delivery, the commercialization of his discoveries, and the many companies he has started. Langer says he started his lab based off his desire to improve people’s lives by conducting research “at the interface of chemical engineering and medicine.”