MIT researchers have engineered three strains of bacteria to function as living transistors, carrying signals across circuits, writes Gizmodo’s Gayoung Lee. “For instance, the circuit could sit near the roots of plants to detect different stresses or autonomously respond to the presence of pests or other environmental threats,” writes Lee.
MIT researchers have discovered that when individual images are removed from large AI diffusion models, the models are still able to produce like images, writes Digital Trends’ Varun Mirchandani. “The more interesting takeaway is that this connection becomes increasingly difficult to trace as datasets grow,” writes Mirchandani. “An AI-generated image may draw on patterns learned from an enormous pool of material without having a clear, identifiable source image behind it.”
Prof. Robert Langer, cofounder of Moderna, speaks to The Boston Globe’s Marin Wolf and Jonathan Saltzman about the company’s successful results of a personalized messenger RNA vaccine in a late-stage trial to treat melanoma. “So far, the only proof is with melanoma, but it’s a stunning example of what can be done,” says Langer. “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work with other types of cancer.”
The Register’s Thomas Claburn highlights a new study by MIT researchers that found large AI models can still reproduce an artist’s style, even when the artist’s work is removed from its training data, making attribution more difficult. “[G]iven the contemporary adoption of these models for creative and commercial purposes, attributability also carries ethical, policy, financial, and legal implications,” the researchers note.
MIT researchers found the more data an AI model is trained on could complicate AI copyright, auditing, and governance, writes Computer World’s Taryn Plumb. “[S]ingle artworks by specific artists, or photographs of certain people, could be entirely removed from datasets, and the model could still reproduce that image or style,” writes Plumb. “Essentially, tangible connections are lost, and linking to specific data points responsible for generated samples is ‘practically impossible,’ or can even vanish, the researchers explained.”
Prof. Danielle Wood speaks to the Scientific American’s Tom Metcalfe about how the current models of space travel, that have created trash and debris in Earth’s atmosphere and orbit, are unsustainable. “Sustainability in space means that we are able to leave to future generations something like the natural state of the Earth, the moon and the solar system,” says Wood.
MIT researchers have developed a framework to determine what is needed to make fusion energy commercially viable, writes World Nuclear News (WNN). “The parameters in the framework describe engineering features of the fusion power plant such as power density, the efficiency of converting fusion power into an economic product, and the durability of components used in the energy conversion, in addition to costing and market parameters that assess the expenses and returns from invested capital,” explains WNN.
MIT researchers have created a recyclable yarn that is just as stretchy as commercial spandex-based yarns, and can be woven into lightweight clothing, reports Just Style’s Jangoulun Singsit. “The MIT team demonstrated that garments produced from this newly designed yarn can be melted down after use and respun into new fiber or reused to make other plastic components like buttons and belt buckles,” writes Singsit.
Forbes’ “50 Over 50” list spotlights four MIT faculty leading innovation in science and technology: Prof. Paula Hammond, dean of the MIT School of Engineering; Prof. Dina Katabi; Prof. Nergis Mavalvala, dean of the MIT School of Science; and Aude Oliva, director of MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab. The 50 “science and technology standouts on this list are advancing how we use AI, fight osteoporosis and deploy clean energy.”
Prof. Dennis Whyte and Prof. Andrew Lo have built a framework to mitigate the economic challenges of fusion power, writes Interesting Engineering’s Ameya Paleja. “While there are multiple approaches to building a nuclear fusion facility, Whyte and colleagues believe that at the end of the day, the facility should be in a position to generate more money that has gone in to building and operating it, otherwise it won’t last for long,” writes Paleja.
Prof. Danielle Wood joins Edgar B. Herwick III, host of GBH’s “The Curiosity Desk,” to discuss the growing problems posed by space junk, and how space technology helps support our critical infrastructure. “Technology from space helps make life safer on Earth, supports our weather forecasting [and] our daily transportation. All the technology that lets us get deliveries and Uber—that's all coming from space,” says Wood. “We definitely need space to be safe—to keep our lives safe.”
Prof. Raphael Zufferey and his research group developed a winged robot that can swim underwater and fly through the air like a diving bird and “could one day be used to monitor and ultimately help protect the ocean,” reports Tom Page for CNN. “We’re really trying to understand better how birds do this,” says Zufferey. “The other reason we’re doing this is we’re hoping that this becomes (a) future tool for oceanography.”
MIT spinoff Found Industries’ new Cambridge headquarters and metals processing development center is highlighted by Boston Business Journal's Lucia Maffei. “We are developing electrochemical processes to recover gallium and, in time, indium, and germanium, and antimony and other critical metals directly from existing industrial streams,” says Peter Godart PhD ‘21, Found Industries CEO.
Upworthy’s Tod Perry outlines five key takeaways from “How to Speak,” a popular lecture on the art of public speaking given annually for MIT students for 40 years by the late Prof. Patrick Winston, which is now available to watch on MIT OpenCourseware. “I always finish [ a speech] with a joke, and that way, people think they’ve had fun the whole time,” quipped Winston in his lecture.
Bob Mumgaard PhD ‘15, co-founder and CEO of MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems, speaks to Fast Company’s Adele Peters about building his company’s first power plant, set to come online in the 2030s in Virginia. “To make fusion into more than just the first plants, it has to be an industry and there’s multiple parts of that,” says Mumgaard.