Former MIT Prof. Edward Fredkin, “a pioneer in artificial intelligence and a maverick theorist,” has died at 88, reports Alex Williams for The New York Times. Williams notes that Fredkin, who worked on Project MAC during his time at MIT, was “fueled by a seemingly limitless scientific imagination and a blithe indifference to conventional thinking.” Prof. Gerald Sussman recalls that “Ed Fredkin had more ideas per day than most people have in a month.”
MIT researchers have identified a new biological editing system that could “potentially be even more precise than CRISPR gene editing,” reports Laura Baisas for Popular Science. The new system, based on a protein called Fanzor, is “the first programmable RNA-guided system discovered in eukaryotes,” Baisas notes.
Researchers from MIT and BU developed the Cleana toilet seat, which is aimed at addressing poor toilet etiquette, reports Katie Thompson for WCVB. “One toilet seat lifts and stays in the up position after the seat is placed down is designed for a more high-traffic commercial space,” writes Thompson. “The residential version, meanwhile, includes a seat and lid that are both designed to automatically lower after use, helping protect the open toilet bowl from small children and pets — as well as creating a better aesthetic look.”
Researchers at MIT have developed an extra-absorbent hydrogel that can draw water from the air, reports Ross Cristantiello for Boston.com. The new hydrogel “could potentially help communities ravaged by drought and make air conditioners more energy-efficient,” writes Cristantiello.
Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang co-founded Sublime Systems, a company that has developed a new method for producing cement that is powered by electrochemistry instead of fossil fuel-powered heat, reports Catherine Clifford for CNBC. “I believe climate change has pushed all of us into an extremely fertile, creative period that will be looked back on as a true renaissance,” says Chiang. “After all, we're trying to re-invent the technological tools of the industrial revolution. There's no shortage of great problems to work on! And time is short.”
Ali Khademhosseini PhD ’05 founded Omeat, a cultivated meat startup that “enables the cultivation of any meat in a way that is orders-of-magnitude more sustainable and humane than the conventional approach,” reports Christine Hall for TechCrunch.
Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with Yahoo News reporter Rebecca Corey about the benefits and risks posed by the use of AI tools in health care. “I think the problem is when you try to naively replace humans with AI in health care settings, you get really poor results,” says Ghassemi. “You should be looking at it as an augmentation tool, not as a replacement tool.”
MIT researchers have found that when enhanced with salt, a rubbery hydrogel commonly found in diapers can absorb record amounts of moisture from the air, reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “Across a wide variety of humidity conditions, the team’s enhanced hydrogel could swell and absorb impressive amounts of air moisture without leaking,” Paul notes.
MIT researchers have developed a new compact, lightweight design for a 1-megawatt electrical motor that “could open the door to electrifying much larger aircraft,” reports Ed Gent for IEEE Spectrum. “The majority of CO2 is produced by twin and single-aisle aircraft which require large amounts of power and onboard energy, thus megawatt-class electrical machines are needed to power commercial airliners,” says Prof. Zoltán Spakovszky. “Realizing such machines at 1 MW is a key stepping stone to larger machines and power levels.”
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray spotlights Cleana, a startup launched by engineers from MIT and BU that is developing “a new kind of toilet seat that raises or lowers itself to avoid unwelcome splashes, or to prevent objects from falling accidentally into the bowl.” Bray explains that “the company’s engineers created a semi-automatic seat that must first be raised or lowered by the user. This action powers up a pneumatic system with a built-in timer that waits about 30 seconds and then raises or lowers the seat, depending on the application.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new artificial intelligence system aimed at helping autopilot avoid obstacles while maintaining a desirable flight path, reports Kyle Wiggers for TechCrunch. “Any old algorithm can propose wild changes to direction in order to not crash, but doing so while maintaining stability and not pulping anything inside is harder,” writes Wiggers.
Boston Globe reporter Mike Orcutt spotlights Prof. Silvio Micali and Prof. Shafi Goldwasser for their work developing the theory behind zero-knowledge proofs and their contributions to the field of modern cryptography.
Sean Liu ‘10, MNG ’10 showcased his baking skills as a contestant on “The Great American Baking Show,” reports Jana Rossi for Village Life. “Liu described his recipes as having an Asian influence, an ‘East meets West with a little twist,’ and said he walked away a much more confident baker and thinks about recipes differently,” writes Rossi.
Sublime Systems, an MIT startup, is on a mission to manufacture emissions-free cement, writes David Abel for The Boston Globe. “If we’re successful, this could be a way of making cement for millennia to come,” said Leah Ellis, chief executive of Sublime Systems. “What we’ve found is that we can bring tools from our technical training to these problems, and use them in new and creative ways,” said Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang, co-founder of Sublime Systems. “I believe it’s a very fertile time for this kind of reinvention.”
Alumni Billy Thalheimer and Michael Klinker co-founded Regent, a company that has developed and manufactured an all-electric sea glider, reports WCVB. “A sea glider is a class of vehicle known as a wing in ground (WIG),” says Thalheimer. “So, it flies within a wingspan of the surface at all times, dock to doc, exclusively over water.”