Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Page about how supply chains are being adapted for changing market pressures. Companies “learned a lot of things that they didn’t think were possible. This means companies can do more than they thought was possible,” he said. “They have learned how to be nimble, and that may be the most important lesson.”
Boston.com reporter Ross Cristantiello spotlights a new study by MIT researchers that examines the financial impact of rising sea levels on the MBTA. The researchers noted that their results suggest that “absent adaptation schemes, particularly at tunnel ingress locations, coastal flood risk will continue to accelerate, potentially resulting in permanent inundation of underground and low-lying sections of the transit system.”
Researchers from the Future of Data Initiative at MIT have published a white paper examining “how to design more accountable and traceable financial data systems,” reports Ben Schreckinger for Politico. Senior research scientist Daniel Weitzner says information accountability “means that uses of personal data should be visible to data subjects. And that the companies or government who use personal data should be accountable for misuse.”
Forbes reporter Matt Symonds spotlights Prof. Sanjay Sarma’s professional and academic career as he prepares to begin his role as President, CEO and Dean of Asia School of Business. At MIT, Sarma “conceived and then led the launch of the MicroMasters, a new type of credential that allows working professionals to pursue master’s-level courses online,” writes Symonds.
Popular Science reporter Jamie Dickman writes that using liquid neural networks, MIT researchers have “trained a drone to identify and navigate toward objects in varying environments.” Dickman notes that: “These robust networks enable the drone to adapt in real-time, even after initial training, allowing it to identify a target object despite changes in their environment.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new type of autonomous drone that uses advanced neural networks to fly, reports Tony Ho Tran for The Daily Beast. “The new design allows the drone to make better decisions when flying through completely new environments,” writes Tran, “and could have future applications in self-driving cars, search and rescue operations, wildlife monitoring, or even diagnosing medical issues.”
A new study by MIT scientists uncovers how male sandgrouse are able to soak up large amounts of water in their feathers and carry it over long distances to their chicks, reports Forbes. The researchers found that “when wetted, the coiled portions of the sandgrouse feather barbules unwind and rotate so they end up perpendicular to the vane. This creates a dense forest of fibers that can hold water through capillary action.”
Lt. Col. Jasmin Moghbeli ‘05 will be commanding the SpaceX Crew 7 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), reports Jennifer McLogan. Moghbeli returned to her elementary school to share her journey with students.
NBC News highlights how researchers from MIT and MGH have developed a new AI tool, called Sybil, that can “accurately predict whether a person will develop lung cancer in the next year 86% to 94% of the time.” NBC News notes that according to experts, the tool "could be a leap forward in the early detection of lung cancer.”
Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick spotlights Prof. Yossi Sheffi’s new book, “The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, AI, and the Future of Work.” McKendrick writes that Sheffi emphasizes the need to "better understand the supply chains on which our businesses and society depend, and our conception of supply chains needs to be broadened — from product and parts delivery networks to the very essence of organizations themselves.”
Prof. Ronitt Rubinfeld has been named a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellow, reports Mark Feeney for The Boston Globe. “A ‘Guggenheim’ is one of the most sought-after honors in academe and culture,” explains Feeney. “It helps underwrite a proposed art or scholarly project.”
Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi speaks with WBUR reporter Geoff Brumfiel about her research studying the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. “When you take state-of-the-art machine learning methods and systems and then evaluate them on different patient groups, they do not perform equally,” says Ghassemi.
Researchers at MIT have created a four-legged robot called DribbleBot, reports Caroline Goggin for WHDH. The robot “can dribble a soccer ball under the same conditions as humans, using onboard sensors to travel across different types of terrain.”
Popular Science reporter Andrew Paul spotlights how researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a soccer-playing robot, dubbed DribbleBot, that can handle a variety of real-world terrains. “DribbleBot showcases extremely impressive strides in articulation and real-time environmental analysis. Using a combination of onboarding computing and sensing, the team’s four-legged athlete can reportedly handle gravel, grass, sand, snow, and pavement, as well as pick itself up if it falls.”
MIT researchers have created “Dribblebot,” a four-legged robot capable of playing soccer across varying terrain, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch.