Prof. David Simchi-Levi speaks with Seb Murray of the Financial Times about how in an effort to increase their supply-chain resilience, companies are increasingly investing in digital tools to map supply chains, identify hidden vulnerabilities across supplier networks and prepare contingency plans. “It’s not enough to use intuition and experience,” Simchi-Levi explains. “You need data and analytics.”
In a series of papers published in the Journal of Plasma Physics, researchers from MIT, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and other universities were able to validate the science and feasibility behind CFS’ plans to build a 400-megawatt fusion power plant, reports Timothy Gardner for Reuters.
Using an ordinary fridge magnet to control a microrobot might sound like fiction, but a team of MIT researchers engineered a technique to 3D-print magnetically activated robots and other materials that could be used in medicine and more. MIT graduate students Andrew Chen and Rachel Sun joined Edgar B. Herwick III of GBH’s Curiosity Desk to discuss their work and inspiration. Sun explains that ultimately, they’re “trying to develop these materials for everyday uses that push the frontiers of what’s possible and how we can help people in society.”
Prof. Richard Binzel goes interstellar and chats with Boston Globe reporter Nick Stoico about the science behind the meteor that exploded over Cape Cod Bay recently, noting that the event offered a rare opportunity for people to connect with a phenomenon that usually goes unnoticed. “It’s great when people find a connection to the greater universe,” said Binzel. “It’s a great perspective to think beyond the surface of the Earth.”
MIT engineers have developed a “two-in-one propulsion system that can fuel both traditional chemical thrusters and electrical thrusters, combining speed and power with slower, more precise maneuverability for small satellites,” reports Passant Rabie for Gizmodo. “The new propulsion system would allow small satellites to carry both thrusters using the same propellant, opening the door for cheaper, smaller spacecraft to explore beyond Earth orbit,” Rabie explains.
Manufacturing Dive reporter Cole Rosengren notes that a year after its launch, the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM) is “gaining traction toward its goal of helping modernize U.S. industrial systems.” Speaking at a Boston Tech Week event, Prof. John Hart, co-director of the INM, shared that at MIT, “we believe that there are important things we can do to help grow domestic manufacturing productivity, impart more sustainability in supply chains and industries, and also contribute to the creation of high-quality manufacturing jobs.”
NPR reporter Jeff Brady spotlights a study by Prof. Jessika Trancik and Marco Miotti PhD ’20 that found “across most of the U.S., electric vehicles are cost-competitive with their gas counterparts. And it found that in most locations, EVs also reduce emissions between 40% and 60%.”
Reporting from MIT, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza highlights how MIT is launching a “major effort to advance quantum computing, with a state investment of $25 million to help build a new research facility in Cambridge.” Said President Sally Kornbluth: “Everything you can think of that uses classical computing now, think about quantum speeding it up, making it more efficient. We think about the AI revolution and the expenses of AI and data centers. This is going to be impacted by a whole new different way of computing.”
President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced the establishment of a new quantum hub at MIT, called the Quantum Systems Laboratory, which is aimed at enabling scientists to undertake impactful work applying quantum research across practical domains, including life sciences and national defense, reports Aaron Pressman for The Boston Globe. “Greater Boston has the greatest concentration of quantum talent anywhere in the world,” said Kornbluth. “It has been clear to us for some time that if we could magnify all of that talent with the right facilities and shared quantum toolbox, we could establish Massachusetts as a national hub for quantum innovation.”
To help establish Massachusetts and the nation as a quantum leader, President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced plans for a new share-used quantum research facility at MIT, writes Axios reporter Steph Solis. The Quantum Systems Laboratory would “host teams focused on using quantum mechanics for life sciences and defense research, but what would set the MIT project apart from existing labs is its ability to power direct communication among multiple quantum computers,” Solis explains.
Thanks in part to a $25 investment from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MIT plans to open the Quantum Systems Laboratory, which will “provide quantum experts from across Massachusetts access to quantum hardware and specialized equipment,” reports Lucia Maffei for the Boston Business Journal. "This is good news for MIT, good news for Massachusetts and, frankly, good news for the world," said Governor Maura Healey. "This is really setting the stage to have cutting-edge quantum computers be able to operate in that building," said President Sally Kornbluth. "There will be many people throughout Massachusetts who come to use this facility. It's really a hub to make Massachusetts a quantum center.”
State House News Service reporter Katie Castellani writes that President Sally Kornbluth and Governor Maura Healey announced a new shared-use quantum facility at MIT, the Quantum Systems Laboratory (QSL), aimed at providing scientists the opportunity to apply quantum research across various sectors, including defense and the life sciences. The QSL will “bring quantum computers together with quantum sensors and peripherals through physical channels that transfer information,” Castellani explains.
MIT engineers have developed a new low-temperature process for extracting battery-grade lithium from hard rock, while also reducing waste, reports Gayoung Lee for Gizmodo. “Mining is essential to technology and therefore to society, yet it is perceived negatively by much of the public as a destructive, polluting industry, in some cases with good reason,” explains Prof. Yet-Ming Chiang. “We hope to help change that perception by showing that there are cleaner, more sustainable ways to do it.”
The Economist reports on the growing popularity of ingestible sensors, including work at MIT where researchers are using the devices to “sense internal conditions and act on what they find.” The MIT team “received $66m from ARPA-H, a federal grant system that pushes high-risk, transformative health-care technology, to develop ingestible devices for the oral delivery of mRNA treatments.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new online tool called the “AI Labor Exposure Map,” which breaks down different job tasks by those that can be performed by AI, and those that cannot. The team found that, “[i]n many cases, the human-centric parts of a job are still essential,” reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “Instead of laying off workers, an employer could use the research to identify tasks that could be automated, so that the workers can be reassigned to handle only the uniquely human tasks.”