MIT startup Graviky Labs is partnering with the fashion label Pangaia to create clothing featuring graphics made from pollution sucked out of the air, reports Elizabeth Segran for Fast Company. “It’s an entirely new approach to carbon capture,” says alumnus and Graviky Labs co-founder Anirudh Sharma. “We’re literally extracting carbon particles from the atmosphere and selling it to the consumer.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater spotlights MIT startup Pickle, which has developed a package-picking robot dubbed Dill that “is capable of 1,600 picks per hour from the back of a trailer.”
Rebellions Inc., a company founded by alumnus Park Sunghyun S.M. ’11, PhD ’14, is developing a microchip aimed at “running artificial intelligence more efficiently, which could cut precious millionths of a second off the reaction times of automatic-trading machines,” reports Hooyeon Kim and Whanwoong Choi for Bloomberg.
Prof. Robert Jaffe speaks with CNN reporter Stephanie Bailey for a piece that explores how the rivalry between Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse helped lead to transformations in the development of electricity. Bailey also features alumnus Joel Jean and his solar tech startup.
Gizmodo reporter Andrew Liszewski spotlights MIT startup OPT Industries, which has created a new type of Covid-19 nasal swab “that’s faster at absorbing samples, and better at releasing it for analysis.”
Prof. Emerita Nancy Hopkins speaks with Rebecca Sohn of STAT about the Boston Biotech Working Group’s goal of increasing the number of women leaders and entrepreneurs in biotech and her hopes for the future of women in biotech and the sciences. “You want people to feel that they are free to participate in all the things wherever it leads them,” says Hopkins. “So I think the goal is just that people who really want to do this [pursue biotech] don’t face any greater barrier than anybody else. That everybody has equal access and education to do as they want to.”
A group of MIT scientists has announced a new plan, called the Future Founders Initiative, aimed at addressing gender inequities in the biotech industry, reports Anissa Gardizy for The Boston Globe. “If we can’t advance discoveries at the same rate for women and men, that means there are drugs, therapies, devices, and diagnostics that are not getting to where they can actually benefit people,” says President Emerita Susan Hockfield. “If as a region we want to continue to lead the world, the best thing to do is not squander our resources.”
Forbes contributor Jack Kelly spotlights Ginger, an MIT startup that has created “a smartphone-based technology app helps identify patterns of anxiety, stress and depression.”
Navier Yachts, a company founded by two MIT graduates, has developed “a 27-foot long, zero-emissions all-electric hydrofoil yacht capable of flying above the water’s surface at 20 knots,” writes Bill Springer for Forbes.
Fast Company reporter Nate Berg highlights Ori, an MIT startup that makes motorized furniture that can be used to transform small spaces.
MIT startup SolidEnergy Systems has signed a deal with GM to develop next-generation electric vehicle batteries that are expected to cut the cost of the technology by 60%, reports Michael Wayland for CNBC. “The new batteries feature lithium metal instead of lithium-ion like today’s EVs use,” writes Wayland. “The switch changes the chemistry of the battery to enable higher energy density and longer range from a similar-sized battery or comparable range with a smaller battery.”
Nobull, a direct-to-consumer fitness brand co-founded by alumnus Marcus Wilson MBA ’04, is releasing a line of apparel designed by Boston teens, as part of an effort with Artists for Humanity to help connect under-resourced teens with opportunities in arts and design, reports Anissa Gardizy for The Boston Globe.
Fast Company reporter Rachel Raczka spotlights Season Three, a startup founded by three MIT graduates aimed at designing a shoe that fits “practical parameters but performed like a stylish, everyday sneaker that you wouldn’t dread wearing.”
Financial Times reporter Michael Pooler highlights MIT startup Boston Metals, which has devised “a technology for making brand-new steel without emissions using electricity.”
Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Peter Coy spotlights how the loss of several people close to Prof. Andrew Lo inspired him to explore how the field of finance could help advance treatments for orphan diseases. “Finance plays a huge role, sometimes way too big a role, in how drugs get developed,” says Lo. Fixing the financing model, could have a “tremendous, tremendous impact on health care.”