Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson writes that MIT researchers have created a carpet embedded with sensors to help track your workout. Dubbed the Intelligent Carpet, it “can distinguish 15 different actions with 97.8% accuracy, including squats, push-ups, bends, and rolls.”
MIT researchers have developed new programmable fibers that could help transform clothing into wearable computers, reports Kyle Mizokami for Popular Mechanics. “The polymer fibers contain hundreds of tiny silicon microchips that, once electrified, can sustain a digital connection across tens of meters,” Mizokami writes.
Forbes contributor Eric Tegler spotlights how MIT researchers are developing a fiber with digital capabilities. “Individuals wearing garments with digital fibers could be alerted to vital information about their physiology and environmental exposures, and share health/injury and location data with support forces,” Tegler explains.
Kate Darling, a research specialist at the Media Lab, speaks with Ira Flatow on Science Friday about “the historical lessons of our relationships with animals, and how they could inform our legal, ethical, and even emotional choices about robots and AI.”
Mashable spotlights how MIT’s baseball pitching coach is using motion capture technology to help analyze and teach pitching techniques. Using the technology, Coach Todd Carroll can “suggest real-time adjustments as a player is pitching so that just one session using the technology improves their game.”
President L. Rafael Reif speaks with Sabri Ben-Achour of Marketplace about the importance of the Senate passing a new bill that invests in research and development. “We are in a science and technology race for the future,” says Reif. “It is with science and technology that we address things like Covid and the biggest challenges the world has; the health of our economy, our security. That is key to all of the above.”
Writing for Inside Higher Ed, Shigeru Miyagawa, senior associate dean of the Office of Digital Learning, and Meghan Perdue, a digital learning scientist at MITx, explore how the shift to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed education. “Faculty are now more aware of the ‘whole student,’ acknowledging their lives outside the classroom,” they write. “They have a heightened awareness of the need to create teaching practices that keep the students engaged and to use technology tools that enhance their teaching.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, explores how to develop transportation strategies for elders. “When considering the possibilities for elder transportation, it’s important to keep in mind that the needs of seniors are diverse,” writes Coughlin. “One senior might find one innovation helpful but not another. The answer to such a variety of needs may be to think more broadly about what constitutes travel.”
UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that researchers from MIT and other institutions have developed a programmable digital fiber that can capture, store and analyze data. The technology could “be paired with machine learning algorithms and used to make smart fabrics to record health data and aid medical diagnosis,” writes Hays.
Times Higher Education reporter Simon Baker writes that Media Lab researchers have developed a new machine learning model that can predict research studies that will have the highest impact. The tool has the potential to “aid funders and research evaluators in making better decisions and avoiding the kind of biases and gaming that occurred with simpler metric assessments.”
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explores the question of whether microchip tracking technology could potentially become widely accepted. “Such technology forces us to prioritize the value we assign to personal independence and freedom versus the promise of safety and wellbeing,” writes Coughlin.
MIT has announced a new climate action plan aimed at helping the Institute tackle climate change, reports Kristina Chen for The Tech. The plan offers increased opportunities for student involvement and a new organizational structure. Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research, explains that MIT feels “that it’s our responsibility and duty to try to make a genuine difference, and to do that, we’re going to need the help of everyone in the community.”
Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson writes that MIT researchers have developed a new light-sensitive paint, dubbed ChromoUpdate, that makes it easy for people to change the color and pattern on a variety of objects. Wilson notes there are a number of applications for ChromoUpdate, from testing out different colors on a product to “quickly projecting what is essentially data onto everyday objects could make smart homes even smarter, without the use of more screens in your house.”
Gizmodo reporter Victoria Song writes that a new study by researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) finds that “not only do rideshares increase congestion, but they also made traffic jams longer, led to a significant decline in people taking public transit, and haven’t really impacted car ownership.”
Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a robotic dog outfitted with a tablet that allows doctors to visit with emergency room patients remotely. “The robot could therefore avoid the risk of exposure to Covid-19 by healthcare professionals and help save the personal protective equipment necessary for each visit,” writes Ruggiero Corcella of Corriere della Sera.