Last year, the startup Learning Machine launched a program at Sloan and the Media Lab that placed important documents, like transcripts and diplomas, on the blockchain. Now, reports Danny Crichton for TechCrunch, the company is working with the Media Lab on an initiative called BlockCerts, “an open source and open standard securing credentials on the blockchain.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that uses LIDAR and GPS to allow self-driving cars to navigate rural roads without detailed maps, writes Tracey Lindeman of Motherboard. Autonomous ride-hailing or car-sharing is important in rural communities because “the carless in these areas have few transportation options; many small communities don’t even have public buses,” notes Lindeman.
Writing for The Atlantic, MIT lecturer Amy Carleton describes the focus on public policy, as well as engineering and product design, at this year’s “Make the Breast Pump Not Suck” hackathon. “What emerged [at the inaugural hackathon] was an awareness that the challenges surrounding breastfeeding were not just technical and equipment-based,” explains Carleton.
Eric Mack writes for Forbes about a new system from MIT researchers that uses GPS in conjunction with LIDAR and IMU sensors to power self-driving vehicle navigation. Graduate student Teddy Ort says the system “shows the potential of self-driving cars being able to actually handle roads beyond the small number that tech companies have mapped.”
MapLite, a new system developed by CSAIL, aims to help autonomous vehicles navigate uncharted areas, writes Jesus Diaz for Co.Design. “[I]f autonomous cars can reach the millions of people who live beyond the city and are unable to pilot their own vehicles,” said graduate student Teddy Ort, “they will be uniquely capable of providing mobility to those who have very few alternatives.”
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks to Jane Wakefield of BBC World Service about the importance of having conversations that focus on how AI will dictate the future. “What will happen, if the ultimate goal of AI actually succeeds?" Tegmark asks. "AI and other powerful technology isn’t evil, nor is it good. It is a tool that can amplify our ability to do whatever we want.”
Prof. Tod Machover speaks with Mary Louis Kelly and Audie Cornish of NPR’s All Things Considered about capturing the everyday sounds featured in his latest symphony, “Philadelphia Voices.” When recording the Commonwealth Youth Choir, for example, Machover explains that he “asked them to each sing the word Philadelphia in a way that showed something about how they felt about Philadelphia and also something about themselves.”
Prof. Tod Machover details his experience creating “Philadelphia Voices,” which is “the latest in a series of Machover symphonies inspired by cities,” writes Michael Cooper for The New York Times. “To help organize his library of Philadelphia sounds he used software developed at M.I.T. called Constellation, which can analyze hundreds of sound files by volume, frequency and shape, then visually display them.”
In his book The Longevity Economy, MIT AgeLab director Joseph Coughlin notes that on the rare occasion that aging is discussed, views of the elderly are mostly wrong. “The main point that Coughlin is making,” writes Joshua Kim for Inside Higher Ed, is that, “[r]ather than years of decline, life after 65 (or 75 or even 85) can be full of possibility, exploration, and learning.”
Squadbox, developed by graduate student Amy Zhang, allows a user’s “squad” to sift through online messages and scan for contextual harassment language that software might miss. “Squadbox currently only works with email,” Shannon Liao writes for The Verge. “[B]ut the team behind it hopes to eventually expand to other social media platforms.”
Graduate student Amy Zhang, has developed an application, known as Squadbox, that seeks to disarm internet harassers by enlisting the help of a user’s friends, who act as inbox “moderators.” “According to what the harassed person has specified beforehand, the moderator can delete any abusive messages, forward on clean messages, or send along messages with tags,” writes Katharine Schwab for Co.Design.
Research affiliate Jimena Canales writes for NPR’s "Cosmos & Culture" blog about historical perceptions of the possibility of time travel, including the idea that a refrigerator could reverse time. Canales ultimately concludes that, “if you want to really travel in time, you might try the old fashion way of doing it: Turn to history and literature.”
Sean Illing of Vox speaks with Prof. Sherry Turkle about her insights on how the digital world is impacting our human relationships. “I’m not anti-technology,” said Turkle. “I’m pro-relationships and pro-conversations and pro-communities and pro-politics. I want people to be media-savvy and to use it to their best advantage.”
A recent study from Media Lab graduate student Joy Buolamwini addresses errors in facial recognition software that create concern for civil liberties. “If programmers are training artificial intelligence on a set of images primarily made up of white male faces, their systems will reflect that bias,” writes Cristina Quinn for WGBH.
Research scientist Bryan Reimer speaks to WBUR about the ramifications for the autonomous vehicle industry in response to the recent fatality caused by a self-driving Uber. “As we look forward…we need to work together in ways through policy, technology development, advocacy, to set a pathway to safety,” Reimer says.