Erandi Palihakkara writes for The Huffington Post about the MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition (IIC), which honored companies focused on how technology can help workers across all income levels. “The goal of the IIC is to identify organizations that are harnessing digital innovations to create shared prosperity,” explains Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson.
In an article for U.S. News & World Report exploring MOOC-based credential options, Jordan Friedman highlights the MITx MicroMasters program in supply chain management. “Students who earn the MicroMasters can, if admitted, apply their credential to MIT's supply chain management master's program,” writes Friedman.
CSAIL researchers have a developed a system that can predict human emotions by using wireless signals to monitor breathing and heartbeats, writes Edd Gent in a Scientific American article. "The idea is that you can enable machines to recognize our emotions so they can interact with us at much deeper levels," says graduate student Fadel Adib.
MIT researchers have developed a new technique to stop the spread of cancer cells through the body by delivering microRNAs to the site of the primary tumor, reports Hallie Smith for Boston Magazine. The technique “may correct gene disruptions that put a patient at risk of metastatic cancer,” Smith explains.
STAT reporter Sharon Begley writes that MIT will share the One Brave Idea research award, which is focused on supporting research aimed at fighting heart disease. The award recipients plan “to hunt down so-far unrecognized signals marking the transition from a healthy heart to one on the road to disease.”
Harriet Taylor writes for CNBC that cybersecurity experts from academia, industry and government gathered at MIT this week for the Cambridge Cyber Summit. The event featured discussions with leaders including Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, and Andrew McCabe, deputy director of the FBI.
Writing for Sports Illustrated, Prof. John Leonard explains his analysis of the science behind Deflategate. Leonard writes that he is, “100% convinced that there was no illegal deflation. Understanding why is a tale of two inexpensive digital pressure gauges—the so-called Logo Gauge and the Non-Logo Gauge.”
To encourage safer driving in Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh has announced a competition that uses a smartphone app developed by MIT startup Cambridge Telematics to reward driver performance, reports Dante Ramos for The Boston Globe. The app gives motorists “star ratings if they stay off their phones; drive at reasonable speeds; and brake, accelerate, and turn carefully.”
Grace Williams reports for FOX News that CSAIL researchers are 3-D printing shock-absorbing skins to protect robots. “Dubbed the ‘programmable viscoelastic material’ (PVM) technique, MIT’s printing method gives objects the precise stiffness or elasticity they require,” writes Williams.
Sloan Senior Lecturer Robert Pozen speaks to Matt Miller of Bloomberg Markets about the risks associated with investing in junk bonds and emerging market bonds with potential interest rate hikes. “If the Fed raised interest rates the U.S. dollar would go up, it would hurt these currencies in the emerging markets,” Pozen explains.
Researchers at the MIT Open Style Lab are creating products for people with disabilities in an attempt to fill a void in the clothing industry, writes Dana Guth for Boston Magazine. “More people suffer from these problems than you would ever realize looking at the market,” says Grace Jun, the lab’s executive director.
To develop safer, more durable robots, CSAIL researchers have developed a technique to 3-D print robots with shock-absorbing skins, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. McFarland explains that as the “‘bumpers’ aren't rigid, it's less dangerous for a robot to crash into something.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a method to 3-D print robots with customized shock absorbers. The researchers hope that the “shock absorbing material could be used to create better shock absorbers for delivery drones, shock-resistant shoe soles, and even helmets.”
In a Boston Globe article about sensing technologies, Kevin Hartnett highlights Vice President Sanjay Sarma’s work developing techniques to detect where energy is leaking from a building and the condition of street lights. “Many cities have poor inventories of their infrastructure and don’t know if enough light is being delivered on the ground,” says Sarma.
Adam Piore spotlights Prof. Earl Miller’s research into the mechanisms behind working memory in an article for Discover. “Earl is kind of a rock star,” says Prof. Brad Postle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When he says something, a lot more people notice it.”