Inspired by “Star Trek,” Prof. Steven Barrett has developed a new silent airplane that does not require fossil fuels to operate and is powered by ionic wind thrusters, reports Malcom Ritter for the AP. Ritter explains that the technology that powers the plane could eventually be used “in airplane-like drones that perform tasks like environmental monitoring and surveillance.”
Writing for Popular Science, Rob Verger highlights how MIT researchers have built and flown “a radically different type of plane that is thrust through the air using just electricity and the movement of ions, a type of silent drive without moving parts out of science fiction.”
Scientific American reporter Angus Chen writes about how Prof. Steven Barrett has created the first-ever airplane that is powered by ionic wind thrusters and has no moving parts. “[Barrett] has demonstrated something truly unique,” says Prof. Mitchell Walker of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
BBC News reporter David Robson writes that MIT researchers have devised a simple test to help determine whether you are communicating with a chatbot or a human. Robson writes that the findings suggest “knowingly flouting a taboo and provoking, rather than simply describing, an emotion might be the most straightforward way of conveying your shared humanity.”
Vox reporter David Roberts writes about a new study by MIT researchers examining what factors contributed to bringing down the cost of solar panels. Roberts writes that the researchers found “policies that create incentives for private investors to develop and deploy solar panels are responsible for well over half of the decline in solar PV costs.”
New York Times reporter John Schwartz highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanuel that details how, by 2100, areas of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at once. “Nations, societies in general, have to deal with multiple hazards,” says Emanuel, “and it’s important to put the whole picture together.”
Washington Post reporter Andrew Van Dam spotlights graduate student Hyejun Kim’s work analyzing data on knitters who used a popular pattern-sharing website to better understand how people are inspired to transform a hobby into a job. Kim found that “offline encouragement and feedback helped most talented hobbyists recognize their ability and take the first steps toward monetizing it.”
MIT researchers have developed a new system to detect contaminated food by scanning a product’s RFID tags, reports Devin Coldewey for TechCrunch. The system can “tell the difference between pure and melamine-contaminated baby formula, and between various adulterations of pure ethyl alcohol,” Coldewey explains.
The Wall Street Journal highlights a working paper co-authored by graduate student Charles Rafkin that shows how Americans with the lowest levels of education face a number of disadvantages. Rafkin and his co-author write that, “death rates for the least educated have dramatically diverged from death rates of other groups, in virtually all middle-age race and gender groups.”
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Abigail Cain spotlights how Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at MIT Libraries, is building a dictionary cataloging the historical practice of letterlocking. Dambrogio explains that to accurately recreate some of the more intricate locks requires “looking at thousands of artifacts and having the ability to remember them.”
Wired reporter Robbie Gonzalez highlights Prof. David Rand’s research showing that reasoning and critical thinking skills allow people to differentiate between real and fake news. Rand explains that he thinks “social media makes it particularly hard, because a lot of the features of social media are designed to encourage non-rational thinking.”
TIME reporter Precious Adesina writes that researchers from MIT’s Senseable City Lab have developed an algorithm that measures how many urban trees are seen from a pedestrian’s perspective. Prof. Carlo Ratti explains that in addition to lowering urban temperatures, increasing the number of trees in a city can be “extraordinary in terms of collective well-being.”
UPI reporter Tauren Dyson writes that MIT researchers have developed a coating that can reject up to 70 percent of incoming solar heat. “The film resembles transparent plastic wrap, implanted with tiny microparticles that contain water that releases when met with temperatures higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit,” Dyson explains.
Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno speaks with Marketplace reporter Sabri Ben-Achour about MITEI’s study showing the potential impact of nuclear power in addressing climate change. Buongiorno noted that if costs can be reduced and more supportive policies enacted, nuclear power has the “potential to decarbonize the power sector on a global scale.”
MIT researchers have developed a new see-through film that reflects 70 percent of the sun’s incoming heat and could be used to coat a building’s windows, reports the Xinhua news agency. The material, “can cool a building while still letting in a good amount of light, offering an affordable and energy-efficient alternative to existing smart window technologies,” Xinhua explains.