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Marketplace

Writing for MarketWatch, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, emphasizes that the dockworker strike was “emblematic of broader shifts in the American workforce and the integration of technology in the workplace. As older generations retire and younger ones seek more flexible, technology-driven careers, traditional industries must adapt or be left behind.”

Forbes

Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, explores how many envision retirement as a long vacation, but notes setting realistic expectations is important to avoid surprises. “Instead, longevity planning is about preparing for what, how, where, and with whom to live in older age," Coughlin writes. "We're talking about crafting a plan to produce your best possible life in older age, not just planning and financing a really long summer vacation." 

The Atlantic

Joesph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, speaks with Atlantic reporter Charley Locke about how retirement can result in feelings of identity loss and can present cognitive and emotional health challenges. “When people are at the center of their universe through their job, we don’t have a storyline or a place in our society that is attractive enough to say, ‘Maybe I’ve had enough,’” says Coughlin. “You’re showing people the door with no direction.” 

Forbes

Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, speaks with Forbes’ Jann Freed about the importance of social connections in retirement. We focus on money and financial security, but we should also be considering “the social capital (friends) we will need to remain connected, engaged, to have fun, and to manage the many challenges older age will bring,” says Coughlin.

The Boston Globe

In a cartoon for The Boston Globe, Sage Stossel spotlights how during the Cambridge Science Festival researchers from the MIT AgeLab spoke about their work during a special presentation at the Cambridge Senior Center. As part of an effort to spur innovations aimed at improving the quality of life for people in their later years, AgeLab researchers have “pursued an array of projects, from researching safer, more automated driving systems to collaborating on ‘smart home’ innovations for facilitating aging in place to the development of interactive robo-pets.”

CNBC

Researchers from the MIT AgeLab and Transamerica have found that individuals ages 40 to 59 are more likely to struggle with preparing for increased longevity, reports Lorie Konish for CNBC. “The research finds while 74% of people in their 50s say it is extremely or very important to save enough money to eventually stop working, just 57% said they expect to be able to retire,” writes Konish. “Moreover, half of people in midlife are struggling to get by financially, more than other age groups studied.”

CNBC

Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, speaks with CNBC reporter Greg Iacurci about the importance of longevity planning, which entails creating a more complete framework for retirement that includes aspects such as transportation, social life and small tasks that could become difficult in old age. “Leisure is a story we wrote for retirement when it was short,” said Coughlin.” “Life is the new story we need to write when it becomes so much longer.”

Boston.com

Boston.com reporter Melissa Ellin spotlights the MIT AgeLab’s Age Gain Now Empathy System (AGNES), “a suit that allows wearers to feel what it is like to be 80 years old with some chronic health conditions,” writes Ellin. The suit was recently featured in “Limitless with Chris Hemsworth,” a docuseries highlighting scientific research and insight into the human body.

Forbes

Researchers at MIT have found that those with an E4 variant display abnormalities in cholesterol metabolism, reports William A. Haseltine for Forbes. “The MIT team suggest that the disruption of cholesterol metabolism could be a fundamental reason why those with the E4 variant are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease symptoms,” writes Haseltine.

Forbes

An MIT research study suggests that those with the E4 variant of the APOE gene are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms, reports William A. Haseltine for Forbes. The variant “disrupts how fat molecules are processed in the brain,” writes Haseltine. “It appears that the disruption of these fat molecules could be the fundamental reason why those that contain the E4 variant are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms.”

The Washington Post

A new study by Prof. Daron Acemoglu, former postdoctoral fellow Nicolaj Mühlbach and London School of Economics Prof. Andrew Scott finds that while American jobs have become age-friendlier, “older workers haven’t been the biggest beneficiaries of this age-friendly job bonanza,” reports Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post. The researchers found, “workers age 62 and older were significantly more willing to accept a smaller paycheck if a job involved moderate physical activity, more time sitting and the autonomy to choose how to do their job,” writes Van Dam.

Forbes

Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for Forbes about the three major risk factors to consider when planning where to live in retirement. “Retirement planning can’t control the weather,” writes Coughlin. “However, critically and realistically assessing our personal resilience and how to best prepare for the possible risks of where I live, is a critical element to thinking about how I will live in older age.”

Forbes

Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for Forbes about the impact Baby Boomer and Gen X retirement can have on the increasing labor shortage in the United States. “While some millennials can’t wait for the Boomers and older Gen X’ers to step aside in the job market, there are critical labor shortfalls in many key industries that will be sharply felt by Millennials as consumers and as the next generation of leadership in business and government,” writes Coughlin.

The Boston Globe

Boston Globe reporter Robert Weisman spotlights how researchers at the MIT AgeLab are “designing prototypes of ‘smart homes’ for older residents, equipped with social robots, voice-activated speakers that give medication reminders, motion sensors embedded in carpets to detect falls, and intelligent doorbells that double as security cameras.”

The Boston Globe

Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, and Luke Yoquinto, a research associate at the AgeLab, emphasize the importance of increased investment in aging-related research in an article for The Boston Globe. Coughlin and Yoquinto call for “ramping up age-related disease research across the board: not just in health care and robotics, but also in smart-home tech, user design, transportation, workplace technologies, education and training, and nutrition. R&D in these fields won’t just improve lives; it will also strengthen tomorrow’s economy.”