TechCrunch reporter Darrell Etherington writes that researchers from MIT and 3M are working on creating a new diagnostic tool for Covid-19 that can be manufactured cheaply and in large volumes for mass distribution. “The goal is to create a test that detects viral antigens,” Etherington explains, adding that the tests “provide results much faster than the molecular PCR-based test.”
WBUR’s Bob Shaffer reports on a deepfake video created by MIT's Center for Advanced Virtuality, which aims to spark awareness of deepfake technologies. The goal is to highlight how deepfakes are an extension “of a continuum of misinformation that we all should be aware of and should have our ears tuned to, if we can," said co-director Halsey Burgund.
Boston Celtic Jaylen Brown and Michael Tubbs, the 28-year-old mayor of Stockton, CA, will be two of the MIT Media Lab’s 2019 Directors Fellows. As part of the program, they “will work with the lab’s students and faculty to personally take on the kinds of problems that they want to fix,” writes Claire Miller for Fast Company.
President Emerita Susan Hockfield discusses her new book, “The Age of Living Machines,” her work as a neuroscientist, and the future of science and technology during a curated lunch conversation with HUBweek and Boston.com. Hockfield explains that a revolution spurred by the convergence of biology with engineering will lead to new technologies built by biology.
MIT and the U.S. Air Force “are teaming up to launch a new accelerator focused on artificial intelligence applications,” writes Danny Crichton for TechCrunch. The goal is that projects developed in the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator would be “addressing challenges that are important to both the Air Force and society more broadly.”
Will Knight writes for MIT Technology Review about the MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator, which “will focus on uses of AI for the public good, meaning applications relevant to the humanitarian work done by the Air Force.” “These are extraordinarily important problems,” says Prof. Daniela Rus. “All of these applications have a great deal of uncertainty and complexity.”
The new MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator “will look at improving Air Force operations and addressing larger societal needs, such as responses to disasters and medical readiness,” reports Breanne Kovatch for The Boston Globe. “The AI Accelerator provides us with an opportunity to develop technologies that will be vectors for positive change in the world,” says Prof. Daniela Rus.
In an excerpt from her new book published in The Wall Street Journal, President Emerita Susan Hockfield explores how the convergence between biology and engineering is driving the development of new tools to tackle pressing human problems. Hockfield writes that for these world-changing technologies to be realized requires “not only funding and institutional support but, more fundamentally, a commitment to collaboration among unlikely partners.”
President Emerita Susan Hockfield speaks with Jim Braude of WGBH’s Greater Boston about her book, “The Age of Living Machines.” “We are looking at a population of over 9.7 billion by 2050,” explains Hockfield. “We are not going to get there without war or epidemics or starvation if we don’t develop technologies that will allow us to provide energy, food, water, health and health care sustainably.”
Prof. Yoel Fink speaks with BBC Click about his work developing fabrics embedded with light-emitting diodes that could help keep pedestrians safe. Fink explains that the fabric can detect the lights from an oncoming vehicle and establish an “affirmative link between the car and pedestrian.”
TechCrunch’s Ziad Reslan highlights aspects of MIT’s Solve innovation challenge, including appointing multiple winners and maintaining a relationship after the challenge, that distinguish it among a crowded field of similar competitions. “Our value-add is providing a network, from MIT and beyond, and then brokering partnerships,” says Hala Hanna, managing director of community for Solve.
Forbes reporter Maribel Lopez writes about how researchers at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab are tackling a variety of AI challenges with real-world applications. Lopez notes that it’s great to see organizations like MIT and IBM coming together to “bridge the gap between science and practical AI solutions that can be used for both commercial and social good.”
Jeff Freilich, associate director of the CSAIL Alliance Program, spoke with Here & Now’s Robin Young about a unique collaboration between MIT researchers and their colleagues in Kentucky, “focused on the future of the work in a part of the country where the coal industry has been hemorrhaging jobs.”
Research affiliate Sam Ford has enlisted colleagues at MIT and USC, including Prof. Daniela Rus, to participate in his Future of Work Initiative, writes Jeff Howe in The Boston Globe. The group is trying to better understand how technology is impacting the job market in Kentucky and determine how to provide more useful solutions to those affected.
Writing about the future of clothing and fabrics, Kara Yurieff highlights the programmable material developed by the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA). The organization, which aims to “change what fabrics do,” according to Prof. Yoel Fink, will soon allow sports fans to scan jerseys at games to view player stats.