Prof. John Lienhard and Dr. Kenneth Strzepek write for The New York Times about the need for Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to successfully share water from the Nile. “The world needs to get good at sharing water, and right away,” they write. “The alternative is frequent regional conflicts of unknowable proportions.”
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes that researchers in the CityFARM group, which is devoted to developing scalable urban farming systems, hope to start an open-source movement for vertical farming. Caleb Harper, founder of CityFARM, explains that his focus “is on getting the tools out there.”
In an article for Nautilus, Elizabeth Preston writes about Prof. Lydia Bourouiba’s work examining how rain can spread crop diseases. Through a close examination of high-speed images, Bourouiba found that how raindrops bounce off different plant leaves “is really at the root” of the spread of pathogens among plants.
In an article for Fortune, Senior Lecturer Jason Jay writes that innovation is needed to satisfy growing global food demand. “Advanced information technology, improved communications systems, robotics, drones, and other new technologies have the potential to boost agricultural yields and reduce waste while tempering environmental degradation," writes Jay.
A group of experts convened by MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Laboratory recently published a report on plans for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, reports William Davison of Bloomberg News. The report’s authors urge greater coordination between Egypt and Ethiopia “to ensure water is shared fairly during periods of reduced flows.”
Rachel Fobar writes for Popular Science about a sensor developed by Prof. Timothy Swager’s team that can predict when food will spoil. The sensor could be used in "'smart packaging' that could help provide more accurate information than an expiration date,” writes Fobar.
Nidhi Subbaraman writes for The Boston Globe about Grove Labs, an MIT startup aimed at enabling people to grow vegetables at home year-round. The founders fine-tuned their idea at MIT’s Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator for a “high-tech indoor garden.”
Mark Shanahan writes for The Boston Globe that the organizers of HUBweek, an innovation-themed festival designed to showcase Boston’s leadership in education, medicine, technology and the arts, gathered at a launch party last week. As part of HUBweek, MIT will host “Solve,” an event designed to bring together leaders in a variety of areas to tackle global challenges.
Jillian Eugenios writes for CNN Money about Evaptainers, a startup conceptualized in an MIT course that has developed a refrigerator that runs on water and sunlight. The refrigerator was created in an effort to improve the food production and storage process in developing countries by cutting down on spoilage.
Scientific American reporter Mark Fischetti examines a new MIT study that found that raindrops can spread certain crop diseases. Fischetti explains that the research could be useful in helping farmers develop new techniques for preventing the spread of disease among crops.
Curt Nickisch of WBUR reports that MIT, Harvard, MGH and The Boston Globe are joining forces for HUBweek, a weeklong festival focused on innovation to be held in the fall of 2015. “MIT plans to host a huge gathering called SOLVE to tackle with some of the world’s most perplexing problems,” reports Nickisch.
Matt Murphy writes for WBUR about Solve, an event MIT will host next fall as part of the HUBweek innovation festival. The event will focus on “research and problem-solving exercises” aimed at four areas: education, health care, manufacturing, and environmental sustainability and energy.
Yiqing Shao of Boston Magazine reports on HUBweek, a new innovation festival that will be co-hosted by MIT, The Boston Globe, Harvard and MGH. “By uniting so many of the region’s leading institutions, HUBweek itself embodies the open, collaborative spirit that has helped make Greater Boston and Cambridge a hotbed of innovation and new ideas,” said MIT President L. Rafael Reif.
Boston Globe reporter Michael Levenson writes about HUBweek, an “innovation-themed festival” that aims to showcase Boston. As part of HUBweek, MIT will host “‘Solve’ to brainstorm solutions to problems in education, energy, the environment, manufacturing, and infrastructure.”
“If the festival helps experts in Greater Boston make new connections across disciplines and across institutions — and find common interests and opportunities for collaboration with people around the world — the region as a whole can only benefit,” writes The Boston Globe Editorial Board of HUBweek, which will be co-hosted by MIT.