MIT postdoc Amit Kumar writes in Science about how being in an unfamiliar culture aided his research career and helped him take on new leadership roles. His personal essay explores an academic journey that spans from India to Belgium to the United States.
Tim Logan writes for The Boston Globe that in a new paper MIT researchers estimate how much the proposed Green Line extension has boosted property values. Graduate student Austin Paul explains that thus far, “we’ve probably only seen prices go up 40 percent” of where they may ultimately end up.
Matt Juul writes for Boston Magazine that a team of MIT students and alumni are competing in the Red Bull Flutag competition, which challenges participants to develop human-piloted gliders. Alumnus Mike Tomovich explains that the MIT team was motivated to compete by a desire to share their “passion for engineering and inspiring the next generation of engineers.”
A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers creates video simulations that people can interact with, writes Charles Choi for Scientific American. “In addition to fueling game development, these advances could help simulate how real bridges and buildings might respond to potentially disastrous situations,” Choi explains.
Alyssa Newcomb writes for NBC News that MIT researchers have developed a system that allows users to interact with virtual objects. Newcomb explains that the “technology could be used to make movies or even by engineers wanting to find out how an old bridge may respond to inclement weather.”
CSAIL researchers have created a tool that allows people to interact with videos, writes Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. The technique could “make augmented reality animations integrate even more with the 'reality' part of augmented reality, help engineers model how structures will react when different forces are applied, or as a less expensive way to create special effects.”
Graduate student Anna Wexler writes for The New York Times about people performing low-level electrical stimulation on their brains. “The growth of D.I.Y. brain stimulation stems in part from a larger frustration with the exclusionary institutions of modern medicine, such as the exorbitant price of pharmaceuticals and the glacial pace at which new therapies trickle down to patients.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig writes about how investors are buying high-risk bonds instead of high-quality bonds due to low interest rates. Zweig cites a new study co-authored by graduate student Chen Lian showing that “investors generally aren’t tantalized by risky alternatives to safe bonds until rates fall to 3%.”
Financial Times reporter Rebecca Knight spotlights Joe Bellantoni, who will receive an MIT Executive MBA degree nine years after he was blinded in a car accident. Bellantoni credits his wife for her unwavering support. “Ms. Bellantoni has driven her husband to the school’s Cambridge campus every two to three weeks; accompanied him to classes, attended his study groups and typed up his homework assignments.”
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Hartnett spotlights a new study, co-authored by MIT postdoc Christopher Hendon, which examines why coffee quality declines as traffic increases in a coffee shop. The researchers found that coffee “grinders in continuous use generate enough heat to change the chemistry of coffee beans and cause them to break into less uniform pieces.”
Steve Annear writes for The Boston Globe about how grad student Lydia Krasilnikova created graphs and charts illustrating the color underwear MIT students select, based off self-reported information from dorm mailing lists. “It’s a different type of picture of MIT’s dorm culture,” says Krasilnikova. “I absolutely love it, and it was so much fun to put together.”
Graduate student Lydia Krasilnikova speaks with the Metro’s Spencer Buell about the visualizations she compiled on what color underwear MIT students wear, based on information reported to dorm mailing lists. “I think the pictures in the pie charts kind of provide a sort of visualization of dorm culture in a different perspective than you usually get,” explains Krasilnikova.
Grad student Michael Stepner speaks with Peter O’Dowd of Here & Now about his research examining how the life expectancy gap between the rich and poor has grown. Stepner explains the research suggests an opportunity for local “policies to address these gaps and improve life expectancies for low-income Americans.”
Emily Badger and Christopher Ingraham write for The Washington Post about a study by MIT researchers that examines how poverty impacts life expectancies across the country. “What's especially striking is that the poor live even shorter lives in some places than others. They have longer life expectancies in affluent, cities with highly educated populations,” they explain.
A new study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that people who live in expensive, well-educated cities tend to live longer, reports Jim Zarroli for NPR. Zarroli explains that “the study suggests that the relationship between life expectancy and income is not iron-clad, and changes at the local level can make a big difference.”