NASA

MIT startup Ministry of Supply has developed a jacket that utilizes AI to keep its wearer warm. “The jacket…can also be voice-controlled through devices like the Amazon Echo or manually with an app,” writes Erin Black for CNBC.

This April, NASA will launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, which will measure the masses of at least 50 “potentially Earth-like worlds,” writes Irene Klotz for Scientific American. “We’re finding the particular star that actually potentially hosts an exoplanet around it,” said senior research scientist George Ricker, the lead scientist on TESS.

MIT startup Ministry of Supply has launched an intelligent heated jacket that can operate manually or respond to smart assistants. As Richard Priday of Wired explains, the “optimum temperature of the garment” is calculated using sensors that detect the outside temperature as well as the user’s body movement and temperature.

Los Angeles Times writer Amina Khan examines the planets that surround dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 – highlighting that most planets near earth’s size are likely to be rocky. “It will be really fascinating when we get to dive into the atmosphere of each of these planets and see how different or similar they are," said postdoc Julien de Wit.

Gizmodo reporter Ryan Mandelbaum writes that a new study co-authored by MIT researchers confirms Einstein’s theory that the sun is losing mass. Mandelbaum writes that, “seven years of data, combined with observations of how the Sun uses up its hydrogen fuel, reveal that the Sun is slowly, every so slightly, loosening its grasp on Mercury.”

A study co-authored by MIT researchers shows that as the sun loses mass its gravitational pull is becoming weaker, reports Kastalia Medrano for Newsweek. “The study demonstrates how making measurements of planetary orbit changes throughout the solar system opens the possibility of future discoveries about the nature of the sun and planets,” explains Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research.

A study by Prof. Daniel Rothman shows that there could be enough carbon in the Earth’s oceans by 2100 to trigger a sixth mass extinction, reports Mark Fischetti and Jen Christiansen for Scientific American. 

A new study by MIT researchers found that the Clean Air Act has had a larger impact on reducing the mortality rate than originally thought, reports Alan Moses for U.S. News & World Report. The researchers found that, “the decline in organic aerosol may account for more lives saved than the EPA had estimated.”

WHDH speaks with MIT staff member Maia Weinstock, who designed the original concept for the Women of NASA LEGO set. Weinstock explained that she is “really excited to see teachers and parents and kids tell me their stories of how they are going to use the set.”

UPI reporter Brooks Hays writes that an international team of astronomers, including MIT Prof. Saul Rappaport, has detected comets outside the Milky Way. “The distant ice balls, roughly the size of Halley's Comet, were spotted orbiting a small star 800 light-years from Earth. They were documented using transit photometry,” Hays explains. 

Writing for U.S. News & World Report, Alexa Lardieri highlights how Prof. Daniel Rothman has analyzed carbon changes over the past 540 million years and found that the next mass extinction could start in 2100. Rothman found that, “mass extinctions can occur if changes in the carbon cycle over long time periods outpace global ecosystems' abilities to adapt to those changes.”

In this video, Nicholas Cardona reports for USA Today that Prof. Daniel Rothman has predicted that the Earth’s next mass extinction event could begin in 2100, based on an analysis of the last five mass extinction events. Rothman found that, “each of the events saw high increases in global carbon. That leads to a destabilized ecosystem,” Cardona reports. 

In a new study, Prof. Daniel Rothman has predicted that the oceans may hold enough carbon to trigger a sixth mass extinction by 2100, reports Trevor Nace for Forbes. Rothman’s analysis showed that, “given the current rate of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere, we will likely reach a mass extinction threshold by the year 2100.”

HuffPost reporter Thomas Tamblyn writes that Prof. Daniel Rothman has analyzed the Earth’s five previous mass extinctions and found that a sixth could be triggered by 2100. Rothman found that, “if a certain amount of carbon dioxide was added to the oceans on top of its existing levels it would result in a sixth mass extinction event.”

A new study by Prof. Daniel Rothman provides evidence that by 2100 the world’s oceans may hold enough carbon to trigger a sixth mass extinction, reports Alyssa Meyers for The Boston Globe. Rothman found that if, “310 gigatons of carbon dioxide are added to the oceans, it could be a crucial tipping point for the carbon cycle.”