Researchers at MIT have found that climate change could raise the risk of satellite collisions, reports Justine Calma for The Verge. “We’ve really reached the end of that era of ‘space is big,’ and I think we should stop saying that,” says graduate student, William Parker. “People don’t realize that the space sustainability issue is really an issue that impacts them directly.”
Prof. Sara Seager, postdoctoral fellow Iaroslav Iakubivskyi and Claire Isabel Webb PhD '20 have designed Phainoterra, an imaginary planet “with a habitable sulfuric acid-based biochemistry” using “extensive scientific research and cross-checking against known physical precepts,” reports Leslie Katz for Forbes. The creation of Phainoterra is a part of “Proxima Kosmos, a new project that unites scientists, including one from NASA, with designers and sci-fi writers to create a speculative solar system consistent with the laws of astronomy and physics.”
A study by researchers at MIT has found “that 80% of companies are monitoring remote or hybrid workers,” reports Lucas Mearian for Computer World. “Specialized software can track online activity, location, and even behaviors such as keystrokes and tone in communications — often without workers’ knowledge,” explains Mearian.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Prof. Pierre Azoulay and Prof. Jeffrey Flier of Harvard Medical School make the case that any reforms at the NIH “should be grounded in evidence rather than tradition, avoiding the influence of special interests or political considerations.” They add that this approach “is an acknowledgement of NIH’s accomplishments and a charge to adapt it to the new realities of 21st-century science. The overarching goal must be to secure and enhance the decades-long role of the United States at the forefront of biomedical research, an outcome that the public both wants and deserves.”
A study by researchers from MIT and elsewhere has concluded that tariffs have “failed to restore jobs to the American heartland,” reports Paul Wiseman for the Associated Press. The study found that “tariffs ‘neither raised nor lowered U.S. employment’ where they were supposed to protect jobs,” writes Wiseman.
MIT has multiple projects represented in this year’s STAT Madness, a bracket-style competition “highlighting important scientific advances emerging from labs at the nation’s universities, medical schools, and other U.S. research institutions and companies,” reports STAT staff.
Prof. Richard Binzel speaks with Salon reporter Matthew Rosza about his work creating the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, which measures the threat posed by space rocks. Previous measurements expressed “themselves in different ways, and that could be very confusing to the public,” says Binzel. “This was the motivation for finding a common communication system, a common scale that we could put into context any newly discovered object.”
MIT scientists have developed a new programmable fiber that can be stitched into clothing to help monitor the wearer’s health, reports Stephen Beech for FOX 28 News. “The gear has been tested by U.S. Army and Navy personnel during a month-long winter research mission to the Arctic,” Beech notes.
Writing for Forbes, Dr. Diane Hamilton spotlights how a course offered by Profs. Danielle Li and Thomas Malone “challenged common assumptions about AI’s role in the workplace, offering a more interesting and, at times, unexpected perspective.” Hamilton notes: MIT researchers reveal AI’s good and bad impact on jobs and skills, making it clear that AI is not just about automation. It is about augmentation. Companies that use AI to empower employees rather than replace them will be the ones that thrive in the years ahead.”
Prof. Ryan Williams speaks with New Scientist reporter Matthew Sparkes about his finding concerning the relationship between the amount of memory a computation requires and how long it takes, a discovery that has “wowed computer scientists.” Says Williams of the discovery: “It kind of shakes my world view. I’m still just shocked that it even exists.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to use a damage suppressing protein called “Dsup” to help protect cancer patients from the side effects of radiation therapy, writes Shane Galvin for The New York Post. “Scientists, encouraged by this remarkable discovery, believe they can create an upgraded version of Dsup which can be used to radiation-proof human cells without any unwanted drawbacks,” writes Galvin. “They also believe that the protein could be used by astronauts to prevent space-related radiation [damage].”
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found that a protein developed by tardigrades could be used to help protect cancer patients from the side effects of radiation therapy, reports Ed Cara for Gizmodo. “The findings could someday lead to an invaluable add-on treatment for many cancer patients,” writes Cara. He adds that the new technique “could even possibly be used to protect astronauts from space-related radiation or to protect cancer patients from other sources of treatment-induced DNA damage, such as chemotherapy drugs.”
Dezeen reporter Rima Sabina Aouf spotlights how MIT researchers have created a “thin and flexible fiber computer and woven it into clothes, suggesting a potential alternative to current wearable electronics.” Prof. Yoek Fink explains: "In the not-too-distant future, fiber computers will allow us to run apps and get valuable health care and safety services from simple everyday apparel.” He adds: "The convergence of classical fibers and fabrics with computation and machine learning has only begun.”
Mohamed Elrefaie speaks with Automotive World reporter Will Girling about his work developing an open-source dataset of 8,000 car designs, including their aerodynamic characteristics, which could be used to develop novel car designs in a more efficient manner. “If an automaker wants to reduce drag and improve performance, it can guide the GenAI model to produce those specific designs,” Elrefaie explains. “The standard development cycle for a design using legacy tools can take anywhere from three to five years, as it requires collaboration between many specialized departments. With AI, you could validate up to 600 designs in just one or two minutes.”
A new study co-authored by Prof. David Rand found that there was a “20 percent reduction in belief in conspiracy theories after participants interacted with a powerful, flexible, personalized GPT-4 Turbo conversation partner,” writes Annie Duke for The Washington Post. “Participants demonstrated increased intentions to ignore or unfollow social media accounts promoting the conspiracies, and significantly increased willingness to ignore or argue against other believers in the conspiracy,” writes Duke. “And the results appear to be durable, holding up in evaluations 10 days and two months later.”