In this Reuters video, Ben Gruber reports that MIT researchers have found a risk of water stress across Asia by 2050 due to economic and population growth. "We are looking at a region where nations are really at a very rapid developing stage,” explains Dr. Adam Schlosser, “so you really can't ignore the growth effect.”
STAT reporter Eric Boodman spotlights Prof. Jing-Ke Weng’s work searching for medical treatments in plants. Boodman writes that Weng is “determined to harness peanut skins, and twisted roots, and an herb known as horny goat weed...to treat human disease."
Washington Post reporter Laurie McGinley writes that Prof. Tyler Jacks, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, was named to a panel of experts that will advise the Obama administration on the cancer “moonshot” initiative and how to best “tackle some of the most promising but challenging areas in research today.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to help predict the thickness of a round shell, reports Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. The findings “could help researchers create shells with a predictable thickness and a uniform consistency at an industrial scale. That’s useful for a range of products, including pills and aerodynamic vehicles.”
Helen Shen writes for Nature that MIT researchers have developed a technique for assembling and operating an automated system for “whole-cell patch-clamping”, a method of monitoring the activity of brain cells. “Our hope is that we can help as many people as possible to answer questions about how neurons compute,” explains Prof. Edward Boyden.
In a roundup of top science images of the week, Popular Science reporter Claire Maldarelli highlights a new machine developed by MIT researchers “that can synthesize multiple kinds of drugs, including antidepressants, antihistamines, and a local anesthetic.”
MIT researchers have found that countries in Asia may face water shortages by 2050, the Press Trust of India reports. The researchers found that “the median amounts of projected growth and climate change in the next 35 years in Asia would lead to about 1 billion more people becoming ‘water-stressed’ compared to today.”
Scientific American reporter Bob Roehr writes that MIT researchers have developed a manufacturing system that can produce a variety of drugs. The researchers created a “drug-producing process that is not only faster but also more precise, more efficient and cheaper than production methods now in use," explains Roher.
Science reporter Robert Service writes that MIT researchers have developed a drug synthesis machine that can produce a variety of medications. Service writes that such a machine “could someday help pharmaceutical companies meet unexpected surges in demand and help health officials respond to disasters and medical emergencies worldwide by producing medicines when and where they are needed.”
Voice of America reporter Kevin Enochs writes that a new study by MIT researchers has found that large portions of Asia could face a high risk of severe water stress by 2050. Enochs writes that the researchers found that, “global climate mitigation efforts can result in a measurable decrease in the risk of water stress.”
MIT researchers have found that population and economic growth could lead to severe water stress across Asia by 2050, reports Robert Ferris for CNBC. "We simply cannot ignore the fact that growth in population and the economies can play just as or more important a role in risk," explains Dr. Adam Schlosser.
Researchers have uncovered evidence about how “hot Jupiter” exoplanets form by studying a planet with an eccentric orbit, reports Eva Botkin-Kowacki for The Christian Science Monitor. "This planet is thought to be caught in the act of migrating inward," says MIT postdoc Julien de Wit. "By studying it, we are able to test theories of hot Jupiter formation."
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that a new study co-authored by MIT postdoc Julien de Wit examines the eccentric orbit of an exoplanet with extreme weather variations. The researchers found that, “every 111 days, the planet swings close to its sun-like host star before being flung back out.”
Prof. Feng Zhang has been named a recipient of the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award for his work on the development of the CRISPR gene-editing system, reports CBC News. CRISPR "may prove to be a ‘powerful therapeutic’ for treating human diseases by editing out harmful genetic mutations.”
Globe and Mail reporter Ivan Semeniuk spotlights Prof. Feng Zhang and his role in developing the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, for which he was honored as a recipient of the 2016 Canada Gairdner International award. “CRISPR genome editing technology is a really powerful platform,” says Zhang. “It think it will advance both our ability to understand disease and to develop treatments.”