In a video for Wired, Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland and Principal Research Scientist Kent Larson describe the collaborative interdisciplinary environment of the MIT Media Lab. Pentland explains that people “have to become more innovative to deal with big challenges like pollution and global warming.”
Cynthia Graber writes for The Boston Globe Magazine that MIT researchers developed a robot to collect sewage samples, in an effort to gain a better understanding of public health problems. The samples can pinpoint harmful environmental factors as well as “neighborhoods with high rates of infectious diseases or even obesity, levels of illegal drug use, and pollutants.”
MIT researchers have launched a new project, Treepedia, to catalogue the density of the tree canopy in cities around the world, reports Feargus O’Sullivan for CityLab. O’Sullivan explains that the project is aimed at making “issues of urban and environmental planning (and the data that underpins them) more accessible for non- or semi- professionals.”
CBC News reporter Laura DaSilva writes that MIT researchers have launched a project, called Treepedia, to measure the percentage of land covered by trees in urban areas. Using Google Street View, “the researchers measured the percentage of land covered by trees in 12 cities across the world.”
CSAIL researchers have found that ride-sharing taxis controlled by a citywide computer system could decrease the number of cars on the road in New York City, reports Clive Cookson for the Financial Times. The researchers found that “3,000 four-passenger cars could satisfy 98 per cent of the city’s demand.”
MIT researchers have developed a system to map streetlights, writes Linda Poon for The Atlantic CityLab. Using sensors mounted on top of vehicles, the system measures illumination levels, gathers data into a map, and distinguishes between background light and streetlights through machine learning, explains Poon.
A new book by Prof. Carlo Ratti and graduate student Matthew Claudel focuses on the impact technology has on cities, writes Kate Abbey-Lambertz for The Huffington Post. “Ratti and Claudel envision a potential future where new technology ― from individualized heating grids to neighborhood 3D-printing fabrication studios ― ‘weaves into a tapestry of citizen empowerment’.”
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.
Joe Toohey of NBC’s Meet the Press visits MIT to learn about the CityScope project’s augmented reality platform for urban planning. Kent Larson, director of the City Science Initiative, explains that the platform allows non-experts to “explore different alternatives, experiment with them, in effect play, and get immediate feedback.”
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.”
In an article for The New Yorker, Frank Rose features “The City of Tomorrow”, a new book by Prof. Carlo Ratti and graduate student Matthew Claudel. Rose writes that the city Claudel and Ratti envision is “a hybrid of the digital and the physical, a ‘triumph of atoms and bits’ that yields a sort of augmented urban reality.”
Sophia Haigney writes for The Boston Globe that students in the URBANFRAME program, based out of MIT’s architecture department, are exploring design solutions for Cambridge’s Central Square, including sidewalk lanes to help smartphone users avoid collisions. Haigney notes that the program is aimed at designing “for under-represented groups in the community — people whom designers might typically ignore.”
CBC News reporter David Common writes that as part of a project called Underworlds, MIT researchers have developed robots that can sample human waste in sewers in an effort to better understand public health. "One of the holy grails of this project during its inception was to identify viral outbreaks," explains Jessica Snyder, an MIT postdoc.
Forbes contributor Pete Saunders highlights a new study by Prof. Mercedes Delgado that examines the relationship between industry clusters and employment growth in cities. Delgado found that “while inner city neighborhoods start with an economic disadvantage compared to central business districts, they do have competitive advantages.”