MIT researchers have created a virtual environment for optimizing the design and control of soft robots, reports Prachi Patel for Scientific American. “The future goal is to take any task and say, ‘Design me an optimal robot to complete this task,’” says undergraduate Jagdeep Bhatia.
Tech Crunch reporter Brian Heater spotlights how CSAIL researchers have unveiled a testing simulator for soft robotic designs. “It offers some interesting insights into how compliant robots can adapt to different environmental changes,” writes Heater.
CNN reporter Jacopo Prisco spotlights Prof. Carlo Ratti and architect Italo Rota on their eco-friendly design of Italy’s pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020. “One thing I do not like about temporary events – like various international exhibitions or the Olympic Games – is that a huge amount of waste ends up in landfills after just a few weeks or months,” says Ratti. “This is why we wanted the Italian Pavilion to address the temporary nature of the Dubai Expo 2020. Most architectural elements are recycled or recyclable, refused or reusable.”
Writing for STAT, lecturer Juhan Sonin and his colleagues underscore the importance of individuals owning the rights to their own health data. “Data ownership gives each of us the keys to our health puzzle and insight into how our data is used outside medical appointments to further research, innovation, and better health care for all,” writes Sonin and his co-authors. “It gives us the keys we need to care for ourselves and our loved ones, and to build health in our communities and our country at large.”
Prof. Azra Aksamija speaks with NPR’s Scott Simon about her book "Design to Live: Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp," which spotlights the inventions and designs created by Syrian refugees at the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. “For me, you know, what's so powerful about them is they visualize, on the one hand, this ingenuity of human spirit, yes, and resilience but, on the other hand, really, what is missing because people invent what is not provided,” says Aksamija, “and what is not provided are basic ideas of what constitutes human - essential human needs.”
MIT researchers have developed a new fiber, dubbed OmniFibers, that could potentially be used to help regulate breath, reports Ray White for Mashable. “When sewn into clothing, the fiber can sense how much it’s stretched. It then gives tactile feedback to the wearer via pressure, stretch or vibration.”
Times Higher Ed reporter Rosa Ellis writes that MIT took second place in the World University Rankings 2022 for arts and humanities. Agustín Rayo, interim dean of SHASS, and Hashim Sarkis, dean of SA+P, write that the humanities, “have an essential research role in problem-solving major civilisational issues” and they also “reliably contribute to well-being and a well-lived life.”
Writing for Times Higher Ed, Agustín Rayo, interim dean of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, underscore the importance of the arts, humanities, and design fields as “an essential part of an MIT education, critical to the Institute’s capacity for innovation and vital to its mission to make a better world." They add that "the MIT mission is to serve humankind, and the arts and humanities are essential resources for knowledge and understanding of the human condition.”
Mashable reporter Emmett Smith spotlights how MIT researchers have created a new toolkit for designing wearable devices that can be 3D printed. “The researchers used the kit to create sample devices, like a personal muscle monitor that uses augmented reality,” explains Smith, “plus a device for recognizing hand gestures and a bracelet for identifying distracted driving.”
Fortune reporter Nicole Gull McElroy spotlights how the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Master’s Degree program in Integrated Design and Management (IDM), “ is an effort to blend, in a first-of-its-kind approach, engineering and business degrees under the business school’s umbrella.”
Alumnus and lecturer Matthew Mazzotta joins NPR’s Ted Radio Hour to discuss the importance of public spaces, and how every community needs public spaces to gather, discuss, and address issues.
Provost Marty Schmidt speaks with TopUniversities.com reporter Chloe Lane about how MIT has maintained its position as the top university in the world on the QS World University Rankings for 10 consecutive years. “I am honored to have been a part of the MIT community for almost 40 years,” says Schmidt. “It’s a truly interdisciplinary, collaborative, thought-provoking place that encourages experimentation and pushes you to expand your mind. I think it’s a wonderful place to call home.”
In an interview with of CBC Radio, graduate student Carmelo Ignaccolo discusses the need to better understand how to make cities good places for residents and tourists to coexist. "There are very different ways in which data can really help us plan better cities," says Ignaccolo.
Students in Prof. Azra Akšamija’s class created Covid-19 masks that reflected their experiences and shared powerful messages with the world, reports 7 News. “Students learn how to articulate problems they see in the world and issues that we are facing,” says Akšamija. “And to communicate that and translate that through their designs.”
As the curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, addressed how we can live together and how architecture is responding to longstanding global issues that contributed to Covid-19’s global spread, from climate change and migration to political polarization and inequality, reports Elisabetta Povoledo for The New York Times. “The pandemic will hopefully go away,” said Sarkis. “But unless we address these causes, we will not be able to move forward.”