Graduate student Zoe Fisher speaks with Yusuf Khan of The Wall Street Journal’s about what inspired her to pursue a career in nuclear engineering, noting that being able to fight climate change firsthand is one of the key reasons she wanted to make a career in nuclear.. “It’s a cool thing to study that is going to have a lot of broader impacts,” Fisher says.
Graduate student Krista Mileva-Frank is curating “Objects for a Heavenly Cave,” an art exhibition at the Marta gallery in Los Angeles, highlighting the work of 13 artists and collectives considering “how the legacy of the Renaissance grotto might extend to their own work,” reports Laura Bannister for The New York Times. “Mileva-Frank hopes the show will encourage audiences to consider the relationship between art and nature and to contend with their own limited agency in an era of climate disaster,” writes Bannister.
Writing for The Hill, graduate student Shomik Verma explores the potential impact of the Climate Superfund Act, a bill that would require “fossil fuel companies who have emitted more than 1 billion tons over the past 20 years to pay into a superfund for their climate damages.” “With the saturated field of climate policies nowadays, this unique bill has the potential to be truly impactful,” writes Verma. “We need to make sure it is.”
MIT graduate student Jerry Lu and University of Virginia Prof. Ken Ono are developing new techniques to help swimmers competing at the Paris Olympics glide through the water even faster, reports Davide Castelvecchi for Nature. Lu and Ono created 3D models of the athletes and then suggested “tiny changes that can shave off precious fractions of a second at every stroke."
Researchers from the Data Provenance Initiative, a research group led by MIT engineers, have found that “important web sources used for training AI models have restricted the use of their data,” reports Kevin Roose for The New York Times. . “We’re seeing a rapid decline in consent to use data across the web that will have ramifications not just for A.I. companies, but for researchers, academics and noncommercial entities,” explains graduate student Shayne Longpre.
A new working paper by Prof. Anna Stansbury and Research Associate Kyra Rodriguez looks at the “class gap” among US Ph.D.-holders in science, social science, engineering and health, reports Soumaya Keynes for the Financial Times. The paper found “those whose parents did not have a college degree are 13 per cent less likely to end up with tenure at a top university than those with more educated parents. They also tend to end up at lower-ranked institutions,” Keynes explains.
Writing for Scientific American, graduate student Jerry Lu and his colleagues explore the mathematics, physics, and sensor technology that have revolutionized competitive swimming. “Today the advent of sensor technology has turned this idea into a reality in which mathematics and physics produce useful information so that coaches can ‘precision-train’ 2024 Olympic hopefuls,” writes Lu. “The results have been enormously successful.”
Graduate student Jaida Elcock speaks with WBUR reporter Katie Cole to address misconceptions about sharks. "I think that honestly, one of the biggest dangers to humans is humans not understanding what different wildlife is and feeling free enough to touch it," says Elcock. "There's a lot of stuff in the ocean that's venomous or spiny or whatever the case may be. So, if you see it, that's awesome, you take a picture from a safe distance."
Postdoctoral associate Adam Forrest Kay’s book “Escape From Shadow Physics: The Quest to End the Dark Ages of Quantum Theory,” is reviewed by Andrew Crumey for The Wall Street Journal. “Consistently interesting” and “energetically written,” the book, “eloquently explains the history behind hydrodynamic quantum analogs,” writes Crumey.
Researchers at MIT have found that prospective job applicants who utilized basic AI modules in their application process were, on average, more likely to get hired and receive higher wages, reports Maria Gracia Santillana Linares for Forbes. “[Applicants] with access to the technology are more likely to get hired without any negative implications [from] employers,” says graduate student Emma Wiles.
Cofounded by postdoctoral associate Wen Shuhao and postdoctoral fellows Ma Jian and Lai Lipeng, biotech startup Xtalpi "combines AI, quantum physics, cloud computing and robotic automation to find novel molecules that could be developed into new medicines,” reports Zinnia Lee for Forbes. “Xtalpi has also recently expanded into discovering new chemical compounds for applications such as agriculture, cosmetics, healthcare, as well as petrochemicals and new materials for electric vehicle batteries,” writes Lee.
Writing for the Boston Globe, graduate student Sophie Hartley spotlights researchers and arborists battling beech leaf disease a highly infectious disease caused by microscopic roundworms that “can disrupt a tree’s ability to photosynthesize and therefore survive." “Over the past decade, federal, state, and private agencies have shown up en masse to learn all they can about beech leaf disease, resulting in an extensive body of knowledge to inform policy,” explains Hartley. “By matching the worms’ seemingly unstoppable push with equally relentless research, experimentation, and community support, the hope is that all is not lost. Not yet.”
Scientific American’s Nick Hilden reports on the influence that popular narratives have on our collective perceptions. Graduate student Pat Pataranutaporn notes: “why do we always imagine science fiction to be a dystopia? Why can’t we imagine science fiction that gives us hope?”
The Hill reporter Tobias Burns spotlights the efforts of a number of MIT researchers to better understand the impact of generative AI on productivity in the workforce. One research study “looked as cases where AI helped improved productivity and worker experience specifically in outsourced settings, such as call centers,” explains Burns. Another research study explored the impact of AI programs, such as ChatGPT, among employees.
Forbes selects innovators for the list’s Healthcare & Science category, written by senior contributor Yue Wang. On the list is MIT PhD candidate Yuzhe Yang, who studies AI and machine learning technologies capability to monitor and diagnose illnesses such as Parkinson's disease.