Author: Ms. R.

We’re not quite sure how old we are — cosmologically, that is. The main methods scientists use to measure the age of the universe don’t agree with each other. Many physicists hope a newly applicable technique that incorporates gravitational-wave observations will solve this age discrepancy once and for all. But this new technique may not be as straightforward as researchers hoped. A new paper by Hsin-Yu Chen, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research,……

Read More

Dramatic improvements in information technology have the potential to transform health-care delivery, and a key question is how such changes will affect the health-care workforce of the future. As part of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future’s recent series of research briefs, Research Affiliate John Van Reenen teamed with Ari Bronsoler, an MIT PhD student in economics, and Joseph Doyle, the Erwin H. Schell Professor of Management and Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management, to……

Read More

All of the nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. today were built using the same general formula. For one thing, companies made their reactors big, with power capacities measured in the hundreds of megawatts. They also relied heavily on funding from the federal government, which through large grants and lengthy application processes has dictated many aspects of nuclear plant design and development. That landscape has had varying degrees of success over the years, but it’s never been particularly……

Read More

Deep learning is everywhere. This branch of artificial intelligence curates your social media and serves your Google search results. Soon, deep learning could also check your vitals or set your thermostat. MIT researchers have developed a system that could bring deep learning neural networks to new — and much smaller — places, like the tiny computer chips in wearable medical devices, household appliances, and the 250 billion other objects that constitute the “internet of things” (IoT). The system, called……

Read More

Mary Frances Wagley ’47, a trailblazer for women and a lifelong educator, died Nov. 1 at her home in Cockeysville, Maryland. She was 93. Having attended MIT at a time when there were few female students — only 12 in her class — Wagley became the first woman to be an MIT Corporation member and the first woman to serve as president of the MIT Alumni Association. “Mary Frances Wagley was a force for a better world and a……

Read More

Eaman Jahani has thought about society and equality for a long time. His interest may have been shaped in part by his childhood in Iran, where he witnessed a constant struggle for social equity and progress. “I was reading political news constantly,” he remembers.  But all societies have struggles, and Jahani thinks if he’d grown up elsewhere, he’d be drawn to the same questions. “When I came to the United States, I started reading social theories of the struggle……

Read More