MIT News Newsletter

	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
September 29, 2016
MIT News: top stories
A weekly digest of the Institute’s research and innovation

Automated screening for childhood communication disorders

Computer system could help identify subtle speech, language disorders in time for early intervention.

From engineer to urban planner

Grad student Billy Ndengeyingoma helps improve affordable-housing design in Africa.

Q&A: How Twitter explains the 2016 election

“Electome” project charts the national conversation in unique detail.

To produce biopharmaceuticals on demand, just add water

Freeze-dried cellular components can be rehydrated to churn out useful proteins.

Pinpointing a brain circuit that can keep fears at bay

Study suggests path to prolonging treatment effectiveness for phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the Media

MIT researchers have found that low-emissions vehicles are among the least expensive to drive. Based off their findings, the researchers developed an app that helps consumers evaluate a car’s carbon impact, reports John Schwartz for The New York Times. “Consumers can save money and save emissions at the same time,” explains Prof. Jessika Trancik.

In an article for The Wall Street Journal about pay equity, Lauren Weber highlights Prof. Emilio Castilla’s research on manager bias. Weber explains that Castilla designed a system that “increased transparency and accountability for managers’ merit-pay decisions,” and found that pay gaps based on race, gender and nationality almost disappeared.

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.