MIT News

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Release Date

All Episodes

Curiosity Unbounded, Ep 2: Bureaucracies, dictatorships, and the power of Africa's people — Mai Hassan

In this episode, MIT President Sally Kornbluth sits down with associate professor of political science and faculty co-director of MIT-Africa, Mai Hassan. Her work looks at bureaucracy, public administration, and the state in Africa, and more recently, how people mobilize against ... Show more

. 32min 41sec

Curiosity Unbounded, Ep 1: How a free-range kid from Maine is helping green-up industrial practices — Desirée Plata

In this episode, MIT President Sally Kornbluth sits down with newly tenured associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Desirée Plata. Her work focuses on making industrial processes more environmentally friendly, and removing methane (a key factor in global warmi ... Show more

. 22min 13sec

Audio Article: Low-cost device can measure air pollution anywhere

MIT researchers have made an open-source version of the “City Scanner” mobile pollution detector that lets people check air quality anywhere, cheaply. Pictured are some examples of the latest version of the device, called Flatburn, as well as a researcher attaching a prototype to ... Show more

. 5min 37sec

Audio Article: Minimizing electric vehicles’ impact on the grid

In a new study, MIT researchers have developed strategies for beneficial electric vehicle charging to reduce peak electricity demand and store solar energy. Read the article: https://news.mit.edu/2023/minimizing-electric-vehicles-impact-grid-0315

. 6min 50sec

Audio Article: How to push, wiggle, or drill an object through granular material

Predicting what it takes to push through sand, gravel, or other soft media can help engineers drive a rover over Martian soil, anchor a ship in rough seas, and walk a robot through sand and mud. But modeling the forces involved in such processes is a huge computational challenge ... Show more

. 6min 49sec