Articles by Emily Makowski
Machine learning for everyone
A graduate student researching red blood cell production, another studying alternative aviation fuels, and an MBA candidate: What do they have in common? They all enrolled in 6.883/6.S083 (Modeling with Machine Learning: From Algorithms to Applications) in spring 2019. The class, offered for the first time during that term, focused on machine learning applications in engineering and the sciences, attracting students from fields ranging from biology to business to architecture.
A Soapy Solution
Could the axion clean up problems in physics? A barred spiral galaxy. Image from Wikimedia Commons. What does dish soap and dark matter have in common? Both have versions called “axion.” Or so some physicists think. They know that Axion brand dish detergent definitely exists (though now mainly sold in Latin America). And axion dark matter? Finding that, if it exists, is another level of difficulty altogether. Axions are theorized particles that scientists haven’t as yet detected.
Danielle Wood Believes 'We're at a Beautiful, Unique Moment in the History of Space'
Photo credit: Magnus Bjerg Wood’s group at the Media Lab aims to break down barriers that have kept the developing world from engaging with space research. MIT professor Danielle Wood knew she wanted to be an aerospace engineer when she interned at NASA at age 17. But she also spent summer breaks in Kenya teaching young girls English, math, and science, which engaged her long-term interest in justice and development.
MIT's Edmond Awad, on the Many Moral Dilemmas of Self-Driving Cars.
Edmond Awad, of MIT’s Moral Machine project. Photo by Magnus Bjerg. Awad and his MIT colleagues gave millions of people the self-driving-car trolley problem. In a recent visit to KSJ, he talked about what he learned. A self-driving car approaches a crosswalk and suddenly its brakes fail. It can avoid a person who’s crossing legally by swerving into the opposite lane, but then it will hit two people who are jaywalking. Anyone hit by the car will certainly die. What should it do?
Meet This Year's Knight Science Journalism Fellows: Tim De Chant
The Nova Next founder wants to research and better understand the ongoing transition to low-carbon energy sources. Before Tim De Chant became a journalist, he “accidentally majored in biology.” As a double major in environmental studies and English at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, he found that, between his two chosen fields of study, he also had nearly all the courses he needed to complete a biology degree. So he graduated in 2003 as a triple major.
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