Eric Bender
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Articles by Eric Bender
MIT gears up to transform manufacturing
“Manufacturing is the engine of society, and it is the backbone of robust, resilient economies,” says John Hart, head of MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and faculty co-director of the MIT Initiative for New Manufacturing (INM).
A new wave of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer's disease, the appalling and baffling degenerative brain illness that plagues many elderly people, may be caused by several distinct mechanisms driven by various genetic and lifestyle factors, says Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. To fully understand such conditions, she says, we must study the aging brain as a system rather than focusing on one or two types of ailing cells.
Generating opportunities with generative AI
Talking with retail executives back in 2010, Rama Ramakrishnan came to two realizations. First, although retail systems that offered customers personalized recommendations were getting a great deal of attention, these systems often provided little payoff for retailers. Second, for many of the firms, most customers shopped only once or twice a year, so companies didn’t really know much about them.
Generating opportunities with generative AI Original
Talking with retail executives back in 2010, Rama Ramakrishnan came to two realizations. First, although retail systems that offered customers personalized recommendations were getting a great deal of attention, these systems often provided little payoff for retailers. Second, for many of the firms, most customers shopped only once or twice a year, so companies didn't really know much about them.
Retraining the brain for better vision
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from a vision condition called amblyopia, or lazy eye, with imbalanced vision in their two eyes. Unless this disabling condition is caught and treated at a young age, it's rare for children to regain full vision, because the brain learns to turn off the input from the "lazy" eye. Amblyopia is one striking example of how the brain is modified by experience, says Professor Mark Bear, a neuroscientist at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
Moving days for MIT’s history
Gloria Martinez has a million-and-a-half items on her to-do list. Quite literally: Give or take a few hundred thousand, that's the number of unique objects in the MIT Museum's astonishingly diverse collection. Martinez is supervising the collection's move to a new storage facility — the final step in delivering the new museum, whose headquarters opened last fall in the heart of Kendall Square. Only a tiny fraction of the huge collection is on display at the popular new museum.
Joining the battle against health care bias
Medical researchers are awash in a tsunami of clinical data. But we need major changes in how we gather, share, and apply this data to bring its benefits to all, says Leo Anthony Celi, principal research scientist at the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology (LCP). One key change is to make clinical data of all kinds openly available, with the proper privacy safeguards, says Celi, a practicing intensive care unit (ICU) physician at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston.
Joining the Battle Against Healthcare Bias
Medical researchers are awash in a tsunami of clinical data. But we need major changes in how we gather, share and apply this data to bring its benefits to all, says Leo Anthony Celi, principal research scientist at the MIT Laboratory for Computational Physiology (LCP). One key change is to make clinical data of all kinds openly available, with the proper privacy safeguards, says Celi, a practicing intensive care unit (ICU) physician at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Engaging enterprises with the climate crisis
Almost every large corporation is committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but lacks a roadmap to get there, says John Sterman, professor of management at MIT's Sloan School of Management, co-director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, and leader of its Climate Pathways Project.
How organoids are advancing the understanding of chronic kidney disease
Ryuichi Nishinakamura’s quest to build a transplantable kidney began in the 1990s, when the nephrologist found he had little to offer his patients. At times he was ridiculed for setting such an unrealistic goal, “but I was very naive and young, so I just went forward”, recalls Nishinakamura, who is now a stem-cell biologist at Kumamoto University in Japan.
How MIT helped young Roxbury photographers of the 1960s turn pro
Fifty years ago, Roxbury was the poorest neighborhood in Boston, just as it is now. Back then, its predominantly Black residents lived with intense and open racism. Hundreds of Roxbury buildings had been knocked down for a highway that was never built, leaving vacant lots. Nationally, the Vietnam War and the Black Power movement were at their peaks.
Wiring the organization for exceptional performance
Steven Spear SM '93 analyzes the framework of relationships and interactions by which an organization runs, to better harness the intellectual horsepower distributed throughout the enterprise. In almost any industry, some few companies dramatically outperform their peers and near-peers, generating and delivering far more value to society by getting far more yield out of the resources and opportunities available to them, says Spear.
These UV Devices Could Keep Indoor Air Free of Viruses
The Boston piano bar where Edward Nardell sings cabaret songs would typically be an ideal setting for airborne diseases to spread. But Nardell and his audience are protected from the COVID-19 pandemic by the far-ultraviolet (UV) lights that he had installed to shine down from the ceiling.
Finding medical value in mescaline
For Alexander Shulgin, the twentieth-century biochemist often called the godfather of psychedelics, it all began with mescaline. “The world amazed me, in that I saw it as I had when I was a child,” he wrote1 about his first experience of the drug in 1960. “I had forgotten the beauty and the magic and the knowingness of it and me.” Shulgin went on to synthesize hundreds of psychoactive substances, and other scientists focused mostly on LSD and psilocybin.
Safe harbor: Wandering the Boston waterfront as the sea rises|Paperback
In blue-sky summer days, superyachts tie up near the ultra-luxury condos. In winter storms, the huge regional food distribution center becomes part of the North Atlantic. Once famed for pollution, this stretch of coast now is clean enough for everything from whales to whimbrels and the islands are public parks.
Evolutionary biologists are finally studying an ecosystem ignored for decades
Brown rats in New York City may be evolving smaller rows of teeth. Tiny fish across the Eastern US have adapted to thrive in polluted urban waters. Around the globe, living things are evolving differently in cities than in the surrounding countryside. It’s happening in plants: White clover in downtown Toronto is less likely than clover in surrounding rural areas to produce cyanide that deters herbivores — a trend mirrored in cities in many countries, a new study finds.
Facing the challenge of eliminating hepatitis B
We have the tools to eradicate hepatitis B and the liver cancer and end-stage disease it brings, says Corinna Dan, senior director for public-health practice at Maximus, a global government services firm in Reston, Virginia, and a former lead expert on viral hepatitis for the US Department of Health and Human Services. With sufficient resources and leadership, she tells Nature, we could eliminate the disease worldwide. How preventable is hepatitis B? It is a very stable virus.
Urban Evolution: How Species Adapt to Survive in Cities
Brown rats in New York City may be evolving smaller rows of teeth. Tiny fish across the Eastern US have adapted to thrive in polluted urban waters. Around the globe, living things are evolving differently in cities than in the surrounding countryside. It’s happening in plants: White clover in downtown Toronto is less likely than clover in surrounding rural areas to produce a cyanide that deters herbivores—a trend mirrored in cities in many countries, a new study finds.
Urban evolution: How species adapt to survive in cities
Brown rats in New York City may be evolving smaller rows of teeth. Tiny fish across the Eastern US have adapted to thrive in polluted urban waters. Around the globe, living things are evolving differently in cities than in the surrounding countryside. It’s happening in plants: White clover in downtown Toronto is less likely than clover in surrounding rural areas to produce a cyanide that deters herbivores — a trend mirrored in cities in many countries, a new study finds.
The Case for Ocean Optimism
Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries. Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let's not even talk about ocean pollution.
The case for ocean optimism
Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries. Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let’s not even talk about ocean pollution.
Here Come the First Responders ... and the Engineers?
After a natural disaster hits, volunteers swoop in to assess why some buildings survived and others didn’t. By Eric Bender and Hakai Magazine When you first see the sheer magnitude of destruction at the site where a hurricane made landfall, “there’s usually a take-your-breath-away moment,” says Tracy Kijewski-Correa, a structural engineer at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
When a Natural Disaster Hits, Structural Engineers Learn From the Destruction
When you first see the sheer magnitude of destruction where a hurricane made landfall, “there’s usually a take-your-breath-away moment,” says Tracy Kijewski-Correa, a structural engineer at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. But Kijewski-Correa and her colleagues catch their breath and begin their work surveying the damage inflicted on buildings along the hurricane’s path.
What Survives the Storm | Hakai Magazine
Natural disasters do not destroy buildings evenly. By studying which fall and which are left standing, engineers can develop new strategies for the future. Photo by David J. Phillip/AP Images StEER engineers flock into the site of natural disasters to support first responders, and learn from the destruction.
World - The Case for Ocean Optimism
Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries. Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let’s not even talk about ocean pollution.
The Case for Ocean Optimism
Photo: Wexor Tmg/Unsplash It’s possible to be optimistic about the ocean’s health without also being naïve. Marine fisheries are reasonably well-managed, protected areas are expanding and we’re getting better at coastal restoration. It’s important to share these successes, scientists say, to avoid paralysing feelings of hopelessness. Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs.
Seven Reasons to Be Optimistic About the World's Oceans Original
There are many reasons to be worried about the state of the world’s oceans. But some scientists say it’s important to point to successes, in order to motivate people to take further, evidence-based action. John Burns, NOAA / FLICKR Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries.
Spots of progress for our threatened oceans
Newsletter NEWSLETTER: Are the kids alright? Try asking them. 08.08.2021 Help us make scientific knowledge accessible to all Support free, nonprofit, fact-based journalism Donate today The case for ocean optimism By Eric Bender With the health of the ocean under threat, a rallying cry for marine conservation goes global. Here are some of the good-news stories. Read more.
6 reasons you can be optimistic about the future
Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries. Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let's not even talk about ocean pollution.
The world’s oceans are in trouble from threats like pollution, climate change and overfishing, but scientists say there is good news, too.
Yes, we’ve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries. Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let's not even talk about ocean pollution.
A $26-billion plan to save the Houston area from rising seas
Houston, we have bureaucracy problems? — Lawmakers are poised to decide the fate of this massive project. Eric Bender, for Undark - Jul 3, 2021 12:30 pm UTC People catch a ride on a construction truck as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey. This gallery highlights scenes from around a ravaged Houston. Joe Raedle/Getty Images People take shelter at the George R.
A $26 billion plan to save the Houston area from rising seas
Houston, we have bureaucracy problems? — Lawmakers are poised to decide the fate of this massive project. Eric Bender, for Undark - Jul 3, 2021 12:30 pm UTC People catch a ride on a construction truck as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey. This gallery highlights scenes from around a ravaged Houston. People take shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center after flood waters from Hurricane Harvey inundated the city on August 29, 2017.
A $26 Billion Plan to Save the Houston Area From Rising Seas
When Hurricane Ike made landfall in 2008, Bill Merrell took shelter on the second floor of a historic brick building in downtown Galveston, Texas, along with his wife, their daughter, their grandson, and two Chihuahuas. Sustained winds of 110 mph lashed the building. Seawater flooded the ground floor to a depth of over 8 feet. Once, in the night, Merrell caught glimpses of a near-full moon and realized they had entered the hurricane’s eye.
Accelerating the diagnosis of epilepsy with computer modelling
Electroencephalograms are used to evaluate a person’s risk of having seizures, but this can take months.Credit: Amelie Benoist/BSIP/Alamy Neuronostics is a spin-off from the University of Exeter, UK, and one of the final eight for The Spinoff Prize 2021. The symptoms that many people associate with someone having an epileptic seizure — losing consciousness, biting the tongue or even briefly ceasing to breathe — would make it seem that diagnosing this condition would be a simple matter.
A $26-billion plan to save the Houston area from rising seas
When Hurricane Ike made landfall in 2008, Bill Merrell took shelter on the second floor of a historic brick building in downtown Galveston, Texas, along with his wife, their daughter, their grandson, and two Chihuahuas. Sustained winds of 110 mph lashed the building. Seawater flooded the ground floor to a depth of over 8 feet. Once, in the night, Merrell caught glimpses of a near-full moon and realized they had entered the hurricane's eye.
A $26-Billion Plan to Save the Houston Area From Rising Seas
When Hurricane Ike made landfall in 2008, Bill Merrell took shelter on the second floor of a historic brick building in downtown Galveston, Texas, along with his wife, their daughter, their grandson, and two Chihuahuas. Sustained winds of 110 mph lashed the building. Seawater flooded the ground floor to a depth of over 8 feet. Once, in the night, Merrell caught glimpses of a near-full moon and realized they had entered the hurricane’s eye.
Egypt abandons Palestinian reconciliation talks amid Hamas, Palestinian Authority dispute
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Olympics-Brisbane wins IOC board's approval, set to land 2032 Games
The Australian city of Brisbane moved closer to landing the 2032 Olympics on Thursday after winning the approval of the International Olympic Committee's executive board and the choice will be put to a final vote next month. Queensland state capital Brisbane had been the preferred host, chosen in February, and the board's proposal now goes to the IOC session before the Tokyo Olympics next month. "It is in the hands of IOC members to vote now on July 21," IOC President Thomas Bach said.
The Guts of Our Ancestors
Over the past several years, scientists have generated intriguing insights suggesting that variations in gut microbiomes—the collections of bacteria and other microbes in our digestive systems—may play harmful roles that precipitate the development of diabetes and other diseases.
Crowdsourcing Clinical Care Research
Sana offers an open-source telemedicine platform created to exploit ubiquitous cell phones. But Celi emphasizes that technology is just part of a solution, which must be defined and driven by colleagues in those countries. “The people who live in the LMICs are the ones who are immersed in the problems and have the best perspectives on the complexities of those issues,” he explains.
Netanyahu: 'A plan that will bring about real revolution in Arab society'
"A small minority of Arabs are responsible about 60% of the crime in Israel and the victims of crime are, of course, Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike." By ERIC BENDER/MAARIV FEBRUARY 3, 2021 22:44 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen speaking at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Sderot, on January 27, 2021.
US urges Ukraine, Belarus to avoid 'backsliding' on democracy
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said it was crucial that Ukraine, Belarus and other countries covered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) remain committed to open market, multiparty democracy and pluralism.
Huge explosion heard in Syria
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Trump credits coronavirus therapeutics, wants them more widely available
President Donald Trump, in a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday, credited Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly and Co therapeutics for his recovery and said he wanted to make them more widely available. "I felt good immediately," Trump said in the video. "We have Regeneron, we have a very similar drug from Eli Lilly and they're coming out, and we're trying to get them on an emergency basis. We've authorized it. I've authorized it.
Brazil registers 5,000,694 confirmed cases of new coronavirus
Brazil registered 5,000,694 confirmed cases of new coronavirus, up from 4,969,141 yesterday, the country's Health Ministry said in its website on Wednesday. The total deaths in the country rose to 148,228 from 147,494 yesterday, the ministry said.
Government extends controversial protest restrictions
Only a quarter of an hour before the emergency lockdown guidelines - which heavily restricted Israelis' right to protest far from their homes - were set to expire, Israel's government reapproved the controversial law, put forth by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, late on Wednesday night.
US National Security Adviser: US to go to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan
The United States will go down to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan early next year, US national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on Wednesday, offering greater detail about the pace and scope of the drawdown from America's longest war. "When President Trump took office, there were over 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan. As of today there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year,” O'Brien said, speaking at an event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
France, Germany push for EU sanctions on Russians over Navalny poisoning
France and Germany said on Wednesday they would propose European Union sanctions against Russian individuals after not receiving credible answers from Moscow over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with a nerve agent. Several Western governments have said Russia, which has denied accusations by Navalny that it was involved in the poisoning, must help in investigations or face consequences. "No credible explanation has been provided by Russia so far.
EU buys more Remdesivir to treat 3,400 patients amid shortages
The European Commission said on Wednesday it had agreed with U.S. company Gilead to buy additional doses to treat about 3,400 patients of its COVID-19 drug Remdesivir, amid shortages of the medication in Europe. The move comes as the bloc is under pressure to expand its limited stocks of the antiviral drug as COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations rise on the continent.
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