Assembler robots + supply chain resilience + open data

James Rice discusses supply chain resilience and how organizations can prepare for the next big problem.

Branchlike metallic filaments can sap the power of solid-state lithium batteries. A new study explains how they form and how to divert them.

New prize program recognizes MIT researchers who make data openly accessible and reusable.

A new study by MIT scientists finds that Earth can self-regulate its temperature thanks to a stabilizing feedback mechanism that works over hundreds of thousands of years. “The finding has big implications for our understanding of the past, but also how global heating is shaping the future of our home world. It even helps us better understand the evolution of planetary temperatures that can make the search for alien-inhabited exoplanets more fruitful.”

Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu and Boston University Professor Pascual Restrepo PhD ’16 examined the impact of automation on the workforce over the past four decades and found that “‘so-so automation’ exacerbates wage gaps between white and blue collar workers more than almost any other factor.”