A recent study co-authored by professors Pierre Azoulay and Danielle Li looked at drugs that were developed through NIH-funded research and approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 2000. More than half those drugs would probably not have been developed if the NIH was operating with a 40% smaller budget. "We can't say, 'But for that grant, that specific drug would not have come into existence,'" said Azoulay. But fewer drugs overall would have made it to market, he said.

Professor Christopher Knittel, associate dean for climate and sustainability, said there's some truth to what each side is saying. "They can both be right that electricity prices are growing at much faster than the rate of inflation. Oil prices have fallen somewhat," Knittel said. He noted that the ultimate impact on consumers will depend on how much gasoline they use compared to how much electricity, "and that varies a lot by household."

Professor John Sterman said: "There are no standards, there are no regulations, there are no real sanctions." He said the system needs an entity similar to the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide oversight and enforcement. "I don't see any way to solve this problem with self-regulation, because the incentives and the opportunities for cutting corners and fraud are just too great." By contrast, he said, regulation would help everyone except "the small number of bad actors" and increase the overall size of the market.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8-3 to eliminate a recommendation, dating to 1991, for every child to receive a first dose of a hepatitis B vaccine shortly after birth. Professor Retsef Levi said he believes the intention is to push parents to consider whether they want to give another vaccine to their child. "It's actually suggesting a fundamental change in their approach to this vaccine and maybe more broadly," he said.

Moore's law, the observation that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years, may be hitting its limit. Transistors are getting so small that experts say the laws of physics are slowing the reliable pace of progress. "During the heyday of Moore's law miniaturization gave us chips with more transistors, and it also meant that each transistor used less power," principal research scientist Neil Thompson said. "Today, miniaturization is giving us much smaller reductions in power, and so trying to cram in too many transistors produces a lot of heat and can melt a chip."

In this opinion piece for VoxEU, professor Simon Johnson, professor of the practice Gary Gensler, and co-authors wrote: "President Trump was elected, in part, on the promise of helping people lower down the income scale. Under his second administration, though, income and wealth gaps have only widened – and his policies are likely to further widen the gap."

Senior research scientist Peter Weill and principal research scientist Stephanie L. Woerner wrote: "To manage increasing digital complexity, successful boards are structuring their focus around three key areas: strategy, defense, and oversight. The technology bar for board effectiveness keeps rising. Boards with general digital expertise are no longer differentiated. Only boards that are staying current with AI and emerging technologies are driving superior performance."

Deborah Milstein, senior associate editor of MIT Sloan Management Review, wrote: "Three recent research articles suggest that although AI can surely be useful in the workplace, its limitations are significant and its consequences for human dynamics unclear. Before implementing AI tools, managers should determine how they might help or hinder employees' performance."

AI offers extraordinary value when geared toward solving real-world problems. In accounting, the technology takes care of the "washing" of data processing, as assistant professor Chloe Xie pointed out, freeing up professionals to focus on analysis and strategy.

In this interview with Jason Jay, director of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan, he said: "This could play out in many ways — part of it will be decided by the international community, investors bringing their own capital to complement Chinese capital, companies with technology and expertise, governments overseeing data privacy, EVs, etc. China has developed crucial capabilities the world needs, which is a note of hope — but it comes with risks we must manage."