Featured video: Fernanda De La Torre’s long journey to MIT
The MIT PhD student grew up in Mexico and crossed into the US on foot at age 12. Today she’s working in two different labs in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Department
Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Five from MIT named 2023 Quad Fellows
The new fellowship from the governments of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, administered by Schmidt Futures, supports graduate education in STEM fields.
Small studies of 40-hertz sensory stimulation confirm safety, suggest Alzheimer’s benefits
MIT researchers report early-stage clinical study results of tests with noninvasive 40-hertz light and sound treatment.
Three MIT seniors win 2024 Schwarzman Scholarships
Sara V. Fernandez, Amanda Hu, and Brigette Wang will spend the 2023-24 academic year at Tsinghua University in China studying global affairs.
How touch dampens the brain’s response to painful stimuli
Rubbing an aching body part can bring some relief. Neuroscientists at MIT's McGovern Institute are looking to find out why.
Silent synapses are abundant in the adult brain
These immature connections may explain how the adult brain is able to form new memories and absorb new information.
Teresa Gao named 2024 Mitchell Scholar
The MIT senior will pursue postgraduate studies in computer science in Ireland.
Alzheimer’s risk gene undermines insulation of brain’s “wiring”
In people carrying APOE4, a key brain cell mismanages cholesterol needed to insulate neurons properly — another sign APOE4 contributes to disease by disrupting brain lipids.
Celebrating open data
New prize program recognizes MIT researchers who make data openly accessible and reusable.
Are Covid-19 “comas” signs of a protective hibernation state?
Scientists hypothesize that, as in a hibernating turtle, the brain under sedation and deprived of oxygen may assume a protective state.
Ila Fiete wins Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience
Society for Neuroscience honors BCS professor for breakthrough research modeling a component of the brain’s navigational system.
Not every reader’s struggle is the same
An MIT study finds that children from different socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have different brain patterns associated with reading difficulty.
Study urges caution when comparing neural networks to the brain
Computing systems that appear to generate brain-like activity may be the result of researchers guiding them to a specific outcome.
Using sound to model the world
This machine-learning system can simulate how a listener would hear a sound from any point in a room.
After a lifetime of blindness, newly sighted can immediately identify human locomotion
Study on blind patients who recovered their sight suggests rethinking the belief that babies learn to recognize human movement through visual exposure.