MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A CRISPR-based diagnostic test for Covid-19 developed by researchers from MIT and the Broad Institute could produce results within an hour, reports Deborah Becker for WBUR. "Using these technologies will really allow for much more rapid testing — down from days to sometimes less than an hour," said McGovern fellow Jonathan Gootenberg. "That would enable a drastic change in how the tracing and handling of the pandemic is done."

Boston Globe reporter Don Aucoin spotlights the virtual MTA Playwrights Lab, an annual festival led by senior lecturer Ken Urban that features “staged readings resulting from collaborations between MIT students and professional theater artists.”

MIT took the number two spot in this year’s Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, writes David M. Ewalt for The Wall Street Journal.

Prof. Sara Seager speaks with Holly Williams on CBS This Morning about the discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. “Finding phosphine leaves us with two equally crazy ideas,” says Seager. “One is that there is some unknown chemistry, and the other one is that there’s some possibility there might be some kind of life producing phosphine on Venus.”

Sonia Raman, the MIT women’s basketball coach, has been hired as the new assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, reports Evan Barnes for USA Today. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. I can’t wait to get to Memphis and get started with Taylor, his staff and the team’s emerging young core,” said Raman. “I must also give a truly special thank you to MIT and the women I’ve had the honor of coaching for the past 12 years.”

A new center established at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research is aimed at accelerating the development of novel therapies and technologies, writes Katie Jennings for Forbes. The hope is that “we can identify common pathways, either a common molecular pathway that's a chokepoint for a therapy or a common group of neurons or neural systems,” says Prof. Robert DeSimone, director of the McGovern Institute.

Fast Company reporter Mark Wilson spotlights Prof. Ekene Ijeoma’s project, A Counting, which aims to capture audio recordings of the more than 1,300 languages that Americans speak. “The question for A Counting is how we can count to a whole using everyone’s voices to represent,” says Ijeoma, “not just languages, but voices and accents as a way of representing their cultural and ethnic identities.”

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with GBH’s Arun Rath about his study showing that a lack of coordination between states on their reopening plans can lead to an influx in Covid-19 cases. Rath also spotlights the Broad Institute’s work processing over 1.5 million diagnostic tests for coronavirus since March 25.

Third-year student Emily Rabinovitsj speaks with Boston Globe correspondent Mike Kotsopoulos about her quest to complete the virtual Boston Marathon and raise funds for 15-40 Connection, a non-profit dedicated to educating people on how to detect early-stage cancer. “I got this gift of being able to have a full life after a diagnosis and I feel like I have a responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity and help others have this same opportunity,” Rabinovitsj said.

New York Times reporter Benedict Carey spotlights a new study co-authored by Prof. Drazen Prelec that examines lying and cheating patterns.