Larry Edelman at The Boston Globe reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has completed its first round of venture financing with a total of $115 million. “CFS is working with the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT to develop what it hopes will be the first commercial system that creates power using nuclear fusion,” writes Edelman.
Researchers at MIT and Brown University created an interactive data system that “could give everyone AI superpowers,” writes Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch. Known as ‘Northstar,’ the system can instantly generate machine-learning models to use with existing data sets in order to generate useful predictions, explains Etherington.
Diana Cai writes for STAT about Prof. Markus Buehler’s new research to turn amino acids into music. “Buehler thinks the technology could help in understanding genetic diseases caused by misfolded proteins,” writes Cai, noting that, “AI may conceivably ‘hear’ patterns of misfolding that could distinguish dangerous mutations from harmless ones.”
Jonathan Shieber of TechCrunch reports that Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup collaborating with MIT, has raised an additional $50 million toward its efforts to develop a commercial fusion reactor. “Commonwealth Fusion expects to have its smallest possible reactor built by 2025 thanks to the research that MIT has done on proprietary magnet technology that the company uses to confine its nuclear reaction,” writes Shieber.
Profs. Dina Katabi and Angelika Amon are included in the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s annual list of “Great Immigrants, Great Americans,” reports Ben Paynter for Fast Company. “Carnegie’s Great Immigrants roster continues to highlight the people who’ve made the best of a new opportunity—and represent the best in all of us,” writes Paynter.
Researchers at MIT have “identified a molecule that can glue a cell-killing chemical to cancerous tissue,” reports Xinhua. This finding could ultimately “play a part in developing a low-toxicity cancer therapy.”
In a new study, Prof. Markus Buehler converted 20 types of amino acids into a 20-tone scale to create musical compositions. “Those altered compositions were converted back into a conceptual amino acid chain, which enabled the team to generate variations of proteins that have never been seen in nature,” writes Becky Ferreira for Motherboard.
Carey Goldberg reports for WBUR CommonHealth on the MIT president’s recent letter to the community describing immigration as a kind of oxygen. “In his letter, MIT President Reif adds the force of his own bully pulpit, writing that MIT flourishes because it draws talent from around the globe,” writes Goldberg.
A new AI prediction model developed at MIT could detect breast cancer up to five years in advance. The researchers hope this technique “can also be used to improve detection of other diseases that have similar problems with existing risk models, with far too many gaps and lower degrees of accuracy,” writes Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch.
Paul Carter of BBC’s Click highlights CSAIL research to teach a robot how to feel an object just by looking at it. This will ultimately help the robot “grip better when lifting things like the handle of a mug,” says Carter.
Senior research fellow Joel Brenner participated in a discussion led by WBUR’s Tiziana Dearing about cloud security. “If you want to make your network secure, you really have to do three things,” explains Brenner. “You have to be able to know for certain who’s on it, what is running on it and what traffic is moving through it.”
MIT’s Solve initiative is accepting solutions for its Circular Economy Challenge, which focuses on renewable energy and waste elimination. “Ideas that help communities move towards zero waste and zero carbon through STEM education on new design and production techniques could win the GM Circular Economy Prize,” writes Natalie Parletta for Forbes.
AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin writes for Forbes about the similarities and differences between retirement and summer vacation for kids. “Retirement positively dwarfs summer vacation in the amount of time involved—yet many peoples’ plans for retirement look a lot like plans for a summer vacation,” writes Coughlin.
Wired reporter Elizabeth notes how the ScratchJr programming language, which was developed to help teach children how to code, is being used as part of an effort to teach young children the basics of computer programming.
Wired reporter Stephen Witt highlights how researchers at the MIT Instrumentation Lab programmed the Apollo 11 computer, which enabled astronauts to successfully walk on the moon. Witt writes that perhaps the Apollo program’s “true legacy is etched not in moondust but in silicon.”