WBUR’s Maria Garcia explores an exhibit at the MIT Museum of Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s drawings of the human brain. Prof. Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, explains that, “there's no question that these kinds of circuit diagrams that Cajal was giving us are telling us a great deal about what makes us, us."
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes that some new technologies will make caring for aging parents easier for millennials. Coughlin explains that these tools, “can decrease the friction of aging and providing care, increase connectivity within the home, and make the atomic tasks of care easier, convenient and lessen the coming caregiver crunch.”
Seb Murray writes for the Financial Times about the increasing importance of business plan competitions, like the MIT Launch competition. Prof. Bill Aulet, managing director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, stresses that winning a competition doesn’t guarantee success if winners “self-delude themselves into thinking they no longer need to evolve their business plans.”
Research Specialist Hillary Abraham speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Adrienne Roberts about a new AgeLab study examining why car dealers often have trouble explaining a car’s advanced safety technology. “Ultimately, it seemed to come down to lack of training, high turnover and the expectation of more work post-sale,” Abraham explains.
Elise Takahama writes for The Boston Globe that MIT researchers have developed a new technique to create “xenoproteins,” manmade proteins that could be used to battle infectious diseases like Ebola. Unlike drugs developed with natural proteins, the xenoproteins, “are more stable, easier to administer, and manufactured more quickly,” Takahama explains.
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson discusses the lack of economic measurement of free web services on the BBC World Service podcast, Tech Tent. The ability to measure the impact of technological advances might help us “understand that the last 10 years had not been as bad as we thought for our incomes,” explains BBC presenter Rory Cellan-Jones.
Ucare.ai, which was cofounded by MIT alumnus Neal Liu, is applying AI to the healthcare system in an effort to better serve “patients, health providers and those who pay the bills,” writes Jon Russell for TechCrunch. The company uses “deep learning and neural network algorithms” to predict patterns in an effort to “reduce preventable hospitalization, and, in turn, save on costs and hassles.”
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) took its first picture of the stars as it moved toward its final orbit, reports Brooks Hays of United Press International. “The plethora of stars in the image -- at least 2,000 of them -- showcases the broad perspective provided by TESS's four cameras,” writes Hays.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau stressed the importance of investing in artificial intelligence at the MIT Solve conference, reports the Associated Press. Trudeau noted that “leaders also have a responsibility to shape the rules and principles to guide the development of artificial intelligence.”
Julian Goldman writes for Gizmodo about the growing popularity of knitting among e-textile makers. “Knitting has this exquisite control that you get along with the [full] garment capability,” explains Prof. Yoel Fink. “There’s many more degrees of freedom in knitting in terms of being able to build structures.”
An international research team led by postdoctoral fellow Carl Rodriguez has found that within a group of star clusters, black hole collisions can actually create larger black holes, writes Nola Taylor Redd for Fox News. A simulation showed that these black holes “should grow to be more than 50 times as massive as Earth's sun if they collide with other black holes.”
A new study co-authored by Prof. Emilio Castilla suggests that MBA candidates with informal endorsements, rather than letters of recommendation, are more likely to be interviewed for a program, writes Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed. “Significantly, the researchers found that the endorsed candidates were not otherwise superior to those without endorsements,” explains Jaschik.
During remarks at the MIT Solve conference, Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau highlighted his country’s role in the future of AI. Trudeau believes Canada’s scientific accomplishments and cultural diversity will “ensure that AI systems will be programmed by teams with a broader understanding of human needs,” writes Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe.
NASA’s planet-hunting satellite TESS has “snapped its first test shot — an incredibly clear, star-studded image centered on the Southern constellation of Centaurus,” writes Bruce Dorminey for Forbes. “We are truly excited about how well the TESS cameras are working,” said George Ricker, the mission’s principal investigator and a senior research scientist at MIT’s Kavli Institute.
The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner discusses the impact of Cambridge biotech company Biogen, cofounded by Prof. Phil Sharp, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. “The company has become the biggest oak tree of the Massachusetts biotech sector,” writes Kirsner, “not only because it is still standing after four decades, but because it has dropped a lot of acorns.”