In the Media

The Nature Podcast, hosted by Adam Levy and Shamini Bundell, highlights research from the Haystack Observatory and Prof. Li-Huei Tsai’s findings around Alzheimer’s and its connection to brain waves.

Bloomberg View’s Barry Ritholtz interviews MIT Innovation Teams Program (i-Teams) Director Luis Perez-Breva about his love for projects that “look impossible,” ideas that are “born bad,” and what the word “innovation” really means. 

A robotic carpenter developed by CSAIL is pre-cutting wood for flat-pack furniture, making assembly safer and more efficient. Called AutoSaw, the idea “was not to replace human carpenters but to allow them to focus on more important tasks such as design,” writes Dave Lee for the BBC.

Heidi Ledford of Nature highlights the modification of an enzyme that will allow for enhanced CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, led by Broad Institute researcher David Liu. Ledford explains that while Liu believes the enzyme could be a staple in the lab, he also adds that “it will need more testing before its full potential becomes clear.”

Led by senior research scientist Rolland Pellenq, students in the School of Engineering developed a model “that links a city’s ‘texture’ to its night-time UHI (Urban Heat Index),” writes Laurie Winkless for Forbes. The team hopes their research will influence future urban development, especially in very hot or cold climates.

AI leader SenseTime is the first company to join the MIT Intelligence Quest since its launch, writes Xinhua editor Xiang Bo. “As the largest provider of AI algorithms in China, we are very excited to work with MIT to lead global AI research into the next frontier,” said Xu Li, CEO of SenseTime.

David Grossman of Popular Mechanics writes about AutoSaw, a system developed by CSAIL researchers that assists in custom build carpentry projects. The system is designed “to split the difference between machine-built quality and unique customization” and requires human assembly after the pieces are cut, explains Grossman.

Hydrogen detected via radio waves by MIT researchers indicates the presence of stars 180 million years after the Big Bang, reports Will Dunham of Reuters. The radio waves also indicate that the universe was likely twice as cold as was previously believe, which Research Affiliate Alan Rogers suggests “might be explained by interaction between the gas and dark matter.”

Prof. Li-Huei Tsai found that use of a small flickering light could prevent plaque-forming proteins in the brains of mice - a practice that has potential to combat Alzheimer’s disease. “The work offers the possibility of forestalling or even reversing the damage caused by such conditions without using a drug,” writes Helen Thomson for Nature.

Autosaw, the robotic carpenter developed by researchers from CSAIL, can cut pieces for furniture building, as long as you provide the raw materials. “It’ll cut pieces to shape, drill the necessary holes and even move them around the workshop for you,” writes Thomas Tamblyn for Huff Post.

A video from Financial Times highlights work being done by CSAIL to develop robot teams. Prof. Daniela Rus discusses how partnering robots has the potential to “form much more adaptive and complex systems that will be able to take on a wider set of tasks."

Research led by Prof. Shigeru Miyagawa finds that cave art may be symbolic of early human languages. “The cognitive functions needed to transfer acoustic sounds to pictures are the same cognitive functions needed in language,” senior researcher Cora Lesure tells Sarah Gibbens of National Geographic.

Alan Rogers of MIT's Haystack Observatory co-authored a study that identifies the earliest traces of hydrogen in the universe. The gas is “from 180 million years after the Big Bang,” writes Elise Takahama for The Boston Globe, which suggests that stars would have appeared around this time, creating a “cosmic dawn.”

MIT spinout Myomo has developed a robotic brace to aid in the reduction of neurological-related limb paralysis. “With the robotic brace, patients use their own muscle signals to control movements of a paretic or injured arm,” writes Jennifer Kite-Powell for Forbes. “[T]he brace amplifies their weak muscle signal to help move the limb.”

AutoSaw, developed in CSAIL, is “a new system of robot-assisted carpentry that could make the creation of custom furniture and fittings safer, easier, and cheaper,” writes James Vincent of The Verge. As postdoc Jeffrey Lipton explains, AutoSaw “shows how advanced robotics could fit into the workflow of a carpenter or joiner.”