Financial Times reporter Martin Sandbu highlights how MIT researchers have quantified the contribution U.S. states can make to the Paris climate agreement. The researchers found that climate change policy, “reduces the risk for private sector investments in green energy-related sectors that are well on their way to becoming lucrative growth industries.”
Wen Wang, a former grad student and research scientist, speaks with Janelle Nanos of The Boston Globe about the shape-shifting noodles she and her colleagues engineered. The technique, which transforms a flat sheet of noodles into 3-D shapes, could reduce food shipping costs and could eventually be used to feed astronauts. “You can save space in space,” explains Wang.
NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that could eventually offer relief to patients with diseases like Parkinson’s and epilepsy without requiring surgery. Fox explains that the method allows for sending, “electrical signals deep into the brain without affecting the layers in between.”
In this episode of WBUR’s Open Source, Christopher Lydon speaks with Prof. Emeritus Noam Chomsky about a wide range of topics, from the current political situation in America and Europe to the greatest challenges facing humanity. Chomsky noted that a “Socratic-style willingness to ask whether conventional doctrines are justified,” is a key ingredient in his thought process.
John Reilly of MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change speaks with Barbara Howard of WGBH’s All Things Considered about how his group’s research on the Paris climate agreement was distorted. Reilly explains that he and his colleagues hoped their research would, “solidify the idea that the Paris Agreement was moving us forward.”
MIT researchers have developed a surgical technique that could make prosthetic limbs feel more natural, writes Karen Weintraub for Scientific American. “With this approach, we’re very confident that the human will actually feel position, will actually feel speed, will actually feel force,” says Prof. Hugh Herr. “It’ll completely feel like their own limb.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that MIT researchers have developed a vibrating wearable device to help people with visual impairments navigate. “In a world where computers help us with everything from navigating space travel to counting the steps we take in a day, I think we can do better to support visually impaired people,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
In this video, CNN highlights how researchers from the MIT Media Lab have developed shape-changing noodles. The noodles transform from a flat sheet into 3-D shapes when submerged in water, and could cut down on shipping costs and environmental waste.
MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive method to stimulate specific neurons deep in the brain that could be used to help treat patients with diseases such as Parkinson’s, reports Meredith Wadman for Science. This new method could also allow scientists to “selectively prod deep-brain neurons into action,” explains Wadman.
Writing for Wired, Abigail Beal highlights how MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive technique to trigger reactions in deep brain cells using low frequency electrical signals. “If we could noninvasively stimulate deep regions, without hitting overlying regions, we might be able to help more people because we could stimulate deep regions selectively, without needing surgery,” explains Prof. Ed Boyden.
New York Times reporter Pam Belluck writes that MIT researchers have developed a new, non-invasive deep brain stimulation technique. The technique could be used to help treat, “a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders more cheaply and safely than current approaches,” writes Belluck.
LIGO’s third detection of black holes merging solidifies gravitational wave astronomy as an observational science, writes Amina Khan for The Los Angeles Times. Khan explains that scientists are, “moving LIGO’s work from the examination of singular curiosities to demographic studies of the sky’s invisible denizens."
LIGO scientists have detected a third black hole merger, reports Sophie Bushwick for Popular Science. Bushwick explains that the finding shows that LIGO is, “coming into its own as a black hole telescope: The latest finding proves the existence of a new category of black hole and adds a puzzle piece to the question of how these systems form.”
LIGO scientists have successfully detected two black holes merging for the third time, reports Eric Moskowitz for The Boston Globe. MIT’s David Shoemaker, LIGO’s spokesperson, explains that researchers can use the information gathered by LIGO to get a, “more complete picture of Einstein’s general relativity and the population of these purely relativistic objects we call black holes.”
MIT researchers have developed a non-invasive technique for deep brain stimulation, which could be used to help patients with brain diseases, reports Mo Costandi for The Guardian. “Targets for disorders such as depression, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, and so forth, are deep in the brain, and they might be more selectively stimulatable with our method,” says Prof. Ed Boyden.