Los Angeles Times reporter Deborah Netburn speaks with Prof. Richard Binzel about the information being gathered about Pluto by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. "We are trying to take these interpretations very slowly and carefully, especially as new and closer data are arriving,” Binzel explains.
Comedian Aziz Ansari consulted Professor Natasha Dow Schull for his new book, “Modern Romance: An Investigation,” writes Mackenzie Cummings-Grady for The Boston Globe. Ansari’s book looks at relationships in the digital age and draws on work Schull’s work on addiction.
Fortune reporter Jonathan Vanian writes that researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a new method to restore old, malfunctioning code. The system, called Helium, “discovers the most crucial lines of code that the original programmers developed to make it function, and then builds a revised version of the program.”
Rick Wartzman writes for Fortune about Prof. Zeynep Ton’s argument for paying employee’s higher wages. “What’s so evident is that it’s hard for these people to take care of their customers and do their jobs effectively when they’re thinking about whether they’re going to be able to put food on the table that night,” says Ton.
Christian Science Monitor reporter Joe Uchill writes about a new system developed by MIT researchers that can automatically detect and fix software bugs by borrowing functionality from other applications. Uchill explains that the researchers hope “automating the detection and patching processes will reduce the chance that an attacker can take advantage of the bug within a system.”
Larry Greenemeier writes for Scientific American about why government agencies want access to encrypted data, highlighting a report co-authored by MIT researchers that warns against providing special access. The researchers argue that providing access would “make software and devices much more complex, difficult to secure and expensive for tech companies to maintain."
MIT biologists have developed a genetically modified version of a common gut bacteria that could be used to treat disease, reports Catherine Woods for the PBS NewsHour. “You could engineer a Bacteroides to live in the gut and detect when inflammation is just starting…so that you can seek treatment right away,” explains Prof. Timothy Lu.
Researchers at MIT have developed tools that could one day allow intestinal bacteria to monitor, diagnose and treat diseases, writes Eryn Brown for The Los Angeles Times. "Just as you'd program computers, we're starting to learn how to program cells by modifying their DNA," says Prof. Timothy Lu.
Network World reporter Tim Greene writes that a committee of security experts state in a new report that allowing government agencies access to secure data could increase data breaches. MIT Principal Research Scientist Daniel Weitzner, who led the preparation of the report, explains that allowing special access creates “vulnerabilities to infrastructure being used in the commercial sector.”
MIT research scientist Michael Person and lecturer Amanda Bosh were part of a NASA project to examine Pluto’s shadow during a stellar occultation. Govert Schilling reports on the team’s work for New Scientist, writing that the goal was to learn about the pressure and temperature in Pluto's atmosphere.
Government proposals for access to data would put digital communications at risk, according to a paper by CSAIL security experts. The New York Times’ Nicole Perlroth calls the report “the first in-depth technical analysis of government proposals by leading cryptographers and security thinkers.”
Danny Yadron, Damian Paletta and Jennifer Valentino-Devries write for The Wall Street Journal that in a new report MIT cybersecurity experts argue that allowing governments access to encrypted data is “technically impractical and would expose consumers and business to a greater risk of data breaches.”
Cat Zakrzewski writes for TechCrunch that a new report co-authored by MIT researchers details how giving law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications could pose security risks. The report, “tells us that a backdoor for the government and law enforcement also provides an opening that could be exploited by hackers.”
Liat Clark writes for Wired about Brian Forde, the Media Lab’s director for digital currency, and his speech at WIRED Money 2015 about the potential of digital currency for developing countries. "Today, in 2015, I still can't use Paypal to send money to friends in Nicaragua," said Forde. "But I can send them Bitcoin instantly."
MIT researchers have found that nitrous oxide or laughing gas is a stronger anesthetic than previously believed, writes Nitya Rajan for The Huffington Post. The researchers found that nitrous oxide caused changes in patient brainwaves and a pattern of electrical firing across the brain.