Brett Smith reports for redOrbit on a new study by Prof. Shigeru Miyagawa on the development of human language. Miyagawa explains his finds that the brain “at some point 75,000 to 100,000 years ago, hit a critical point, and all the resources that nature had provided came together in a Big Bang and language emerged pretty much as we know it today.”
A study examining courses offered through edX, the nonprofit learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, found that teachers are enrolling in MOOCS in large numbers, reports Casey Fabris for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Of the 200,000 participants who responded to a survey about teaching, “39 percent of them said they were current or former teachers.”
Research by the MIT AgeLab identified key practices and characteristics that clients value in financial advisors, reports Russ Alan Prince for Forbes. “Client satisfaction is essential for a successful financial advisory practice,” writes Prince. “While technical proficiency is what clients are supposedly ‘buying,’ other factors also prove to be very important.”
Alumna Noramay Cadena writes for WBUR about encouraging Latinas to pursue STEM careers, sharing how an MIT student inspired her. “Here was a successful person who looked like me, who sounded like me, and who truly understood my life experience, telling me I had what it took to go to MIT.”
Kevin McSpadden of Time reports on Panoply, a social networking platform developed by researchers from MIT and Northwestern that is aimed at helping users deal with anxiety and depression. Panoply teaches “users a therapeutic tool called cognitive reappraisal, which tries to get people to look at a problematic situation from different perspectives.”
Steve Annear writes for The Boston Globe about “TransportationCamp New England,” a conference exploring the future of transportation to be held at MIT on April 11th. The event will “play host to demonstrations of technologies including a fuel cell car and the Cambridge-bred Copenhagen Wheel, which provides stored electric power to cyclists struggling to pump their pedals.”
Graduate students Jean Yang and Frank Wang have partnered with Highland Capital to launch a new bootcamp aimed at helping researchers commercialize their cybersecurity research, reports Janelle Nanos for BetaBoston. “A lot of university PhD students have all these great cybersecurity ideas that could solve a lot of real-life problems,” explains Wang.
Martin Sandbu writes for the Financial Times about a report published by MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) that questioned the effectiveness of microfinancing programs in the developing world. "Microcredit access did not lead to substantial increases in income," the report found.
Shannon Fischer writes for BetaBoston about MIT Professor John Sheehan’s work synthesizing penicillin. “The scientific importance of synthesizing such a compound that had baffled the best chemists of a generation was a great incentive, for I knew that someone would solve the problem eventually. I wanted to be that person,” Sheehan explained in his book “The Enchanted Ring.”
In a New York Times article, Steve Lohr spotlights how graduate student Steven Keating’s active participation in his medical care led to early detection of a brain tumor. In describing patient access to medical records, Keating explains his belief that “data can heal.”
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about a new online networking tool developed by MIT researchers that has been found to be effective in helping people cope with anxiety and depression. Researchers found that those who used the tool were “writing about their issues much more."
Researchers from MIT and Northwestern have developed an online networking tool aimed at aiding people with anxiety and depression, reports Katie Collins for Wired. The tool, “allows people to build online support communities and practice therapeutic techniques among one another.”
Boston Globe reporter Mark Feeney writes about “Images of Discovery: Communicating Science Through Photography,” an exhibit at the MIT Museum featuring three MIT-affiliated photographers. The show also includes “interactive stations where museumgoers can create digital versions of the sorts of images seen in the gallery.”
In an article highlighting the 35 “must-see” arts events in New England, Sebastian Smee of The Boston Globe features the Joan Jonas exhibition organized by the MIT List Visual Arts Center. “The List will present an exhibition in Cambridge that features seven of the artist’s seminal film and video works, surveying the breadth of her career,” Smee writes.
Karen Weintraub writes for The Boston Globe about Professor Temple Grandin’s talk at MIT about coping with stress. Grandin, who has autism, “said her anxiety has been transformed into hyper-vigilance. She’s aware of every little movement the airplane she’s riding on makes, but isn’t worried that the plane might crash,” Weintraub explains.