Carey Goldberg reports for WBUR on a new study coauthored by MIT researchers that examines how cognitive abilities change with age. Goldberg explains that the researchers found that “various pieces of our intelligence or cognitive ability peak at various times in our lives.”
Senior lecturer Steven Spear writes for The Boston Globe about the issues with public transportation in Boston this winter and how the MBTA can avoid similar problems in the future. Spear argues that it is necessary for the MBTA to develop “a high-speed problem- solving capability characteristic of the world’s most resilient organizations.”
Justine Hofherr writes for Boston.com about Christina Chase’s work mentoring students at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Hofherr writes that “Chase’s former students say she’s helped them realize their dreams, and is paving the way for women in tech one class at a time.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear writes about MIT’s tradition of announcing admissions decisions on “Pi Day,” noting that this year’s date has added significance. “Because Pi Day falls on 3/14/15, it matches up with the first four numbers that follow the decimal point — 3.1415,” explains Annear.
Professor Jeremy England speaks about how his research group is investigating how physics can help explain the origins of life on The Academic Minute. England explains that his group models “what happens when you take a clump of matter that no one would call alive and then start zapping it with a source of energy (like sunlight).”
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Prof. Marc Kastner has been appointed the first president of the Science Philanthropy Alliance. The alliance is aimed at increasing “philanthropic giving for basic science by an additional $1-billion annually within five years.”
CBS News reports on the video created by the MIT Admissions Office illustrating what it would be like to deliver acceptance letters to applicants by drone. The video simulates “the experience of small drones flying over landmarks like the Grand Canyon to the Taj Mahal to bring the good news to applicants.”
In a TED talk, Prof. Kevin Slavin speaks about the potential dangers surrounding the growing influence of computer algorithms in finance, and the physical environment. “We’ve lost the sense of what’s actually happening in this world that we’ve made,” says Slavin.
Liz Stinson writes for Wired about Cord UIs, a project by graduate students Phillip Schoessler and Sang-won Leigh that transforms electrical cables into responsive interfaces that can influence the output of the devices they are attached to. “Cord UIs does accomplish what the Tangible Media Group is all about: Giving invisible data a physical presence,” Stinson explains.
Nidhi Subbaraman of BetaBoston writes about the MIT Admissions video that imagines what it would be like if MIT could deliver admissions decisions via drones. The video features a “montage of various fictitious paths the robotic messengers take around the world, dropping off their cargo."
Boston Globe reporter Stefanie Friedhoff writes about Dick Perdichizzi’s work at the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel. “Students, companies, and researchers from all over New England come to Perdichizzi to test the effect that moving air has on bicycles, boats, and tall buildings — just about anything curious minds want to expose to the forces of wind,” Friedhoff explains.
Scientists from MIT and MGH have found that while certain brain functions decline with age, others, like vocabulary skills, peak later in life, reports Kay Lazar for The Boston Globe. The researchers found that "the ability to reason, learn, and recall information ebbs and flows over our lifespan.”
MIT is launching three new cybersecurity initiatives aimed at the technical, business and regulatory issues posed by cybersecurity, reports Conor Ryan for BostInno. “We hope that these initiatives will help us work together with industry to create better tools to eliminate a lot of the current vulnerabilities that plague the digital landscape,” says Prof. Daniela Rus.
MIT researchers have found that the high temperature of intracluster gas, which condenses to form stars, may be hindering the development of new stars, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for the Daily Mail. The researchers hope to use the new findings to better understand how stars form in surrounding galaxies.
Nidhi Subbaraman reports for BetaBoston on MakeMIT, “a hardware hackathon that challenges students to produce practical applications for cutting-edge industrial tools.” A group of undergraduates started the event in an effort to provide students with an opportunity to build new products.