In the Media

The Economist covers Professor Joshua Hartshorne’s ‘Which English?’ quiz, which aims to gauge where the user learned English. The quiz uses grammar-focused questions and gives three guesses as to the user’s native language.

Rachel Zimmerman of WBUR reports on how neuroscientists have located a neural pathway that could transform how dyslexia is addressed. “In preliminary findings, researchers report that brain measures taken in kindergartners — even before the kids can read — can “significantly” improve predictions of how well, or poorly, the children can master reading later on,” Zimmerman reports. 

Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Douglas writes that Prof. Kristin Forbes, who was recently appointed to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, "highlighted a risk to economic recovery that is preoccupying central bankers on both sides of the Atlantic: Investors appear too sanguine about risk." 

New York Times reporter Gina Kolata examines new findings from researchers at the Broad Institute that provide evidence that triglycerides are a cause of heart attacks. 

New Scientist reporter Hal Hodson writes about a new algorithm called StreetScore that creates a perceived safety map of a city based off of crowdsourced data. “The idea is not to create no-go areas, but to locate areas of inequality,” Hodson explains. 

The Wall Street Journal covers the White House Maker Faire, including President Obama’s look at inventions created by the MIT Mobile Fab Lab. “Mr. Obama viewed electric guitars, a skateboard, a toy robot, and a large bicycle,” all created using the Fab Lab’s fabrication devices, the Journal reports. 

Lauren Hitchings reports for New Scientist on findings from Professor Earl Miller that show how the the synchronization of brain waves across different regions of the brain may explain our brain’s ability to rapidly process and interpret information. 

“Instead of trying to balance output at the panel level, the students looked to balance at the individual cell level,” writes Sami Grover of The Huffington Post about a team of MIT students who developed an integrated chip to solve the problem caused by shade on solar panels. “The result was both better performance and considerably lower cost.”

Bruce Dorminey writes for Forbes about how scientists are looking to close a quantum physics loophole. “We wanted to come up with a potential test that could close one of the last major remaining quantum physics loopholes that could still allow entangled particle experiments to be interpreted according to classical physics,” explains MIT postdoc Andrew Friedman. 

John Tirman, executive director at the MIT Center for International Studies, writes for WBUR about the latest developments in Iraq. Tirman ties the recent turmoil in the country to a legacy of American foreign policy missteps in the region.

Professor Simon Johnson writes for The Financial Times about the potential danger posed to the economy during crises by clearing houses. Johnson argues that clearing houses should be subject to greater regulation and should ensure they have sufficient capital on hand to cover losses.

Live Science reporter Tanya Lewis highlights Shigeru Miyagawa’s work exploring the origins of human language. Miyagawa's hypothesis, “could explain how human language, which can theoretically produce infinite meanings, developed from the limited forms of communication seen in the rest of the animal world,” Lewis reports. 

Jeremy Hobson interviews Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia about her work 3-D printing tiny human livers on NPR’s Here and Now. The livers are, “about the size of the pin of a needle, and they allow us to do drug testing to test if drugs would be safe when they got into humans,” Bhatia explains. 

Callum Borchers of The Boston Globe writes about the Copenhagen Wheel developed by MIT SENSEable City Lab startup, Superpedestrian. The device is designed to replace a bicycle’s rear wheel and kicks in to give the rider a boost when facing higher resistance on inclines.

Michael Farrell of The Boston Globe reports on a robotic ankle created by Professor Hugh Herr’s startup, BiOM. “The BiOM ankle is programmed to replicate all the natural functionality of the foot and ankle,” writes Farrell.