Al Jazeera America reports on research by scientists from MIT that indicates that Neanderthals ate plants, contrary to earlier beliefs about their diets. The researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing ancient fecal samples.
“Neanderthals spent at least some time digesting plants, according to a new study that analyzed fossilized ancient feces to find the most direct evidence yet of a varied diet for man’s ancestors,” writes Bloomberg News reporter Marie French.
Traci Watso reports for USA Today about new evidence uncovered by a team of researchers from MIT that could be the earliest known evidence that the Neanderthals were, “omnivores who ate significant quantities of plant-based food.”
Monte Morin of the Los Angeles Times reports on new MIT researching showing the Neanderthals did eat vegetation. “Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, researchers studied the powdered samples for traces of stanols and sterols, lipids that are formed in the intestines when gut bacteria act on plant and animal matter,” Morin writes.
Writing for The Huffington Post, Jacqueline Howard reports that an analysis of ancient fecal matter by MIT researchers shows that the Neanderthals ate more vegetables than originally thought.
Wall Street Journal reporter Ed Silverman interviews Professor Andrew Lo about his proposal that a public-private partnership could solve funding issues for drugs research and development. “Right now, the risk of failure [in developing an Alzheimer’s treatment] is far too high for any single pharmaceutical company to take on,” Lo explains.
Alex Davies writes for Wired about Cruise Automotive, a startup out of MIT that plans to make almost every car on the road autonomous. MIT graduate and CEO Kyle Vogt says his company’s RP1 highway car autopilot system offers more autonomy than what is currently available from automakers.
Professor John Leonard speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek about Google’s new Auto Android and how it compares with the company’s driverless car project. Leonard sees the two projects as part of an overall effort to dramatically transform transportation in our everyday lives.
Jonathan Webb of BBC News reports on research showing that the Neanderthals ate vegetables. "If you find it in the faeces, you are sure that it was ingested," Ainara Sistiaga explains. "This molecular fossil is perfect to try to know the proportion of both food sources in a Neanderthal meal."
Ph.D. candidate Josephine Wolff writes for Slate about the potential for allowing offensive computer security measures in order to protect networks. Wolff argues that the risks of endorsing these measures outweigh the benefits.
“We are swinging to fossil fuels in ways that couldn't have been imagined a few years ago,” says Professor Michael Greenstone in this New York Times piece by Eduardo Porter. Greenstone argues that fossil fuel innovation has undermined efforts to expand carbon-free energy sources.
Tom Ashbrook of NPR speaks with Professor Emeritus Lotte Bailyn about how the U.S. lags behind other countries in maternity leave policies. Bailyn argues that the U.S. lacks the kind of support required to help people raise children.
The New York Times cites a paper by MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning on placemaking, a term for people’s efforts to shape their environment to improve social interaction and quality of life. The paper finds that these efforts help participants develop new social bonds with one another.
Yasmeen Taleb reports for The Boston Globe on a crowd-funding effort by students from MIT and other institutions intending to send a time capsule to Mars by 2017. The project, which would use satellites to deliver photos, clips, and messages to the red planet, marks the first student-led interplanetary mission.
Steve Lohr of The New York Times writes about the Sociometric Solutions, a startup out of the Media Lab that creates technology for monitoring employees in the workplace. Workers must opt in to have their data collected, which is then used to increase office efficiency.