Popular Science reporter Dave Gershgorn writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that cuts down on the amount of time it takes for webpages to load. The system allows browsers to download web pages "more effectively, saving up to 34 percent of load time.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that allows websites to load 34 percent faster than with a standard web browser, reports Charlotte Wilder for Boston.com. Wilder writes that, “the researchers tried out their code on 200 different websites, including Weather.com and ESPN, and found the load time was significantly less across the board.”
Christian Science Monitor reporter Jack Detsch writes about the “Cambridge 2 Cambridge” hackathon, which brought together students from MIT and Cambridge University to hack websites and discover built-in vulnerabilities. “It’s not a law of nature that machines are insecure,” says CSAIL’s Howard Shrobe. This hackathon “is the first step of piquing curiosity to fix it.”
Prof. Paula Hammond speaks with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about why she feels it's imperative that researchers from different disciplines collaborate on cancer research. Hammond explained funding is needed to bring “scientists, clinicians, technologists together in places like the Koch Institute," where people "work collectively toward a cure.”
In this “Science of Innovation” segment, NBC Learn explores Prof. Angela Belcher’s work using viruses engineered in her laboratory to form nanoscale wires for tiny batteries. “By harnessing nature’s own processes, Angela Belcher has been able to turn today’s viruses into tomorrow’s batteries.”
MIT researchers have developed a tool, dubbed Eyebrowse, that allows users control over how their Internet activity is shared, reports Dan Misener for CBC News. Graduate student Amy Zhang explains that without a tool like Eyebrowse “people that actually create the data don't get to see their own data.”
Steve Annear writes for The Boston Globe about the video MIT Admissions created to announce that admissions decisions will be released on March 14, “Pi Day.” Annear writes that in the video, “a robot the school is calling a ‘Decisions Droid’…emerges from the school’s personal robots lab and makes its way to Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill’s office.”
Curt Nickisch reports for WBUR on the remarks Robert Hannigan, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, made at MIT on encryption and privacy. CSAIL’s Daniel Weitzner says that he feels that the fact that both Hannigan and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter spoke out against mandatory backdoors, is “a really significant shift in the debate.”
During his remarks at MIT, Robert Hannigan, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, called for greater collaboration between technology companies and governments, reports Tim Bradshaw for the Financial Times. Bradshaw writes that “Hannigan’s speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday came ahead of a proposed new public-private forum in the UK.”
In a talk at MIT, Robert Hannigan, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, expressed his hope that “technology companies and academic researchers will find ways to let government investigators get into encrypted devices without creating broad ‘back doors’ that undermine computer security,” writes Brian Bergstein for Technology Review.
Prof. Neri Oxman’s “Wanderers” project is featured as part of the “Beauty — Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial” exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. New York Times reporter Daniel McDermon writes that in her project, Oxman “imagines wearable objects to augment the human body’s capabilities, possibly enabling survival on distant planets.”
Financial Times reporter Sarah Murray speaks with Prof. Fiona Murray, associate dean for innovation, about how to encourage and support female entrepreneurs. “It sounds trivial, but when women enter the classroom it’s very important that they see people like them,” explains Murray.
Boston Globe reporter Cate McQuaid writes about a new exhibit at the MIT List Visual Arts Center that examines email spam. “Hadjithomas and Joreige, artist-filmmakers based in Lebanon, focus on the unseen and unexplored. E-mail scams fit the bill,” writes McQuaid. “The artists have been collecting them since the late 1990s, and have now archived and deconstructed more than 4,000.”
Hiawatha Bray writes for The Boston Globe about the talk Robert Hannigan, director of Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, delivered on encryption at MIT. Bray writes that Hannigan urged technology companies and governments to “develop a joint strategy that will provide police and intelligence agencies the data they need, while preserving the public’s right to digital privacy.”
Matt McMarland writes for The Washington Post that a CSAIL researcher has developed a computer system that can produce tweets that read like they are written by presidential candidate Donald Trump. McFarland explains that postdoc Brad Hayes “wanted a fun way to familiarize himself with some statistical modeling techniques for his research on human and robot interactions.”