Daniel Gold of the The New York Times reviews the new documentary, ‘Requiem for the American Dream,’ which has been constructed from four years of interviews with Prof. Noam Chomsky.
A team of economists, including Prof. David Autor, have been studying gender differences in school performance, writes Jeff Guo for The Washington Post. “Disadvantageous childhood conditions are particularly pernicious for boys,” said Autor.
Greg Hubbard, MIT alum and chief engineer for GM’s Voltec Propulsion Systems, has returned to the Institute to teach a class on designing an electric vehicle, writes Sankya Salomon for boston.com. “We’re really excited that we’ll be the first to the market with what we believe is a game-changing vehicle,” says Hubbard.
Broad Institute researchers have been developing a treatment for schizophrenia, writes Haroon Siddique for The Guardian. “Understanding schizophrenia will similarly accelerate progress against this devastating disease that strikes young people,” says Broad Dir. Eric Lander.
Research co-authored by Prof. Frank Levy in DUSP examined the efficiency of robotic legal assistants. “They concluded that only about 13 percent of legal work will be taken over by computers within the next five years,” writes Aviva Rutkin for New Scientist.
Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have “identified key genetic traits that for the first time point to a biological mechanism behind schizophrenia,” writes Shirley Wang of The Wall Street Journal.
John Urschel, a PhD candidate in math and offensive lineman in the NFL, speaks with The Tech's Ray Wang about "juggling two worlds." Urschel describes how his competitiveness in football translates to his studies: "This is competitive ‘me’ against the unknown — against things I’m trying to solve."
In this Today Show segment, Prof. Earl Miller and Prof. Robert Desimone discuss how the brain reacts to the information overload that comes from using multiple digital tools at once. “The brain has a great deal of difficulty processing multiple bits of data at once,” explains Miller. "We are very, very single minded.”
Researchers at the Koch Institute have been taking steps to find a possible cure for type 1 diabetes. Holly Ellyatt of CNBC writes that the team has developed a device to prevent “implanted insulin-producing cells from being attacked by the immune system for six months.”
BBC’s Colin Barras writes about research from Prof. Paul O’Gorman which finds that extreme snowfalls are an expected consequence of climate change. O’Gorman says “extreme snowfall events respond to climate change quite differently from total seasonal snowfall."
MIT, Tata Trusts & Tata Inst. of Social Science announced the creation of a new digital education platform known as the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx). Aveek Datta for Forbes India writes that the program seeks to “create new learning experiences and educational opportunities for secondary school students in India.”
Popular Science‘s Dave Gershgorn writes about Prof. Marvin Minsky’s contribution to artificial intelligence. Medis Lab research scientist Joscha Bach described Minsky as a “great thinker not only in computer science and mathematics, but in how we understand the mind.”
Prof. Phillip Sharp co-authored this piece for Huffington Post about VP Joe Biden’s national cancer research initiative. “The most important thing about collaboration is that it unquestionably saves lives.”
John Tirman in the Center for Int’l Studies writes for Huffington Post that upcoming Syria talks in Geneva most likely will not resolve the crisis. “The ‘sides’ in the conflict are nearly indecipherable to all but dedicated observers,” he writes.
Prof. Marvin Minsky, who helped found MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, passed away at 88. “Marvin was a person who loved ideas and he cherished the people who came up with ideas,” says Prof. Michael Hawley on WBUR’s All Things Considered.