Space.com reporter Mike Wall explains new research findings that might help explain the nature of dark matter. “In the future we might well look back and say this was where we saw dark matter annihilation for the first time," Professor Tracy Slatyer is quoted as saying in the article.
Writing for The Washington Post, Emily Badger reports on an AgeLab study that showed that using more legible typefaces in in-car media, like GPS systems, could reduce distracted driving.
Washington Post reporter Meeri Kim writes about a new MIT study that shows the human brain performs automatic visual smoothing when processing information. In particular, researchers found that our visual perception is influenced by what we saw up to 15 seconds ago.
Cynthia Graber reports for Scientific American about the robotic clam developed by MIT researchers that can mimic the digging capabilities of the Atlantic razor clam.
In an article published in Nature, Clara Moskowitz reports on Professor Anna Frebel’s discovery of a tiny galaxy circling the Milky Way, which researchers believe may be a fossil left over from the early universe.
Richard Taylor of BBC News interviews Kent Larson of the MIT Media Lab Cityscope project. Cityscope researchers collect data on the movement of people in and out of Kendall Square in order to help urban planners make more informed decisions.
TIME reporter Doug Aamoth writes about the MIT DARPA Robotics Challenge team’s work with the Atlas robot built by Boston Dynamics. Aamoth reports that the team has been developing code that allows the robot to move faster and be more autonomous.
Boston Globe reporter Michael Farrell writes about how researchers like Professor Seth Teller are reimagining the wheelchair. For the past five years, Teller has been working on designing a, “completely robotic chair that can navigate and learn about a user’s home environment.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Martine Powers reports on the MIT competition that challenged students to come up with the best interactive visualization and prediction modeling for taxi demand at key spots around the city.
The Boston Globe profiles Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia and the new low-cost urine test she developed to detect cancer, as well as her work applying engineering techniques to medicine.
The Daily Beast reporter Mike Miesen looks at Sanergy, a company founded by MIT students that manufactures and distributes toilets designed for urban environments with poor sewage infrastructure. The model could improve sanitation in dense urban areas without adequate waste removal.
Lisa Mickey of The New York Times profiles retired professor Leon S. White, who researches poetry inspired by golf. In 2011 White published “Golf Course of Rhymes: Links between Golf and Poetry throughout the Ages,” a collection of golf poems he compiled from around the world.
Robin Young of NPR’s Here & Now interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and Institute Professor John Harbison on his work “Songs America Loves To Sing – Old and New Music for Winds, Strings, and Piano,” in which he applies unique progressions and arrangements to well-known, classic songs.
The Economist describes how the Atlantic Razor clam’s digging capabilities inspired Professor Amos Winter to develop a new robot that can dig 20 centimeters into the sea floor in just 20 seconds.
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson highlights the work of MIT researchers in identifying a new culprit for the Earth’s largest mass extinction. While volcanic activity did contribute to the extinction, Cookson reports, MIT researchers found the main cause was methane-producing microbes.