MIT researchers have found that the large size of neurons in the human brain allows for electrical compartmentalization, which may contribute to the human brain’s complex cognitive capabilities, writes UPI reporter Brooks Hays.
Prof. Mark Harnett has found that each individual cell in the human brain could operate like a mini-computer, reports Clare Wilson for New Scientist. Wilson explains that “the study has revealed a key structural difference between human and mouse neurons that could help explain our superior powers of intelligence.”
Local biotech companies raised money to help MIT’s Bear Lab study Fragile X syndrome by competing in lawn games, writes Allison Hagan for The Boston Globe. The $30,000 raised provides “a very real chance at a success in this disease, and it’s going to have a much broader impact,” says Prof. Mark Bear.
Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane writes that MIT researchers have developed sensors that can track dopamine levels in the brain. The sensors could eventually be used to monitor “Parkinson’s patients who receive a treatment called deep brain stimulation,” Finucane explains, adding that the sensors could “help deliver the stimulation only when it’s needed.”
New Yorker contributor Judith Thurman visits the lab of Dr. Ev Fedorenko, an alumna and research affiliate at MIT, who is studying the science of language. Fedorenko explains that she is focused on exploring, “how do I get a thought from my mind into yours? We begin by asking how language fits into the broader architecture of the mind.”
Molly Webster of WNYC’s Radiolab visits the Picower Institute to learn more about how researchers are investigating new techniques that might eventually be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Prof. Li-Huei Tsai speaks about her group’s work using flickering light to reduce the beta amyloid plaque found in Alzheimer’s patients, and graduate student Dheeraj Roy discusses his work recovering memories with light.
MIT researchers have found that holding back-and-forth conversations with young children may help boost a child’s language development, report Drs. Edith Bracho-Sanchez and Richa Kalra for ABC News. The study found that conversations created “stronger connections between the brain regions responsible for comprehension and production of speech.”
Reuters reporter Lisa Rapaport writes about a new study that shows back-and-forth conversations between adults and young children could help build speech and language skills. “We found that the most relevant component of children’s language exposure is not the sheer number of words they hear, but the amount of back-and-forth adult-child conversation they experience,” explains research affiliate Rachel Romeo.
Writing for STAT, Justin Chen spotlights graduate student Eugene Lee’s work mapping the brain of worms in an effort to gain a better understanding of how worms, and animals in general, learn. “With science,” says Lee, “you might not know exactly where the research will take you, but you trust that when you arrive all the effort will have been worth it.”
Boston Globe reporter Martin Finucane writes that MIT researchers have identified the region of the brain responsible for generating negative emotions. “The findings could help scientists better understand how some of the effects of depression and anxiety arise, and guide development of new treatments,” Finucane explains.
In this BBC Click video, Prof. Daniela Rus discusses a new technique that she and her colleagues developed that allows people to correct a robot’s actions using brain waves and hand gestures. “Instead of having the humans adapt to the machine, we want the machine to adapt to the humans,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
Carey Goldberg writes for WBUR’s CommonHealth about this year’s USA Memory Championship, which is taking place at MIT. “[M]emory is a skill, it's not an innate capacity," says Robert Ajemian, a research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute. "And that's the message that we want to get out, both to the scientific community and to the lay community."
CSAIL researchers have created a deep learning system that can isolate individual musical instruments in a video by clicking on the specific instrument, writes Andrew Liszewski for Gizmodo. The researchers suggest the system, “could be a vital tool when it comes to remixing and remastering older performances where the original recordings no longer exist,” explains Liszewski.
In a new study from researchers at MIT’s McGovern Institute, “the authors pinpoint a specific way that piano lessons can help young children enhance their language processing skills,” writes Jamie Ducharme for TIME. “There’s evidence that early exposure to piano practice enhances the processing of sounds that extend not only from music, but also into language,” says Prof. John Gabrieli.
Prof. Robert Desimone speaks with Christopher Intagliata of Scientific American about his new research that shows how piano lessons can help improve a child’s language skills. Desimone and his colleagues found that, “piano lessons can heighten the brain's response to changes in pitch. And kids who got piano lessons were also better at telling apart two similar-sounding Mandarin words.”