MIT researchers have developed a system that “lets a person control a robotic arm with brainwaves and subtle hand gestures,” reports Jesus Diaz for Co.Design. According to Prof. Daniela Rus, the goal is “to develop robotic systems that are a more natural and intuitive extension of us.”

In an article published by Wired, Jordana Cepelewicz highlights a study co-authored by Prof. Earl Miller that examines the capacity limit for the human brain’s working memory. Cepelewicz explains that the research, “not only provides insights into memory function and dysfunction, but also offers further evidence for a burgeoning theory of how the brain processes information.”

Cate McQuaid of The Boston Globe reviews an MIT Museum exhibit showcasing the drawings of neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Paired with contemporary brain imaging, the exhibition lets observers, “vault through illuminated brain matter as if you were the USS Enterprise shifting into warp drive,” writes McQuaid.

A new study by MIT scientists shows how two proteins work to ensure that memory is encoded within minutes, according to Xinhua. The study, “also provided new hints about how problems involving these two proteins in other parts of the brain, such as the frontal cortex, could undermine cognition in those diseases.”

Professors Edward Boyden and Feng Zhang have been named to the 2018 class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, reports Jonathan Saltzman for The Boston Globe. “We selected these scientists because they know how to ask hard and interesting questions with skill and intellectual courage,” says David Clapham, vice president and chief scientific officer of the institute.

WBUR’s Maria Garcia explores an exhibit at the MIT Museum of Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s drawings of the human brain. Prof. Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, explains that, “there's no question that these kinds of circuit diagrams that Cajal was giving us are telling us a great deal about what makes us, us."

“The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal” is currently on exhibit at the MIT Museum through the end of 2018. The show features drawings by Cajal that “so effectively illustrate now-basic neurological concepts that they are still used in neuroscience textbooks today,” writes Zoë Schlanger for Quartz.

Bucking conventional wisdom, research co-authored by Prof. Josh Tenenbaum shows that “picking up the subtleties of grammar in a a second language does not fade until well into the teens,” writes Dana G. Smith for Scientific American. “To become completely fluent, however, learning should start before the age of 10.”

MIT researchers have identified the brain circuit required for observational learning, reports Xinhua. According to the study, the area involved in evaluating social information is more active when witnessing an experience and “relays information about the experience” to the region important for processing emotions.

New research suggests “children are highly skilled at learning the grammar of a new language up until the age of 17 or 18, much longer than previously thought,” reports Kashmira Gander in Newsweek. “We may need to go back to the drawing board in trying to explain why adults have trouble learning language,” Joshua Hartshorne, who co-wrote the study as a postdoc at MIT, tells Gander.

Led by graduate student Adam Haar Horowitz, researchers at the Media Lab have developed a device, known as Dormio, which aims to understand how humans can control the “semi-lucid” phase before sleep, called “hypnagogia,” reports Laura Yan for Popular Mechanics. "I have no doubt that Hypnagogia holds applications for augmenting memory, learning, and creativity,” says Haar Horowitz.

The Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group has developed a device “to influence and extend the semi-lucid sleep state called hypnagogia,” writes Jesus Diaz of Co.Design. Called Dormio, the system is a “first step towards creating interfaces that allow us to interact with our subconscious the same way we interact with our conscious mind,” explains Diaz.

Research by Prof. Susumu Tonegawa suggests that a specific region of the hippocampus plays a role in how memories can trigger a physical stress response, writes Fiona McMillan for Forbes. The findings, McMillan notes, are “providing new insight into the complex interplay between emotion, stress and memory.”

Jenny Anderson of Quartz describes a new study from MIT’s McGovern Institute and others showing that back-and-forth banter proved much more predictive of a child’s language development than the number of words spoken to them. “[MIT graduate student Rachel] Romeo and her colleagues believe that these conversational turns help to actually rewire and grow kids’ brains,” writes Anderson.

Steven Poole of The Wall Street Journal reviews The Biological Mind, a new book from Prof. Alan Jasanoff, which suggests that “a brain-centric view of who we are neglects the physiological, environmental and political determinants of our behavior.” Jasanoff “presents a lucid primer on current brain science that takes the form of a passionate warning about its limitations,” says Poole.