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MIT researchers have devised a system that repairs software bugs similar to the way a surgeon applies skin grafts, writes Jonathan Vanian for Fortune. “The new system detects bugs, takes healthy code from a publicly available source, and then grafts it onto the sick software,” Vanian explains.
Last weekend Institute Professor Mildred Dresselhaus became the first woman to receive the IEEE Medal of Honor for her pioneering work with carbon materials, reports Melissa Lott for Scientific American. Lotts writes that Dresselhaus is known “for her work with buckminsterfullerenes (buckyballs), nanotubes and graphene as well as her dedicated work ethic and caring nature.”
MIT engineers have developed an ultralow-power circuit that can efficiently harvest energy from solar power, reports Robert Ferris for CNBC. Ferris explains that the circuit “lends itself well to creating self-powering electronic sensors that can be used in a wide range of applications.”
In this video, CNN examines a new printable origami robot developed by MIT researchers that can dissolve in a variety of liquids. CNN explains that the researchers hope that the robot could one day be used to perform medical tasks inside the human body.
The July/August edition of Foreign Affairs features an in-depth piece by Prof. Daniela Rus on the future of robotics. Rus writes that robots will extend the digital revolution “into the physical realm and deeper into everyday life, with consequences that will be equally profound.”
New Scientist reporter Rowan Hooper writes about how MIT researchers have developed a 1.7-centimeter long origami robot that can self-fold, walk and swim. Hooper explains that, “using liquid-soluble materials, different versions of the robot can dissolve in either water or acetone, leaving only the permanent magnet behind.”
BetaBoston reporter Nidhi Subbaraman writes that MIT researchers have developed a small self-folding robot that they hope will one day lead to bio-compatible robots that “could enter the body, perform surgery guided from afar, and dissolve away as harmlessly as surgical stitches.”
An MIT team competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge finished in sixth place during the final competition of the challenge, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. “I thought it was amazing and inspiring, and it really gave the public a good picture of what the state of the art in robotics is,” says MIT postdoc Scott Kuindersma.
MIT researchers have developed a test that can accurately detect cancer in urine, reports Megan Scudellari for The Boston Globe. “Bacteria can grow in tumors as small as 1 millimeter, so the urine test has the potential to detect liver tumors — which tend to be small and dispersed — very early on, which would improve survival rates for patients,” Scudellari explains.
MIT researchers have created a tiny, self-assembling, origami robot that they hope could one day be small enough to enter the human body and perform medical tasks, reports Lauren Walker for Newsweek. “Driven by magnetic fields, the robot can travel on both land and water at the speed of three or four centimeters per second," Walker explains.
Lauren O’Neil of CBC News reports on a new self-folding origami robot created by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The robot “could eventually become small enough to fold into the human body, perform medical tasks, and then dissolve itself when finished — all by itself,” O’Neil reports.
Professor Sangeeta Bhatia and her colleagues have successfully engineered bacteria that can be used to detect cancer and diabetes, writes Robert Service for Science. The researchers found that “while conventional imaging techniques struggle to detect liver tumors smaller than 1 square centimeter, this approach was able to flag tumors as small as 1 square millimeter.”
Los Angeles Times reporter Melissa Healy writes that researchers from MIT and the University of California, San Diego have successfully modified bacteria to detect cancer. “Their work is a key component of broader efforts to make the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer increasingly precise and targeted," writes Healy.
Researchers from MIT and the University of California, San Diego have genetically modified bacteria so that it can detect cancer, BBC News reports. The researchers hope that one day, “the general approach could one day be used to develop relatively cheap and easy to use home-testing kits for a range of diseases.”
MIT researchers have developed a non-invasive way to detect liver cancer using probiotics, reports Vijee Venkatraman for BetaBoston. The researchers found that they could “use bacteria as tumor scouts…and engineer them to emit a signal once they reached the mass and multiply.”