In an article for The Boston Globe, Kevin Hartnett explores a study co-authored by Prof. Danny Fox that examines why children confuse the words “and” and “or.” The researchers found that “children may conduct exactly the same logical process as adults, but arrive at different conclusions because they run that process over a narrower set of alternative sentences.”
Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard writes about the life and work of Prof. Emerita Suzanne Corkin, who was widely known for her work with the famous amnesiac Henry Molaison. Brenda Milner, a neuroscientist at McGill University, noted that Corkin’s “painstaking attention to detail and her enormous enthusiasm – it’s a very nice combination, and she showed that always.”
Washington Post reporter Matt Schudel writes about the impact Prof. Emerita Suzanne Corkin’s work had on our understanding of memory and cognitive disorders. Schudel writes that Corkin, who died on June 4, “made significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and helped identify regions of the brain affected by degenerative disorders.”
CBC News reporter Paul Cote Jay writes about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that examines why children often have trouble distinguishing the words “or” from “and.” Jay explains that the researchers found that while adults and children go through a similar process to interpret statements, “children are just missing one step.”
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.
Rodrique Ngowi writes for the Associated Press about ScratchJr, an app co-developed by MIT researchers to help young children think creatively and develop skills in math and science. “Children as young as 5 can use the app to craft their own interactive stories and games,” writes Ngowi.
Thomas Burton of The Wall Street Journal writes that MIT researchers were among those awarded the first research grants under President Obama’s new BRAIN Initiative. Burton writes that one of the MIT grants will go toward “determining which exact brain circuits are involved in generating short-term memories that influence decisions.”
Boston Globe reporter Deborah Kotz writes that MIT researchers have been awarded new grants from the National Institutes of Health to further brain research. “Biophysicist Alan Jasanoff received a grant to develop imaging agents for functional MRI imaging that would target the flow of calcium into and out of brain cells,” writes Kotz of one of the MIT grants.
MIT neuroscientists were among the recipients of new grants for brain research from the National Institutes of Health, reports Jon Hamilton for NPR. Hamilton explains that as part of one grant, “Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will try to adapt functional MRI so that it can show the activity of individual brain cells.”
New research by Professor Ann Graybiel may indicate that the FOXP2 gene in humans plays a major role in how we learn speech, writes Chris Higgins for Wired. Mice given the gene were able to learn their way through a maze more quickly than those without it.
Jacqueline Howard of The Huffington Post writes about research by Professor Ann Graybiel that looked at the effect of the human Foxp2 gene in mice. The work could lead to a greater understanding of how the human brain learns speech.
Sharon Begley of Reuters writes about Professor Ann Graybiel’s research on the effect of the human FOXP2 gene on mice. “By isolating the effects of one gene, the work sheds light on its function and hints at the evolutionary changes that led to the unique capabilities of the human brain,” writes Begley.
Research by Professor Ann Graybiel demonstrated that providing mice with the human version of the FOXP2 gene allowed them to learn repetitive patterns more quickly, reports Clare Wilson of The New Scientist. This may demonstrate that the gene plays an important role in how humans learn to speak, says Graybiel.
“The MIT Media Lab recently released ScratchJr, a free iPad app that helps children 5-8 learn how to code,” writes Jordan Shapiro for Forbes. The ScratchJr language is a redesign of the original Scratch programming to simplify it for use by younger children.
Marcus Wohlsen of Wired reports on ScratchJr, a new iPad application created by MIT researchers to teach kids how to code. “We wanted to make sure young people aren’t just using tablet for browsing and consuming,” says Prof. Mitchel Resnick.