Writing for CBS News, Charles Choi explores a system developed by MIT researchers that can identify letters in a closed book. The system could be used to examine ancient books or to “scan through large amounts of documents without having to mechanically separate the pages, which could be useful for libraries, banks and others,” says research scientist Barmak Heshmat.
Salon reporter Scott Eric Kaufman writes that MIT researchers have created a system that can read the pages of a closed book and could be used to examine manuscripts too fragile to handle. “The system works by shooting pulses of radiation from a terahertz camera and measuring how long it takes for them to bounce back."
MIT researchers have developed a new computational imaging technique that can read closed books, reports G. Clay Whittaker for Popular Science. The technique could be useful for “rare book research, where opening a book may be impossible due to damage, or not worth the risk of damage.”
MIT researchers have found that immigration has been dominating election conversations on Twitter, writes John West in a Washington Post article. “Tweets on immigration soared to almost 60 percent of the election-related Twitter conversation after Donald Trump’s statements about a potential 'softening', his visit to Mexico and then his address on the topic.”
Liz Stinson writes for Wired that MIT researchers are using bees to help map the microbial makeup of cities around the world. “The goal in all of this is to produce an imagination around the microbiome,” explains Prof. Kevin Slavin.
Matt McFarland reports for CNN that MIT researchers have developed temporary, gold-leaf tattoos that serve as wearable devices “that add a personal touch of style.” The tattoos can interface with smartphones, store data like movie or bus tickets, or display moods by changing colors, McFarland explains.
MIT researchers have created temporary wearable gold leaf tattoos that can project a user’s mood and allow them to control nearby devices, writes Haniya Rae for Popular Science. “We wanted to build an output display that allowed for a more aesthetically pleasing look,” says graduate student Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, of the motivation behind the tattoos.
Temporary tattoos created by MIT researchers that allow users to control their electronic devices could one day make remote controls obsolete, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. Tamblyn explains that the tattoos are made “using gold metal leaf, which means that it’s cheap, skin-friendly and can support a range of different input options.”
Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland speaks with Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point, about his study examining friendship. “If you’re trying to lose weight…50 percent of the time you are likely to reach out to people who really actually aren’t going to help that much,” Pentland explains, adding that people should be looking to mutual friendships for support.
Joe Toohey of NBC’s Meet the Press visits MIT to learn about the CityScope project’s augmented reality platform for urban planning. Kent Larson, director of the City Science Initiative, explains that the platform allows non-experts to “explore different alternatives, experiment with them, in effect play, and get immediate feedback.”
In an article for The New York Times, Kate Murphy highlights Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s study that analyzes whether perceived friendships are mutual. The study found that feelings of friendship “were mutual 53 percent of the time while the expectation of reciprocity was pegged at 94 percent.”
Washington Post reporter Emily Langer chronicles the life and work of Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, who died last week at age 88. Langer explains that Papert “led an early campaign to revolutionize education with the personal computer, a tool he championed not as a classroom gadget but as a key to unlocking a child’s excitement for learning.”
Barb Darrow writes for Fortune about the career of Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, who died July 31. “In the 1960s, when computers were pricey and huge, Papert saw them as a way to help children learn by doing. He developed the Logo programming language for children, who initially used it to program and animate a small robot turtle.”
Lisa Mullins of WBUR’s All Things Considered speaks with Suzanne Massie, wife of the late Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, about Papert’s dedication to using technology to provide children around the world access to education. Massie notes that Papert was “the visionary who first saw the potential of the computer as an instrument of education of children.”
Prof. Emeritus Seymour Papert, a leading expert on using technology to help children learn, died on July 31, reports Glenn Rifkin for The New York Times. Prof. Mitchel Resnick notes that Papert was “the first person to see that the computer could be used to support children’s learning and development.”