Researchers at MIT have developed a slow-release drug capsule that can last two weeks in a person’s stomach, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. “The capsule was tested for use in malaria prevention, but the researchers behind it say it could be used for virtually any condition that requires regular oral medication,” Ducharme explains.
Reuters reporter Kate Kelland writes that MIT researchers have created a new drug-delivery capsule that can stay in the stomach for up to two weeks after being swallowed. The star-shaped device could be “a powerful weapon in fighting malaria, HIV and other diseases where successful treatment depends on repeated doses of medicine.”
MIT researchers have developed a star-shaped, drug-delivery device that can stay in the stomach for up to two weeks, gradually releasing medication, reports Melissa Healy for The Los Angeles Times. The researchers believe the device could be useful in “delivering a wide range of medications for diseases in which patient non-adherence is a problem.”
Graduate student Maimuna Majumder writes for Wired about her research examining how the 2016 presidential election impacted the mental health of people in different states around the U.S. Majumder and her colleagues found that while susceptibility varies across groups, the presidential campaign, “has likely had adverse effects on the mental health and wellbeing of American citizens.”
CSAIL researchers have a developed a system that can predict human emotions by using wireless signals to monitor breathing and heartbeats, writes Edd Gent in a Scientific American article. "The idea is that you can enable machines to recognize our emotions so they can interact with us at much deeper levels," says graduate student Fadel Adib.
MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain responsible for forming habits, reports Anil Ananthaswamy for New Scientist. The researchers found that when performing an action, the prefrontal cortex, communicates with the striatum. “Over time, input from the prefrontal circuits fades, to be replaced by loops linking the striatum to the sensorimotor cortex,” Ananthaswamy explains.
CSAIL researcher have created a device that uses changes in heart beat and breathing to detect emotions, writes Forbes’ Kevin Murnane. The heart of the system,” writes Murnane, “is the algorithm that extracts the heartbeat from the RF signal. It’s an impressive achievement that solves a difficult problem.”
A device created by CSAIL researchers can detect emotions by wirelessly measuring heartbeats, according to the Associated Press. The device is “87 percent accurate in using heartrate and what it’s already learned about a person to recognize joy, pleasure, sadness or anger.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine a person’s mood using wireless signals, write Jordan Graham and Donna Goodison for The Boston Herald. “We view this work as the next step in helping develop computers that can better understand us at an emotional level,” explains Mingmin Zhao.
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine emotion by analyzing reflections from wireless signals bounced off the human body, writes Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. “Because it can measure heart rate, it might also be a less invasive way for doctors to monitor patient's heartbeats, potentially watching for conditions like arrhythmias,” writes Griggs.
Matt McFarland writes for CNN that CSAIL researchers have developed a non-invasive device that uses radio waves to detect human emotion. "Imagine if the machines around you can understand when you are stressed or your emotional state is negative,” explains Prof. Dina Katabi."[It could] try to detect depression."
Writing for The New York Times, Katie Hafner highlights how MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain that they believe could be responsible for producing feelings of loneliness. Hafner explains that “the region, known as the dorsal raphe nucleus, or D.R.N., is best known for its link to depression.”
MIT researchers have found a possible link between attention deficit disorders and autism, reports Lindsay Kalter for The Boston Herald. “One of the long-term goals is gene therapy where we can actually introduce genetic material that might be missing from the human,” explains grad. student Michael Wells.
Popular Science reporter Claire Maldarelli writes that researchers from MIT have identified how sensory overload occurs for people with neurodevelopmental disorders. Based off their findings, the researchers hope they can "classify these disorders in a better way, but also develop therapies that alleviate or diminish the symptoms.”
Wired reporter Emily Reynolds writes that MIT neuroscientists have identified the region of the brain that generates a feeling of loneliness. The researchers found that the “DRN, near the back of the brain, hosts a cluster of cells that the team say is responsible for generating increased sociability after periods of isolation.”