In this video, Prof. Canan Dagdeviren speaks with STAT about her group’s work developing a new, self-powered implantable device that can be used to relay information about the human body. “The physical patterns of human beings contain information in coded ways, and we would like to decode and understand what these patterns are telling us,” Dagdeviren explains.
Popular Mechanics reporter David Grossman writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that helps robots used in autism therapy better estimate how engaged a child is during an interaction. Grossman explains that, “using the personalized algorithm, the robot was able to correctly interpret a child's reaction 60 percent of the time.”
MIT researchers have developed a new waterproof coating method that is safer for both the environment and humans, reports Brooks Hays for UPI. Lab tests showed the coating, “works to waterproof a variety of fabrics and materials against a variety of liquids,” Hays explains.
Prof. Amy Finkelstein speaks with WBUR’s Carey Goldberg about her study showing only a small amount of Medicare spending goes end-of-life care. Finkelstein explains, “there is very little Medicare spending on people with high probability of dying. And part of that is just that it's very, very hard to predict who is going to die.”
STAT reporter Orly Nadell Farber writes about a new study by Prof. Amy Finkelstein that challenges the widely held assumption that a large portion of Medicare spending goes towards end-of-life care. “We spend money on sick people — some of them die, some of them recover,” says Finkelstein. “Maybe some recover, in part, because of what we spent on them.”
In an article for Wired about distracted driving, Aarian Marshall highlights how MIT researchers are studying how drivers use new automated driving systems. “This is about human-centered development: leveraging the human element and integrating it with advances in automation,” explains Research Engineer Bryan Reimer.
Prof. Robert Desimone speaks with Christopher Intagliata of Scientific American about his new research that shows how piano lessons can help improve a child’s language skills. Desimone and his colleagues found that, “piano lessons can heighten the brain's response to changes in pitch. And kids who got piano lessons were also better at telling apart two similar-sounding Mandarin words.”
A new study by MIT researchers shows that music lessons can help develop a child’s language skills by improving their ability to differentiate between different pitches, reports Kashmira Gander for Newsweek. The researchers concluded that, “musical training helps to improve language skills, and could even be more beneficial than giving children additional reading lessons.”
MIT researchers have created a new fabrication technique to create intricate, 3-D printed magnetic options that react to magnetic fields hitting them at different angles, reports Mark Wilson for Co.Design. In the future the structures, “could be placed in the human body, manipulated via wireless, harmless magnetism, and carry out intricate tasks like on-site drug delivery.”
This BBC Click segment highlights the artificial intelligence system developed by CSAIL researchers that can monitor people’s movements through walls. Prof. Dina Katabi explains that the device helps preserve the privacy of those being monitored by separating and encrypting, “any identifiable information from the measurement.”
A new study co-authored by MIT researchers uncovers evidence that music lessons can help improve a child’s language skills, according to Xinhua. The researchers found that, “musical training is at least as beneficial in improving language skills, and possibly more beneficial, than offering children extra reading lessons.”
ABC News reporter Denise Powell highlights a new study by MIT researchers that shows that music education could help a child’s language skills. Powell explains that, “the results of this study give a boost to the idea of music training in kindergarten students as a method of enhancing the way brain cells and neurons process and respond to pitch.”
Fast Company reporter Steven Melendez writes that CSAIL researchers have created a new system that allows a robot to detect human brainwave patterns so it knows when it made a mistake. Melendez explains that, “Teaching robots to understand human nonverbal cues and signals could make them safer and more efficient at working with people.”
In an article for The New York Times, graduate student Joy Buolamwini writes about how AI systems can often reinforce existing racial biases and exclusions. Buolamwini writes that, “Everyday people should support lawmakers, activists and public-interest technologists in demanding transparency, equity and accountability in the use of artificial intelligence that governs our lives.”
STAT reporter Justin Chen writes about a new study that examines why patients with pancreatic cancer often experience significant weight loss. Prof. Matt Vander Heiden explains that the findings show, “pancreatic cancer patients clearly have a lot of tissue wasting and whether it’s good or bad, we can now say that it’s not necessarily bad at diagnosis.”