MIT researchers have identified the brain circuit that process the “when” and “where” components of memories, reports Robby Berman for Slate. “The newly discovered circuit connects the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex,” writes Berman. “The entorhinal cortex splits each memory into two streams of information: one for location and one for timing.”
Financial Times reporter Simon Kuper writes about Prof. Sherry Turkle’s new book, “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age,” which examines the impact of smartphones on human interaction. Turkle recommends establishing “times and places when it’s socially unacceptable to be online.”
In an essay adapted from her new book for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Prof. Sherry Turkle writes about teaching and learning in the digital era. Turkle explains that laptops and smartphones should be “part of our creative lives. The goal is to use them with greater intention, to live with them in greater harmony.”
In this video, the BBC’s LJ Rich reports on the 3-D printed, soft robotic hand developed by researchers at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. Rich explains that the robotic hand can “handle objects as delicate as an egg and as thin as a compact disk.”
Lindsay Kalter reports for The Boston Herald that researchers from MIT, Philips, and Boston Medical Center are developing a non-invasive way to diagnose head injuries. Kalter explains that the study is part of a new collaboration between MIT and Philips and will “use data from an ultrasound machine taking measurements of blood pressure and flow.”
Dr. Michael Hecht speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of WBUR’s Radio Boston about NASA’s discovery of water on Mars. Hecht says that the discovery “opens up a whole new avenue for using what nature gives us on Mars to help us explore.”
Boston Globe reporter Andrew Joseph writes about the public gallery at the Koch Center for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, which features a rotating selection of life-science images captured by scientists during their research. “Microscopic images are blown up into a work of art almost 8 feet across, sharing a view of science rarely seen outside the lab,” writes Joseph.
Researchers from MIT, Philips and Boston Medical Center are collaborating on new technology to diagnose brain injuries, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. “The goal is to investigate whether ultrasound readers can help doctors assess the severity of a head injury,” Subbaraman writes.
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that MIT researchers have designed a new robotic hand with soft, 3-D printed fingers that can identify and lift a variety of objects. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that her group’s robotic hand operates in a way that is “much more analogous to what we do as humans."
Writing for Popular Science, Mary Beth Griggs reports on the soft robotic gripper developed by researchers at MIT CSAIL. “The silicone fingers are equipped with sensors that analyze the object they are touching and compare it to other items in its database,” Griggs writes.
CNBC reporter Robert Ferris writes about how MIT researchers have developed a soft robotic hand that can identify and safely grasp delicate objects. Ferris explains that the researchers designed a “soft silicone ‘hand’ with embedded sensors that they can train to recognize different things.”
MIT CSAIL researchers have developed a silicon gripper that allows robots to grasp a wide variety of items, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. Subbaraman explains that the hand expands “to accommodate a shape, and grasps radially – surrounding an object instead of picking it up with pincers.”
Prof. Heidi Williams, a 2015 MacArthur Fellow, speaks with Bloomberg’s John Tozzi about why drug companies are underinvesting in long-term research. Williams explains that there are “scientifically feasible projects that aren’t getting done because there aren’t sufficient incentives."
The Broad Institute Foundry, a synthetic biology lab, has been awarded a new grant from DARPA to pursue research on engineering cells in an effort to “find better treatments for disease, make new biofuels, or create fabrics woven with life,” reports Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science.
Prof. Sherry Turkle speaks with ABC News about the impact of constant connectivity on how people relate to one another in the digital age. “Before we had our phones, conversation was the way we satisfied our need for stimulation,” explains Turkle. Face-to-face conversation “lays the groundwork for empathy.”