Graduate student Frank Wang speaks with WGBH reporter Ciku Theuri about an encryption system developed by MIT researchers that can provide web users more online privacy. Wang explains that the system hits a “sweet point where we can actually say … we have pretty good security and we're pretty practical.”
Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner speaks with Professors Regina Barzilay and Tommi Jaakkola about their Introduction to Machine Learning class. Jaakkola explains that the course connects “the more theoretical, algorithmic stuff students are learning to actual data and problems.”
Prof. Tim Berners-Lee has been awarded the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Turing prize for his work developing the World Wide Web, reports Hiawatha Bray for The Boston Globe. “It is hard to imagine the world before Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s invention,” says ACM President Vicki Hanson.
MIT graduate student Ari Ofsevit has created a chart plotting all the colors from the country’s transit systems to compare the hues, writes The Washington Post’s Martine Powers. “Orange in one city does not mean orange in another,” says Ofsevit.
Joel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and a research fellow at MIT, speaks to BBC reporter Gareth Mitchell about an MIT report that examines cyber security threats to the nation’s infrastructure. “You can have a digital network that’s not public,” says Brenner, “but you shouldn’t be able to get to the controls of critical infrastructure through the public internet.”
Prof. Tim Berners-Lee has been awarded the Turing Award for his work creating the World Wide Web and its underlying technology, reports Klint Finley for Wired. The web “succeeded because of the work he and so many other put into stewarding it as a platform,” writes Finley.
Prof. Tim Berners-Lee has won this year’s Turing Award, writes AP reporter Michael Liedtke. "It's a crowning achievement," says Berners-Lee of winning what is considered the Nobel prize for computing. "But I think the award is for the Web as a project, and the massive international collaborative spirit of all that have joined me to help."
Forbes reporter Janet Burns writes that Prof. Tim Berners-Lee has been named the recipient of this year’s Turing Award. In an interview with Burns, Berners-Lee emphasized the importance of internet privacy, and explained that he is currently working on building a “basic infrastructure in which each person has control of their own data.”
A report released by MIT startup Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) shows that one in four drivers were using a smartphone just before an accident occurred, reports The Boston Globe’s Matt Rocheleau. Prof. Samuel Madden, founder and chief scientist at CMT, explains that the study shows “people are using their phones a lot, and that’s playing a role in the accidents.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Yossi Sheffi outlines how companies should prepare for possible changes in the U.S. trade and regulatory landscape. Sheffi notes that “companies should be deliberate in making significant changes to supply chains based on chatter rather than real regulatory or legislative action.”
In an article for CBS News, Tracy Staedter spotlights a panel discussion focused on the challenges of exploring and potentially colonizing Mars, which was held during the New Space Age Conference at MIT.
CSAIL researchers have developed software that allows users to design and virtually test drones, writes Alex Davies for Wired. Graduate student Tao Du explains that the software can help users “explore and try different shapes and different controllers.”
Prof. Krystyn Van Vliet speaks with Samantha Boh of The Straits Times. Van Vliet explains that "My work gives me added motivation because at the end of the day you are not just engineering a new toy or learning something for yourself, but engineering a whole process where the outcome has the potential to restore health."
MIT researchers have developed a system called Splinter that provides users more anonymity online, writes Kristin Toussaint for Boston Metro. Toussaint explains that the system, “allows websites to encrypt a user’s internet searches so they're never saved. The data is still out there, but is split among multiple database centers.”
Meg Tirrell of CNBC spotlights research by Prof. Li-Huei Tsai that shows that flashing lights could be used as a non-invasive treatment method for Alzheimer’s disease. Tsai and her colleagues found that flashing light could potentially be used to restore gamma rhythms in the brain, which are often impaired in people with Alzheimer’s.