In an article for The Huffington Post about teaching kids computer programming, Joni Blecher highlights the robotic garden developed by researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and CSAIL. The garden has “over 100 flowers that can be controlled via a Bluetooth-enabled device.”
In an article for Bloomberg Businessweek about batteries, Christopher Martin highlights how Prof. Donald Sadoway’s liquid metal battery will be deployed this year. The batteries, which are being commercialized by Sadoway’s startup Ambri, will power solar and wind farms and store surplus energy for a power company in Manhattan.
In a Scientific American podcast, Cynthia Graber examines MIT research showing typing speed can indicate if a person is fatigued and can help diagnose certain diseases. Typing speed could be used as a “safety feature on software programs for night shifts” or could diagnose Parkinson’s “by tracking changes in someone’s ability to manipulate the common keyboard.”
BetaBoston reporter Nidhi Subbaraman writes about how graduate student Steven Keating's thirst for knowledge may have saved his life. After experiencing phantom odors, Keating urged his doctors to perform a brain scan, which revealed a tumor. Since then, Keating has “open-sourced” his illness, and become a “champion of a movement to provide patients with more information about their health.”
Researchers at MIT have developed software that tracks typing speed in order to help diagnose Parkinson’s disease, writes Alexandra Ossola for Popular Science. Ossola explains that the researchers "hope that this type test could eventually lead to earlier diagnoses of Parkinson’s.”
Steve Lohr of The New York Times writes about how allowing patients like brain cancer survivor and MIT graduate student Steven Keating greater access to their medical records can not only improve patient health, but also benefit medical research. The sharing of medical records could be a “huge crowdsourcing opportunity for research,” Keating explains.
In a New York Times article, Steve Lohr spotlights how graduate student Steven Keating’s active participation in his medical care led to early detection of a brain tumor. In describing patient access to medical records, Keating explains his belief that “data can heal.”
The ACM has awarded the A.M. Turing Award, widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize in Computing,” to CSAIL researcher and adjunct professor Michael Stonebraker, reports Barb Darrow for Fortune. Stonebraker is “famous for arguing that database is not a one-size-fits-all category."
Michael Stonebraker, a principal investigator at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab and an adjunct professor at MIT, has won the A.M. Turning Award for his work with database management systems, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. “This is every computer scientist’s lifetime dream, and it came true for me,” said Stonebraker.
By combining two kinds of photovoltaic material, MIT researchers have developed a more effective solar cell, reports Umair Irfan for Scientific American. Irfan explains that combining the two materials, “generates a higher voltage than either of the layers could do by themselves.”
MIT startup LiquiGlide, which has developed a coating that makes the inside of a bottle slippery, has signed an agreement with the glue-maker Elmer’s, Jim Festante reports for Slate in a new video. The video highlights how the LiquiGlide coating makes it possible for liquids like ketchup, toothpaste and glue to slide right out of the bottle, reducing waste.
Mo Costandi reports for The Guardian on how Prof. Polina Anikeeva has developed a new technique to activate brain cells using nanoparticles. Costandi explains that, “research like this may eventually allow for wireless and minimally invasive deep brain stimulation of the human brain.”
LiquiGlide, an MIT startup that produces a slippery coating to help get substances out of bottles, has announced a partnership with glue maker Elmer’s Products, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. Subbaraman explains that “LiquiGlide’s core technology is a sprayable solid-liquid double-layer,” that prevents liquids from adhering to the walls of containers.
Kenneth Chang writes for The New York Times about LiquiGlide, an MIT startup that has developed a nonstick coating that allows liquids, like ketchup or glue, to slide right out of the bottle. Chang explains that LiquiGlide could have “major environmental payoffs by reducing waste.”
Steven Rosenbaum highlights PhD student Abe Davis’ TED talk in a piece for Forbes. Rosenbaum writes that Davis “has co-created the world’s most improbable audio instrument.”