Keith Wagstaff of NBC News reports on a new MIT study, which found that students who complete online courses end up with the same learning gains as those who attend class in person. “That goes for people of all education levels, from those with a high school diploma to those with a Ph.D.,” writes Wagstaff.
Nick Anderson of The Washington Post writes about a new study showing that online courses can be an effective way to teach. “Students in a free online physics course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated roughly equal learning gains if they stuck with the class,” writes Anderson.
Professor Kerry Emanuel joined a number of experts encouraging participation in the People’s Climate Change March, held in New York, Sep. 21, reports Eric Holthaus for Slate. “The more ways that people—particularly young people—can make their concerns known to our government, the better,” says Emanuel.
New research by Professor Ann Graybiel may indicate that the FOXP2 gene in humans plays a major role in how we learn speech, writes Chris Higgins for Wired. Mice given the gene were able to learn their way through a maze more quickly than those without it.
Jacqueline Howard of The Huffington Post writes about research by Professor Ann Graybiel that looked at the effect of the human Foxp2 gene in mice. The work could lead to a greater understanding of how the human brain learns speech.
Sharon Begley of Reuters writes about Professor Ann Graybiel’s research on the effect of the human FOXP2 gene on mice. “By isolating the effects of one gene, the work sheds light on its function and hints at the evolutionary changes that led to the unique capabilities of the human brain,” writes Begley.
Research by Professor Ann Graybiel demonstrated that providing mice with the human version of the FOXP2 gene allowed them to learn repetitive patterns more quickly, reports Clare Wilson of The New Scientist. This may demonstrate that the gene plays an important role in how humans learn to speak, says Graybiel.
Writing for Scientific American, Tim Radford reports on Professor Paul O’Gorman’s new study, which shows that despite climate change blizzards will still occur. Radford writes that O’Gorman’s research shows that while some areas may receive less overall snowfall, extreme snowfall could become more intense.
Washington Post reporter Angela Fritz writes that MIT Professor Paul O’Gorman has found that extreme snowfall events will continue despite global warming. Fritz reports that O’Gorman’s models show that in some high-latitude cases, “extreme snowstorms could deposit 10 percent more snow.”
The BBC’s Science Hour highlights new MIT research exploring how emotions are linked to memories. Researchers found that the emotional associations of specific memories could be reversed in mice.
Amina Khan of the Los Angeles Times explores new MIT research into how the brain links memories with positive and negative emotions. “Recording memory is not like playing a tape recorder, but it is a creative process -- sometimes even leading to an entirely false memory,” explains Prof. Susumu Tonegawa.
Boston Magazine reporter Andrea Timpano writes about how MIT researchers have developed a technique to reverse the emotions associated with specific memories in mice. The new technique uses light to manipulate brain cells and control neuron activity.
Writing for The New Yorker, Patrick House examines Professor Pawan Sinha’s work with sight restoration. “A remarkable thing about the brain’s processing capabilities is that, even with less than perfect image quality, it can extract a great deal of meaning about the visual world,” says Sinha of the benefits of sight restoration surgery.
Emily Tamkin of Slate writes about how MIT scientists have developed a technique to manipulate the emotional associations linked with memories in mice. “Scientists are excited by the potential impact these findings could have on, for example, treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder,” writes Tamkin.
Writing for Wired, Greg Miller explores new MIT research into the emotional association of memories. “This study and others like it are illuminating the neural mechanisms of memory in unprecedented detail, and showing that it’s possible to activate, alter, or even create memories just by tweaking the right neurons,” writes Miller.