Striking Difference Discovered Between Neurons of Humans and Other Mammals
Human neurons have fewer ion channels, which might have allowed the human brain to divert energy to other neural processes. Neurons communicate with each other…
MIT
Lucy Spacecraft’s 12-Year, 4-Billion-Mile Mission To Study Ancient Trojan Asteroids
Project scientist Professor Richard Binzel discusses NASA’s latest interplanetary mission, which is co-led by Cathy Olkin ’88, PhD ’96. On October 16, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft…
Self-Driving Roboats – Developed at MIT – Set Sea in Amsterdam Canals
If you don’t get seasick, an autonomous boat might be the right mode of transportation for you. Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence…
Simulating Galaxy Formation in Mesmerizing Detail for Clues to the Universe
“In astrophysics, we have only this one universe which we can observe,” Mark Vogelsberger, an MIT physics professor, says. “With a computer, we can…
MIT Engineers’ Major Advance in Creating a New Family of Semiconductor Materials
Ultrastable and made of inexpensive, nontoxic elements, chalcogenide perovskites could find applications in solar cells, lighting, and more. MIT engineers report creating the first high-quality…
Indoor Air Purifiers Fall Short on Removing Volatile Organic Compounds – And Produce Their Own Pollutants
Comparison of four oxidation-based cleaners suggests the devices produce their own pollutants and vary in effectiveness. Consumer-grade air cleaners that promise to reduce indoor levels…
Aavia: Setting a New Standard for Hormone Health
Alumna-founded Aavia uses education, community, and technology to change the way people think about hormones. Half the population lives with monthly ovarian hormone cycles. Those…
MIT Researchers Discover Gene Linked to Cognitive Resilience in the Elderly
The findings may help explain why some people who lead enriching lives are less prone to Alzheimer’s and age-related dementia. Many people develop Alzheimer’s or…
New Machine-Learning System Gives Robots Social Skills
A new machine-learning system helps robots understand and perform certain social interactions. Robots can deliver food on a college campus and hit a hole-in-one on…
MIT Chemical Engineers Hunting a “Jekyll-and-Hyde” Molecule
A screening method developed by MIT researchers targets hydrogen peroxide in the search for new cancer therapeutics. MIT chemical engineers have developed a way of…
Surprisingly Smart Artificial Intelligence Sheds Light on How the Brain Processes Language
Neuroscientists find the internal workings of next-word prediction models resemble those of language-processing centers in the brain. In the past few years, artificial intelligence models…
Deep Learning AI Explained: Neural Networks
Ballyhooed artificial-intelligence technique known as “deep learning” revives 70-year-old idea. In the past 10 years, the best-performing artificial-intelligence systems — such as the speech recognizers…
Avoiding Shortcut Solutions in Artificial Intelligence for More Reliable Predictions
A new method forces a machine learning model to focus on more data when learning a task, which leads to more reliable predictions. If your…
MicroBooNE Experiment: Investigating a Long-Standing Neutrino Mystery
MIT Graduate student Nicholas Kamp describes the MicroBooNE experiment and its implications for our understanding of fundamental particles. Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious…
New COVID-19 Danger Revealed: SARS-CoV-2 Virus Can Infect the Inner Ear
The prevalence of auditory symptoms in Covid-19 patients is unknown, but infection of the inner ears may be responsible for hearing and balance problems. Many…
RNA Control Switch: Engineers Devise a Way To Selectively Turn On Gene Therapies in Human Cells
A new RNA-based control switch could be used to trigger production of therapeutic proteins to treat cancer or other diseases. Researchers at MIT and Harvard…
Resistance to Cancer Therapy Determined by Differences in T Cells’ Functional State
Researchers decipher when and why immune cells fail to respond to immunotherapy, suggesting that T cells need a different kind of prodding to re-engage the…
How Does Our Brain Navigates Cities? Choosing the “Pointiest” Path, Not the Shortest
We seem to be wired to calculate not the shortest path but the “pointiest” one, facing us toward our destination as much as possible. Everyone…