In the Media

"MIT research scientists are planning to check whether we're all Martians, descended from organisms that were carried here aboard meteorites."

"Because things are so much better now, we can see an entirely new set of issues"

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made significant strides in hiring, promoting, and supporting women scientists and engineers over the 12 years"

“MIT’s School of Engineering is recognized as having the overall top engineering Ph.D. program in the US, as well as the best programs in several specializations.”

"Working with air traffic controllers in Boston, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that holding planes for an average of four minutes longer at the gate ... reduced taxi times by 20 percent and cut fuel consumption by up to 20 gallons per plane without increasing flight delays."

‘Ga-Ga’ for Daddy’s Data - “(MIT professor Deb) Roy wired his house with 11 cameras and 14 microphones to record most waking moments of his son's first years. The cognitive scientist and his team are analyzing tens of thousands of hours of footage to learn how his son acquired language in real life.”

“MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and colleagues demonstrated that the apparently strong link between income and measures of democracy around the world at any one point in time disappears when you look at changes in income and rights over time.”

“Rodrigo Arboleda, and MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte, ‘launched a campaign that aims to provide the children of Latin America – rich and poor alike- with laptop computers to help promote their education and development.’” - (Registration required to view full article)

“(MIT) Neuroengineer Ed Boyden is best known for his pioneering work on optogenetics, which allows brain cells to be controlled using light. A speaker at the TED2011 conference this week, his vision, he tells Rowan Hooper, is nothing less than to understand the brain, treat neural conditions and figure out the basis of human existence.”

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference bullets - For a brief recap of some of the MIT Sports Analytics Conference most noteworthy news, check out this summary with links to additional articles.

When 140 characters just aren’t enough - “In author-social scientist Sherry Turkle's latest book, ‘Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other,’ the MIT professor lays bare over 15 years' worth of research in which she examines a rising anxiety in young people, particularly when they don't update Facebook enough.”

Robot Opera and Immortality - “(MIT’s Tod) Machover, known as ‘America’s most wired composer’ and director of the Opera of the Future group at the MIT Media Lab, thinks of his character Simon Powers, as ‘a combination of Howard Hughes, Walt Disney and Bill Gates,’ who rather than wanting to live forever, desired ‘to leave the world, but leave everything about himself here.’”

Print in another dimension - “In December, MIT Media Lab researcher Amit Zoran used an Objet Connex 500 — which resembles the larger ink-jet printers in most offices — to print a working flute made of plastic.”

“The new institute here is taking an innovative approach by uniting cancer scientists and engineers under one roof — an approach that the institute’s director, Tyler Jacks, who is also the David H. Koch Professor of Biology, said should yield results.”

“Co-chaired by Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets and an MIT Sloan alumnus, and Patriots vice president Jessica Gelman, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference draws big names to share big ideas in the areas of advanced statistical metrics, innovation, and technology.”