In the Media

"No woman won the John Bates Clark Medal in the first 60 years that the American Economic Association awarded the prize, considered by economists as second in prestige only to the Nobel. Last month, however, MIT professor Amy Finkelstein became the third woman in the last five years to gain the honor, which recognizes the top US economist under 40."

"At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last week, industry executives and academics met in an effort to devise better industrial technologies and train better prepared workers."

"Now a new brain-computer interface could turn your computer into a more sympathetic partner, taking over some of your tasks when it senses you're overworked."

"As Facebook turns to Wall Street in the biggest public offering ever by an Internet company, it faces a new, unenviable test: how to keep growing and enriching its hungry new shareholders."

"In her second lecture, she drew upon the body of research which she pioneered and of which she is the leading practitioner—the careful use of randomised trials to measure the effectiveness of development programmes—to propose a mechanism that she argued could help explain why poor people remained trapped in poverty."

"Instead of doing everything possible to preserve and live with whatever is left of their limbs, some are opting to amputate more extensively to regain something more akin to normal function."

"The euro currency is a malady that condemns at least a generation of Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Irish to the economic infirmary."

"Apart from making Americans feel good, does the money they donate to global causes ($22.8 billion in 2010) actually do good? The results of a study published last month highlight how surprisingly hard it is to answer that question."

"The expense of higher education has become a crippling burden on students and families — which is why it’s encouraging that local institutions are exploring new approaches to lowering costs."

"(MIT's Esther) Duflo argued that the effects of some anti-poverty programmes go beyond the direct impact of the resources they provide. These programmes also make it possible for the very poor to hope for more than mere survival."

"Just days after Google scored the first test license for a self-driving car, top auto experts will meet today at MIT to try to shift the new transportation concept into high gear."

"There are a host of new tools coming down the pike that promise to radically improve both the form and function of the stuff you can print, from chess pieces to chocolate."

"But can a machine take on the task of evaluating the written word?"

"That germ of an idea inspired (MIT's Daniela) Rus, a 2002 recipient of the MacArthur “genius” award, to begin work on a project that will eventually allow someone to reach into a bag of sand and pull out any device or structure imaginable."

"Pranks encourage innovation and fruitful camaraderie. Now get that cow down from the roof!"