In the Media

"Every day, with the flick of a switch, millions of Americans tap into the electricity grid. It's a web of power stations, transformers and transmission lines that span the continent, distributing electricity like veins and arteries distribute blood."

"Is the wiring pattern of your brain what makes you uniquely 'you'?"

"A new kind of fiber technology can emit light variably in different directions, creating the potential for woven 3-D displays that can send two slightly different images to a viewer's right and left eyes, creating a three-dimensional effect."

"It happens all the time: You buy an item at one price, and then see others buy the same item a little later on for a much cheaper price. This is standard practice nowadays, but it still gets customers angry."

"If I find myself in a free-falling elevator, is there any position that might increase my chance of survival? (Climbing on top of other people is not an acceptable answer.)"

"Rafael Reif, MIT's provost, explains that 'MITx will be tied to an MIT-wide research initiative into online learning. That initiative will investigate ways in which students - whether on MIT's campus or part of a virtual community beyond it - learn best.'"

"By now, most people have heard about the Kony 2012 video that’s gotten over 50 million hits on the internet."

"But the present reality is of astounding difference: the same people can live in abject poverty in one country, yet be prosperous once they move to another."

"This quake, tsunami, and meltdown — a triple catastrophe with no precedent — is simply called '3/11.' A year on, 3/11 and its consequences are at the center of a Japanese national debate on the future direction of the country, one that focuses on change, community, leadership, and vulnerability." -MIT's Richard Samuels

"Ed Boyden heads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group at MIT Media Lab. He is working on developing technologies and tools for 'analysing and engineering brain circuits' – to reveal which brain neurons are involved in different cognitive processes and using this knowledge to treat brain disorders."

"As of this school year, the physical education department is formally conferring pirate status on students, printing certificates on faux parchment with diploma-esque calligraphy."

"Habitual action via this cycle (cue, routine, reward) is a common phenomenon. It happens with everything from locking your front door to driving to work. It happens with eating and dieting, too."

"Your windows, curtains and wallpaper may soon start harvesting energy from sunlight as it spills into your room thanks to a prize-winning inventor who is putting solar cells on just about any surface."

"In our weekly sports conversation, we talk Harvard going to the 'big dance,' MIT crashing the 'little dance' and new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine."

"By 2017, HP hopes to build a computer chip that includes 256 microprocessors tied together with beams of light."