In the Media

"New research out of MIT shows that going electric could save urban delivery fleets some serious money in the long term, as long as their trucks end up giving power back to the grid when they’re not in use."

"Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered the secrets behind the strength of spider silk and webs, and it could change the way engineered structures like bridges, planes, and even Internet servers are built."

"The recent announcement that Massachusetts Institute of Technology would give certificates around free online course materials has fueled further debate about whether employers may soon welcome new kinds of low-cost credentials."

"In Connectome: How the brain's wiring makes us who we are, Sebastian Seung explores the mapping of our circuitry and how much it can tell us about ourselves."

"Scott Aaronson, a scientist at MIT who works mostly with theoretical quantum computers, issued a challenge to all of those deniers out there: prove that 'scalable quantum computing is impossible in the physical world,' and Aaronson will personally pony up $100,000 to the winner."

"For millions of people in the developing world, one thing stands between them and a job or an education: a good pair of glasses."

"A while back, the MIT economist Andrew Lo set out to review a couple books about the financial crisis. Those books led to a couple more books, which led — you see where this is going — to 17 more books."

"Anyone who’s had a blazing insight in the shower or leaped ahead at work after a languorous vacation recognizes that sometimes, the path to creative insight isn’t a direct line."

"Every day we recall the past, perceive the present and imagine the future. How do our brains accomplish these feats? It's safe to say that nobody really knows," Sebastian Seung (of MIT) writes early in "Connectome," his exploration of how researchers have at least made a start toward understanding how those feats are accomplished.

"Social-media neophytes need not fret. The brains behind a new study have provided a how-to guide in acquiring Twitter-savvy skills and more importantly, avoiding the oh-so irritating tweet habits."

"Since the phenomenon of 'word blindness' was first documented more than a century ago, scientists have searched for the causes of dyslexia, and for therapies to treat it."

"Everyone seems to be talking about a crisis in manufacturing."

"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are replacing boots on the ground in some wars. Commercially, UAVs are being used for things like crop-dusting and flood mapping."

"(Juergen) Steimle has recently left the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, to join the Fluid Interfaces group at MIT's Media Lab. He has developed a range of ways to use the folds in foldable displays to create some quite novel forms of interaction."

"Spider silk is well known for some spectacular properties. It is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar yet flexible enough to be spun into a wide variety of shapes. New research shows that the material is not only strong but also smart."