In the Media

"The New Year's countdown to the moon has begun."

"The prolonged economic slump has fueled a surge in applications for Social Security disability benefits, with many desperate Americans seeking refuge in the program as a last resort after their unemployment insurance and savings run out."

"President Obama said Tuesday that he would nominate Jeremy C. Stein, a Harvard economist, and Jerome H. Powell, a former private equity executive, to fill the two vacant seats on the Federal Reserve’s board."

"These days, it is often not enough for pharmaceutical companies simply to bring a drug to market. Regulators and insurers are also prodding the companies to develop tests to pinpoint which patients are most likely to benefit from a drug, thereby sparing other patients from needless side effects and expense."

"Despite being well studied, Earth's closest neighbor remains an enigma."

"Even before Space Odyssey, tablet computers had already appeared in 1966 on the original Star Trek."

"Compared with a metal scalpel, carbon dioxide laser cuts are shallower, which means patients experience less postoperative pain, heal more quickly, and scar less."

"Most photovoltaic solar cells have an inherent efficiency cap, limiting how much useful energy they can extract from the sun. But scientists are finding ways around this obstacle with new research that could make solar energy more efficient and more cost-effective."

"The taxpayers ought to get better returns from all the research they fund, with more commercial spin-offs. The vast wealth creation inspired by superstar institutions such as Stanford and MIT shows the way."

"Developers of the next-big social networking application stand a greater chance at skyrocketing success if Hollywood stars and big media go gaga over it, according to an analysis of Twitter's meteoric rise in popularity."

"In a year of exoplanet excitement, one astronomer is already asking what comes next."

"MITx will go far beyond OpenCourseWare."

"The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently announced the launch of a new program called MITx, according to its website."

"That find and the current one 'are two big checkmarks' for the Kepler mission, says team member Sara Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge."

"MIT is announcing that for the first time it will offer credentials — under the name 'MITx' — to students who complete the online version of certain courses, starting with a pilot program this spring."