Author: Ms. R.

Nearly 20 years ago, scientists developed ways to stimulate or silence neurons by shining light on them. This technique, known as optogenetics, allows researchers to discover the functions of specific neurons and how they communicate with other neurons to form circuits. Building on that technique, MIT and Harvard University researchers have now devised a way to achieve longer-term changes in neuron activity. With their new strategy, they can use light exposure to change the electrical capacitance of the neurons’……

Read More

Three MIT seniors — Sara V. Fernandez, Amanda Hu, and Brigette Wang — have been named 2024 Schwarzman Scholars and will join the program’s eighth cohort, consisting of 151 scholars from 36 countries. The students were selected from a pool of over 3,000 applicants. Schwarzman Scholars pursue a master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The fellowship program aims to develop leadership skills and deepen understanding of China’s changing role in the world. Candidates are chosen……

Read More

The manufacturing industry (largely) welcomed artificial intelligence with open arms. Less of the dull, dirty, and dangerous? Say no more. Planning for mechanical assemblies still requires more than scratching out some sketches, of course — it’s a complex conundrum that means dealing with arbitrary 3D shapes and highly constrained motion required for real-world assemblies.  Human engineers, understandably, need to jump in the ring and manually design assembly plans and instructions before sending the parts to assembly lines, and this……

Read More

Searching the internet can reveal information a user would rather keep private. For instance, when someone looks up medical symptoms online, they could reveal their health conditions to Google, an online medical database like WebMD, and perhaps hundreds of these companies’ advertisers and business partners. For decades, researchers have been crafting techniques that enable users to search for and retrieve information from a database privately, but these methods remain too slow to be effectively used in practice. MIT researchers……

Read More

Today’s protests in Iran have been cited as the biggest threat the Islamic Republic has faced since it seized power in 1979. Ignited over the regime’s mandatory veiling of women and the recent death of Mahsa Amini while in morality police custody, the uprising is rooted in the Iranian people’s long struggle for freedom, says Pouya Alimagham Alimagham, a historian of the modern Middle East. In his research, Alimagham, an expert on Iran, Iraq, and the Levant, explores such……

Read More

The noise of a construction site often annoys the people living and working nearby. But at MIT, it can lead to creativity and innovation. Such was the case with the creation of the new well-being graduate resident advisor (WGRA) role at MacGregor House. With the construction of a new apartment in the residence hall, heads-of-house Professor Larry Sass and his wife, psychologist Terry Sass, saw the apartment as an opportunity to add a graduate resident advisor (GRA). In discussions……

Read More

The School of Science has announced that 10 of its faculty members have been appointed to named professorships. The faculty members selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers. Camilla Cattania has been named a Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Her research uses theoretical and computational methods to better understand how faults slip during and between earthquakes, with a focus on……

Read More