Brain and cognitive sciences

Brain regions that grew significantly thicker in reading-disabled children whose reading improved after an intensive summer treatment program, as shown in the red and yellow areas. Neither a control group nor children who did not respond to treatment exhibited changes in brain structure.”

Socioeconomic background linked to reading improvement

Dyslexic children from lower-income families benefit more from summer reading intervention.

June 11, 2017

A GelSight sensor attached to a robot’s gripper enables the robot to determine precisely where it has grasped a small screwdriver, removing it from and inserting it back into a slot, even when the gripper screens the screwdriver from the robot’s camera.

Giving robots a sense of touch

GelSight technology lets robots gauge objects’ hardness and manipulate small tools.

June 5, 2017

A brain slice that shows the hippocampus cells that were activated by the new stimulation technique (bottom image, lighter green areas on the left)

A noninvasive method for deep brain stimulation

Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

June 1, 2017

Michale Fee receives Fundamental Science Investigator Award

Award will support studies into how the brain learns and generates complex sequential behaviors, with a focus on the songbird as a model system.

May 19, 2017

Professor Michael Cima and his colleagues are now designing brain implants that can not only deliver electrical stimulation but also record brain activity or deliver drugs to very targeted locations.

Making brain implants smaller could prolong their lifespan

Thin fibers could be used to deliver drugs or electrical stimulation, with less damage to the brain.

May 16, 2017

Brain circuit enables split-second decisions when cues conflict

New findings shed light on how we quickly assess risks and rewards before acting.

April 24, 2017

By expanding brain tissue twice, researchers were able to obtain high-resolution images of neurons in the hippocampus.

High-resolution imaging with conventional microscopes

Tissue-expansion technique could allow scientists to map brain circuits.

April 17, 2017

Most applications of deep learning use “convolutional” neural networks, in which the nodes of each layer are clustered, the clusters overlap, and each cluster feeds data to multiple nodes (orange and green) of the next layer.

Explained: Neural networks

Ballyhooed artificial-intelligence technique known as “deep learning” revives 70-year-old idea.

April 14, 2017

Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua PhD '93 delivered a lecture on autonomous driving at MIT on March 27.

Looking ahead to the future of computer-driven cars

Amnon Shashua PhD ’93, co-founder of Mobileye, discusses challenges associated with autonomous vehicles in MIT visit.

April 13, 2017

MIT professors James Collins (left) and Feng Zhang are co-authors of a new paper reporting that an RNA-targeting CRISPR enzyme can be harnessed as a highly sensitive detector able to indicate the presence of as little as a single molecule of a target RNA or DNA.

Scientists unveil CRISPR-based diagnostic platform

New system adapts tool known for gene editing; to be used in rapid, inexpensive disease diagnosis.

April 13, 2017

Eleven from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2017

Prestigious honor society announces 228 new members this year.

April 12, 2017

An MIT study of the neural circuits that underlie memory process reveals, for the first time, that memories are formed simultaneously in the hippocampus and the long-term storage location in the brain’s cortex. This image shows memory engram cells (green and red) which are crucial for permanent memory storage in the prefrontal cortex.

Neuroscientists identify brain circuit necessary for memory formation

New findings challenge standard model of memory consolidation.

April 6, 2017

The extent to which a child learns grammar by listening appears to change over time, with a large increase occurring around age 2 and a leveling off taking place in subsequent years, according to a new study.

Articles of faith

A new study of the words “a” and “the” sheds light on language acquisition.

April 6, 2017

Scientists identify brain circuit that drives pleasure-inducing behavior

Surprisingly, the neurons are located in a brain region thought to be linked with fear.

March 22, 2017

Senior Lorraine Wong is the 2017 recipient of the MIT Collier Medal.

Lorraine Wong awarded 2017 MIT Collier Medal

MIT senior in brain and cognitive sciences and women's and gender studies honored for community work supporting mental health and women in STEM.

March 21, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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