The Washington Post’s Editorial Board writes about the importance of MIT’s survey examining sexual misconduct. “By undertaking such a detailed fact-finding mission — and publishing the results — MIT has signaled that it is serious about finding solutions, and it offered a model that other institutions would do well to emulate.”
The Tech calls on students to take strong action to combat sexual assault, following the results of a survey examining sexual misconduct at MIT. “To quote President Reif, sexual assault ‘has no place here’,” writes The Tech. “But if the entire effort is to have a chance at success, students cannot opt out of this conversation — and that’s on us.”
WBUR speaks with Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart about the actions MIT is taking following the release of a survey examining sexual misconduct at MIT. “We have a very long history of approaching problems in exactly this way. We measure by getting data and facts, and then we develop our action plan,” says Barnhart.
WGBH examines the survey released by MIT on Monday that polled students about their attitudes and experiences with sexual assault on campus. “The poll is the first of its kind for the MIT community, and it goes beyond the scope of similar studies at other colleges and universities,” Kirk Carapezza and Mallory Noe-Payne report.
Matt Rocheleau of The Boston Globe writes about the results of a climate survey on sexual assault released by MIT Monday. “With its comprehensive survey, MIT became the highest-profile college to put such a specific estimate on the prevalence of sexual violence on campus, amid heightened national attention on the issue,” writes Rocheleau.
Kath Xu of The Tech reports on the new Institute policies and programs designed to combat sexual assault, which were announced following a survey sent to all undergraduate and graduate students at MIT. “We’ve already made a commitment to increase resources so that we can increase education and support,” explains Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart.
Rona Kobell writes for The Boston Globe writes about her experience at MIT’s annual Food Boot Camp. Attendees “learn about all aspects of food science, from our increasing resistance to antibiotics to why it’s so hard to remove dangerous bacteria from spinach.”
Thomas Burton of The Wall Street Journal writes that MIT researchers were among those awarded the first research grants under President Obama’s new BRAIN Initiative. Burton writes that one of the MIT grants will go toward “determining which exact brain circuits are involved in generating short-term memories that influence decisions.”
Boston Globe reporter Deborah Kotz writes that MIT researchers have been awarded new grants from the National Institutes of Health to further brain research. “Biophysicist Alan Jasanoff received a grant to develop imaging agents for functional MRI imaging that would target the flow of calcium into and out of brain cells,” writes Kotz of one of the MIT grants.
MIT neuroscientists were among the recipients of new grants for brain research from the National Institutes of Health, reports Jon Hamilton for NPR. Hamilton explains that as part of one grant, “Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will try to adapt functional MRI so that it can show the activity of individual brain cells.”
Lauren Leamanczyk reports for CBS Boston on organjet.com, a website created by Professor Sridhar Tayur that helps patients determine where waiting times for organ transplants are shorter. Tayur says that the system can cut years off the time a patient spends on the list.
Kat McGowan of The Scientific American cites research by Professor Angelica Amon that indicates recent findings may overestimate the amount of genetic variation in healthy human bodies. “Having the wrong chromosome number is not a good thing,” says Amon.
Lina Zeldovich of The Atlantic writes about how Prof. Eric Alm and one of his graduate students tracked their bacterial fluctuations for a year to better understand how daily activities influenced their microbiome. “We just don’t know much about the functional role of any of these bugs,” says Alm.
David Pogue of the PBS show NOVA examines Professor Paula Hammond’s work developing a new type of vaccine that delivers a DNA patch via tiny microscopic needles. Using DNA as the vaccine is a “very unique but also very powerful” approach, Hammond explains.
Dietary changes can alter human gut bacteria, Mary Elizabeth Dallas reports in a U.S. News & World Report article on a new MIT study on the role of bacteria in the digestive tract. “These fluctuations could lead to monitoring systems that might help detect and ease flare-ups for people with certain chronic illnesses, such as inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease),” Dallas writes.