Writing for Wired, Juan Enriquez highlights the MIT Center for Extreme Bionics, which was launched in an effort to develop technologies that augment human performance and could help eliminate disabilities. Enriquez writes that the center’s “long-term ambitions are breathtaking.”
KQED reporter Queena Sook Kim highlights Code Next, a program created by researchers from the Media Lab and Google aimed at encouraging high school students to learn to code through the process of making. “Coding is also making, and it takes the same problem-solving skills as making stuff in real life,” Kim explains.
Guardian reporter Mark Harris writes about research scientist Caleb Harper’s work developing sensor-controlled systems that could allow farmers to grow food in varying conditions around the world. Harper has also developed a system to share data on optimal growing conditions in the hopes of providing “access to biology in the same way that HTML gave us access to the internet.”
Grace Leslie, a Media Lab visiting scientist, is creating music using the signals produced by the electrical activity of her brain and changes in her heart rate, writes Richard Gray for BBC Future. Leslie believes that this new form of musical expression “could be used to help those who have difficulty interacting with the world, such as those with autism.”
MIT researchers have found that flashing lights could potentially be used to stave off Alzheimer’s disease, writes Oscar Williams for The Huffington Post. “Light stimulation directed to the hippocampus, the part of the brain that processes memories, led to a reduction of…beta amyloid,” which is found in Alzheimer’s disease.
Financial Times reporter Clive Cookson writes that MIT researchers have found evidence that flashing lights could potentially be used as a noninvasive treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that “lights flashing on and off 40 times per second restored ‘gamma oscillation’ waves that were suppressed in the disease.”
MIT researchers have found that flashing light may reduce the buildup of beta amyloid protein in the brain, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, writes Michelle Roberts for the BBC News. The researchers hope that “clearing beta amyloid and stopping more plaques from forming could halt Alzheimer's and its symptoms.”
Writing for The Atlantic, Ed Yong spotlights a study by MIT researchers that identifies a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s – using pulses of light to stimulate brain waves. Yong writes that the study “heralds a completely new approach to dealing with Alzheimer’s—changing neural activity, rather than delivering drugs or chemicals.”
MIT researchers have found that exposure to flickering lights at a precise frequency may help fight off Alzheimer’s disease, reports Melissa Healy for The Los Angeles Times. The technique recruits “neurons and other cell types in the brain to sort of enable the brain’s inner ability to repair itself,” explains Prof. Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute.
Guardian reporter Hannah Devlin writes about a new study by MIT researchers that shows that strobe lighting can reduce levels of toxic proteins found in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that “exposure to flickering light stimulated brain waves, called gamma oscillations, that are known to be disturbed in Alzheimer’s patients.”
In an article for The New York Times, Joi Ito, director of the Media Lab, underscores the need to create new technologies that are not only smart, but also socially responsible. “Unless we embed ethical and moral grounding, technology meant to advance our well-being could, in fact, end up amplifying the worst aspects of our society,” Ito explains.
Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray writes about “Whiplash,” a book co-written by Media Lab Director Joi Ito that encourages people to become more creative and innovative to keep up with technological changes. Bray writes that “Whiplash” is, “a reliable guidebook for companies and individuals in an era of ever-changing machines, technologies, and life.”
Wired reporter Liz Stinson writes about Vespers, a series of 3-D printed death masks designed by researchers in the MIT Mediated Matter group. “The team used fluid dynamics modeling software, colorful, translucent resins, and a high-resolution, multi-material 3-D printer to produce hues, forms, and textures that look surprisingly organic—despite the masks’ association with death.”
In this Atlantic video, Caleb Harper, a research scientist at the Media Lab, speaks about how farming will change as more people begin moving to cities. Harper explains that if individuals are enabled to grow fresh food, “then countries that import a lot of their own foods now can start to build up a capacity within their border.”
CNN’s Jessica Ravitz describes how MIT researchers are working with surgeons from Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital to outfit a patient with a prosthetic limb that can be controlled by the brain. The patient will have “wireless sensors implanted in his muscles, which will integrate with the robotic prosthetic being created for him.”