Wired reporter Kathryn Nave speaks with research scientist Sheperd Doeleman about the Event Horizon Telescope project, which is aimed at imaging a black hole using telescopes stationed around the world. "We have good evidence there are black holes at the center of galaxies just from the orbits of stars around them, but we've never actually seen one," Doeleman explains.
The writers and editors of Science named the successful detection of gravitational waves by researchers from MIT, Caltech and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration as their top breakthrough of 2016. Science reporter Adrian Cho writes that “physicists are eagerly anticipating what may come next, because gravitational waves promise an entirely new way to peer into the cosmos.”
A study co-authored by Prof. Kristin Bergmann finds that nacre or mother-of-pearl can provide information about historical ocean temperatures, writes Kavya Balaraman for Scientific American. The researchers found that the layers of mother-of-pearl “provide a good estimation of the temperatures they grow in.”
TIME reporter Alice Park writes about a study by Prof. John Gabrieli that shows that the difficulty people with dyslexia experience when reading could be caused by reduced plasticity in the brain. “We need to figure out a curriculum or approach that matches the differences they have,” explains Gabrieli.
A new study co-authored by Prof. John Gabrieli shows that the brains of people with dyslexia respond differently not only to words, but also objects and faces, reports Felice Freyer for The Boston Globe. The findings point to “the core biological difference in the brains of people with dyslexia,” explains Prof. John Gabrieli.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about creating the perfect cup of coffee, Robert Lee Hotz highlights postdoc Christopher Hendon’s research on the chemistry and physics of coffee making.
In their round up of the top science stories of 2016, Science News highlighted several MIT research breakthroughs. The top story of the year was the successful detection of gravitational waves by researchers from MIT, Caltech and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Another highlight was the discovery by Prof. Susan Solomon that the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is shrinking.
BBC News reporter Soutik Biswas writes that research affiliate Moshe Alamaro will use a jet engine to create updrafts that send emissions to higher altitudes in an effort to make the toxic air in Delhi safer. "This could lead to a successful implementation of a new technology for smog mitigation all over the world," says Alamaro.
Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson writes that four MIT students - Matthew Cavuto, Zachary Hulcher, Kevin Zhou and Daniel Zuo - have been named recipients of the prestigious Marshall scholarships. The MIT group is “the largest delegation of Marshall Scholars named this year from a single school.”
Prof. Janet Conrad discusses what inspired her to study neutrinos, her hunt for the elusive “sterile” neutrino, and her work on the Ghostbusters reboot in this article published by Wired. Conrad notes that “serious research can be a lot of fun. Being fun doesn’t make it less important—those are not mutually exclusive.”
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.”
Writing for Fortune, Prof. Earl Miller makes the case that humans cannot multitask successfully and that trying to do so ruins productivity, causes mistakes and interferes with creativity. “When you try to multitask, you typically don’t get far enough down any road to stumble upon something original because you’re constantly switching and backtracking,” explains Miller.
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.”