MIT News Newsletter

	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
March 9, 2018
MIT News: top stories
A weekly digest of the Institute’s research and innovation

MIT and newly formed company launch novel approach to fusion power

Goal is for research to produce a working pilot plant within 15 years.

3Q: Zach Hartwig on MIT's big push on fusion

Researchers will work with industrial collaborators to pursue fusion as a source of carbon-free power.

Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories

Research project finds humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for spread of misleading information.

Insulator or superconductor? Physicists find graphene is both

When rotated at a "magic angle," graphene sheets can form an insulator or a superconductor.

New study solves an arthritis drug mystery

MIT biological engineers discover why a promising drug failed in clinical trials.

Viral tool traces long-term neuron activity

New technique is nontoxic to cells, should allow scientists to study neuron function for months or years instead of weeks.

In the Media

WBUR's Bruce Gellerman discusses the latest fusion news out of MIT with Morning Edition host Bob Oakes. "They really do believe that they've got the technology. They've got the science. They've got the engineering. They've got the money. And they're ready to roll," says Gellerman.

This April, NASA will launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, which will measure the masses of at least 50 “potentially Earth-like worlds,” writes Irene Klotz for Scientific American. “We’re finding the particular star that actually potentially hosts an exoplanet around it,” said senior research scientist George Ricker, the lead scientist on TESS.

In an article for Financial Times, CSAIL Director Daniela Rus explains why humans should collaborate rather than compete with AI. “Technology and people do not have to be in competition,” writes Rus. “Collaborating with AI systems, we can augment and amplify many aspects of work and life.”

Prof. John Gabrieli writes about new research that uses brain scans to predict who will be receptive to certain therapies for mental illness. "Brain scans to tailor treatments embody a new form of personalized medicine, an approach that often relies on customizing therapies based on an individual's genetics," Gabrieli writes for Scientific American.