MIT News Newsletter

	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
October 6, 2017
MIT News: top stories
A weekly digest of the Institute’s research and innovation

MIT physicist Rainer Weiss shares Nobel Prize in physics

LIGO inventor and professor emeritus of physics recognized “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.”

Biologists identify possible new strategy for halting brain tumors

Cutting off a process that cancerous cells rely on can force them to stop growing.

“Superhero” robot wears different outfits for different tasks

Shape-shifting device from CSAIL can walk, roll, sail, and glide using recyclable exoskeletons.

Fast-moving magnetic particles could enable new form of data storage

Recently discovered phenomenon could provide a way to bypass the limits to Moore’s Law.

How philosophy can solve your midlife crisis

MIT professor Kieran Setiya’s book “Midlife” aims to smooth out the rocky road of middle age.

New test rapidly diagnoses Zika

Paper-based diagnostic avoids false positives from Dengue fever and other related viruses.

In the Media

WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman profiles Nobel laureate Prof. Emeritus Rainer Weiss, noting that his “stories of accomplishments and failure are legendary at MIT.” Prof. Peter Fisher, head of the Physics Department, says that Weiss, "is a tremendously intelligent man, but he’s got more perseverance, I think, than anyone else.”

President L. Rafael Reif spoke with Bloomberg’s Peter Barnes about the future of work and stressed the importance of education in preparing workers for an ever-changing job market. Reif said that MIT’s MicroMasters programs offer students an opportunity to, “learn something new and train yourself for the jobs of the future.”

CSAIL researchers have developed a virtual reality system that allows operators to control robots remotely, reports Anthony Cuthbertson for Newsweek. The system, “uses off-the-shelf gaming and VR technology to place users in a virtual cockpit, making it more flexible and user-friendly compared to previous systems.”