When moving through a crowd to reach some end goal, humans can usually navigate the space safely without thinking too much. They can learn from the behavior of others and note any obstacles to avoid. Robots, on the other hand, struggle with such navigational concepts. MIT researchers have now devised a way to help robots […]
When we open our eyes in the morning and take in that first scene of the day, we don’t give much thought to the fact that our brain is processing the objects within our field of view with great efficiency and that it is compensating for a lack of information about our surroundings — all in […]
The MIT School of Science recently welcomed 10 new professors, including Ila Fiete in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Ila Fiete uses computational and theoretical tools to better understand the dynamical mechanisms and coding strategies that underlie computation in the brain, with a […]
Molecular biologist Feng Zhang has been named a winner of the prestigious Keio Medical Science Prize. He is being recognized for the groundbreaking development of CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome engineering in cells and its application for medical science. Zhang is the James and Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, an associate professor in the departments of Brain […]
The Bert L and N Kuggie Vallee Foundation has named McGovern Institute investigator Mark Harnett a 2018 Vallee Scholar. The Vallee Scholars Program recognizes original, innovative, and pioneering work by early career scientists at a critical juncture in their careers and provides $300,000 in discretionary funds to be spent over four years for basic biomedical research. […]
McGovern Institute scientist wins prize celebrating outstanding and creative achievements made in the life and medical sciences.
Dopamine, a signaling molecule used throughout the brain, plays a major role in regulating our mood, as well as controlling movement. Many disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, depression, and schizophrenia, are linked to dopamine deficiencies. MIT neuroscientists have now devised a way to measure dopamine in the brain for more than a year, which they believe […]
Why is it that motor skills can be gained after paralysis but vision cannot recover in similar ways? – Ajay, Puppala Thank you so much for this very important question, Ajay. To answer, I asked two local experts in the field, Pawan Sinha who runs the vision research lab at MIT, and Xavier Guell, a […]
This is a very interesting question sent to us by Gabriel Castellanos (thank you!) Many of us gesture with our hands when we speak (and even when we do not) as a form of non-verbal communication. How hand gestures are coordinated with speech remains unclear. In part, it is difficult to monitor natural hand gestures […]
Ann Graybiel has recently uncovered the plan underlying development of the complex architecture of the striatum.
