MIT

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Getting into Harvard not as Easy as P-R-E-P

Elite colleges taking more students from abroad, public schools

(Newser) - Ivy-League-seeking parents beware: admissions officers at top schools around the country are looking for more than just the private-school preppie. While private and prep schools still lead the way, a growing percentage of students at elite universities are public school grads and international scholars, the Wall Street Journal reveals. At...

College Gets Podcasted
College Gets Podcasted
Nov 24, 2007 2:30 PM CST

College Gets Podcasted

Apple serves up free education with iTunes U

(Newser) - Want to attend Yale for free? Thanks to Apple, you sort of can. Many colleges, including Yale, Stanford and MIT, now offer free lecture downloads through iTunes U. You won’t get a diploma, but thousands of non-traditional learners don’t mind, the LA Times reports. “They thirst for...

MIT Sues Gehry for Negligence
MIT Sues
Gehry for Negligence
Nov 6, 2007 5:35 PM CST

MIT Sues Gehry for Negligence

Architect's $15M design for campus building called 'deficient'

(Newser) - One of the most famous buildings on the MIT campus is plagued by design flaws, the school says, and it has sued Frank Gehry, alleging the world-famous architect provided "deficient design services" for the $300 million project. The university paid Gehry $15 million to design the Stata Center, which...

New Clothing Senses, Reports Domestic Abuse

Computerized web in lining of garments records external forces

(Newser) - Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created clothing designs that can detect domestic abuse, the Discovery Channel reports. Under the lining of garments equipped with the system, such as a hoodie prototype, is a web of fabric-based pressure sensors that can deliver specific information about the intensity and geography...

It's a Plane! It's a Car! It's ...
It's a Plane! It's a Car! It's ...
Oct 11, 2007 6:33 AM CDT

It's a Plane! It's a Car! It's ...

A Massachusetts company's breakthrough makes aero-auto hybrids a closer reality

(Newser) - A new vehicle suitable for both air and road travel could be available within two years, reports MIT's Technology Review. By recently producing the world's first automated folding wing, Massachusetts company Terrafugia, Inc. came a step closer to creating the Transition, a "light sport aircraft" that works on the...

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free
Sep 24, 2007 6:23 AM CDT

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO buyers will be asked to buy 2nd laptop for needy children

(Newser) - Americans will be asked to buy XO laptops in pairs—one for themselves and one for a child in a developing nation. Organizers of the "One Laptop Per Child" program hope to distribute laptops to millions of Third World schoolchildren this way. The combined cost of the pair of...

MIT Student Wears Fake Bomb to Airport

Woman arrested at gunpoint says circuit board is 'art'

(Newser) - An MIT student was arrested today at the Boston airport wearing a device that appeared to be a bomb. Police armed with machine guns took her into custody and determined that the circuit board on her chest was harmless. “Thankfully because she followed our instructions, she ended up in...

Colleges Don’t Care if Kids Can Write

At least on the SAT, where you may need only write long words

(Newser) - The hours and dollars spent on SAT writing preparation might be for naught, the Boston Globe reports, as 56% of four-year colleges don’t even use the newest section of the aptitude test. Skeptics find fuel in a study showing that big words were all it took to achieve near-perfect...

$100 Laptop Price Hits $188
$100 Laptop Price Hits $188
Sep 15, 2007 9:01 PM CDT

$100 Laptop Price Hits $188

3 million orders, fourth price increase for One Laptop Per Child

(Newser) - The famous but increasingly misnamed “$100 laptop” will actually cost $188—the fourth price increase for the innovative device designed for nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child, reports the AP. While still a bargain, the bump could scare off developing governments fixed on the “fanciful $100-per-child figure,”...

Can You Spare a Gou of Sugar, Neighbor?

Wired offers new ways to measure up to modern life with esoteric units

(Newser) - Everyone knows about inches, minutes and grams, but what about smoots, gous and twips? Now hipsters can turn even more esoteric with these odd measurement units from Wired. The 5-foot, 7-inch "smoot" was born one night when MIT pranksters used a fairly short frat pledge to measure the Harvard...

Scientists Find Switch to Turn On Brain Cells

Breakthrough could treat mental disorders

(Newser) - Neuroscientists are experimenting with switching targeted groups of brain cells on and off using remote-controlled lasers, promising hope for treatment of mental disorders, reports the New York Times. The technique, using cells altered with a photo-sensitive protein called channelrhodopsin-2, could one day be used to treat a host of problems...

The 10 Laws of Design Simplicity
The 10 Laws
of Design Simplicity
Jul 14, 2007 1:01 PM CDT

The 10 Laws of Design Simplicity

MIT expert reveals the secrets of great products and services

(Newser) - In an interview with John Maeda, NPR correspondent Ira Flatow questions the MIT Media Lab designer about his new book, "The Laws of Simplicity." The 10 laws are:
  1. Reduce: Remove functionality
  2. Organize: Organization makes a system of many seem fewer
  3. Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity
  4. Learn:
...

Intel, Third World Laptop Initiative Join Forces

Chip giant makes peace with One Laptop Per Child

(Newser) - Intel and the One Laptop per Child initiative are making peace and embracing the notion of synergy. The chip maker and the pioneer of the $100 laptop concept will stop competing for deals with governments in the developing world and team up, the AP reports. The partnership is a big...

Plane Angry: Fliers Blast Lying Late Stats

Figures don't report delays to passengers, only to planes

(Newser) - Even as the on-time performance of airlines reaches an all-time low, the reality is worse, the New York Times reports. Since they track how late planes are, not how late passengers are, airline statistics don't reflect a good deal of the waiting time—particularly when a passenger misses a connecting...

MIT Scientists Pull the Plug on Electricity

WiTricity will recharge iPods, laptops, and cell phones 15 feet away

(Newser) - Researchers at MIT are getting ready to pull the power cord on your laptop, with wireless electricity—dubbed WiTricity—that would recharge everything from cell phones to iPods from 15 feet away. The team recently lit a 60-watt bulb from 7 feet off, using a carefully designed magnetic field, the...

MIT Makes Programming Child's Play
MIT Makes Programming Child's Play
May 15, 2007 5:36 PM CDT

MIT Makes Programming Child's Play

Computer science goes kid-friendly with a new language, Scratch

(Newser) - The latest programming language to come out of MIT's cutting-edge labs has an unusual audience: sixth-graders. “Scratch” replaces the technobabble of Java and C++ with simplified, jigsaw-shaped pieces of code, which budding programmers can arrange into customized sequences. A test group of 12-year-olds in Massachusetts is already at work...

MIT Admissions Dean Resigns in Bizarre Scandal

After 28 years, popular dean admits faking credentials

(Newser) - The dean of admissions at M.I.T. has resigned after revealing she lied on her resume 28 years ago. Marilee Jones, a college-admissions guru and author of a popular book on combating the pressure to be perfect, claimed degrees from three New York colleges; it turns out she doesn't...

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