MIT researchers have developed a new algorithm to create videos from still images, writes G. Clay Whittaker for Popular Science. “The system "learns" types of videos (beach, baby, golf swing...) and, starting from still images, replicates the movements that are most commonly seen in those videos,” Whittaker explains.
Writing for The New York Times, Katie Hafner highlights how MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain that they believe could be responsible for producing feelings of loneliness. Hafner explains that “the region, known as the dorsal raphe nucleus, or D.R.N., is best known for its link to depression.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Kevin Hartnett explores a study co-authored by Prof. Danny Fox that examines why children confuse the words “and” and “or.” The researchers found that “children may conduct exactly the same logical process as adults, but arrive at different conclusions because they run that process over a narrower set of alternative sentences.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Colleen Flaherty writes that researchers from MIT and around the world are publicly defending the late Prof. Suzanne Corkin’s work with patient H.M. in response to a highly critical publication. When “so many scholars rise to defend the reputation of a deceased colleague,” says Arthur Caplan, head of NYU’s Division of Bioethics, “that speaks volumes both about her and the problems that exist in the book.”
Mary Beth Griggs writes for Popular Science that CSAIL researchers have created an algorithm that can predict human interaction. Griggs explains that the algorithm could “lead to artificial intelligence that is better able to react to humans or even security cameras that could alert authorities when people are in need of help.”
Dan Misener writes for CBC News that CSAIL researchers have developed an algorithm that can predict interactions between two people. PhD student Carl Vondrick explains that the algorithm is "learning, for example, that when someone's hand is outstretched, that means a handshake is going to come."
CSAIL researchers have trained a deep-learning program to predict interactions between two people, writes Hope King for CNN. “Ultimately, MIT's research could help develop robots for emergency response, helping the robot assess a person's actions to determine if they are injured or in danger,” King explains.
CBC News reporter Paul Cote Jay writes about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that examines why children often have trouble distinguishing the words “or” from “and.” Jay explains that the researchers found that while adults and children go through a similar process to interpret statements, “children are just missing one step.”
Wired reporter Emily Reynolds writes that MIT neuroscientists have identified the region of the brain that generates a feeling of loneliness. The researchers found that the “DRN, near the back of the brain, hosts a cluster of cells that the team say is responsible for generating increased sociability after periods of isolation.”
In a piece for The Washington Post, Jay Van Bavel and Mina Cikara highlight a new paper co-authored by MIT Professor Rebecca Saxe and Dr. Emile Bruneau that examines public displays of schadenfreude, in which people exhibit pleasure at others’ pain. The researchers found that such behavior is a consequence of basic group dynamics.