Media Lab

Using a new surgical technique, MIT researchers have developed a bionic leg that can be controlled by the body’s own nervous system, reports The Economist. The surgical technique “involved stitching together the ends of two sets of leg muscles in the remaining part of the participants’ legs,” explains The Economist. “Each of these new connections forms a so-called agonist-antagonist myoneural interface, or AMI. This in effect replicates the mechanisms necessary for movement as well as the perception of the limb’s position in space. Traditional amputations, in contrast, create no such pairings.”  

A new surgical approach developed by MIT researchers enables a bionic leg driven by the body’s nervous system to restore a natural walking gait more effectively than other prosthetic limbs, reports Clive Cookson for the Financial Times. “The approach we’re taking is trying to comprehensively connect the brain of the human to the electro-mechanics,” explains Prof. Hugh Herr.  

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have created a new surgical technique and neuroprosthetic interface for amputees that allows a natural walking gait driven by the body’s own nervous system, reports Adam Piore for The Boston Globe. “We found a marked improvement in each patient’s ability to walk at normal levels of speed, to maneuver obstacles, as well as to walk up and down steps and slopes," explains Prof. Hugh Herr. “I feel like I have my leg — like my leg hasn’t been amputated,” shares Amy Pietrafitta, a participant in the clinical trial testing the new approach.

MIT scientists have conducted a trial of a brain controlled bionic limb that improves gait, stability and speed over a traditional prosthetic, reports Hannah Devlin for The Guardian. Prof. Hugh Herr says with natural leg connections preserved, patients are more likely to feel the prosthetic as a natural part of their body. “When the person can directly control and feel the movement of the prosthesis it becomes truly part of the person’s anatomy,” Herr explains. 

DragonBot, an AI tool developed by the MIT Personal Robotics Group, “is designed to teach children empathy and social skills,” reports Neil Sahota for Forbes. “These interactions, while mediated through technology, are invaluable in nurturing the social and emotional growth of children,” writes Sahota.

Prof. Hugh Herr joins the BBC’s Shiona McCallum to discuss a program by the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics aimed at bringing prosthetics to those who suffered forced amputations during the Sierra Leone Civil War. “When we train a young person on how to construct an arm or leg prothesis we’ve impacted the country for solidly forty years,” Herr says. “That person’s going to be living in that country and contributing to their community for a very long time. That’s exciting.” 

MIT researchers have discovered “a new way to interfere with a certain bacterial enzyme that may lead to a new class of antibiotics,” reports Meryl Davids Landau for National Geographic. 

Tomás Vega SM '19 is CEO and co-founder of Augmental, a startup helping people with movement impairments interact with their computer devices, reports Popular Science’s Andrew Paul. Seeking to overcome the limitations of most brain-computer interfaces, the company’s first product is the MouthPad, leveraging the tongue muscles.“Our hope is to create an interface that is multimodal, so you can choose what works for you,” said Vega. “We want to be accommodating to every condition.”

Prof. Tod Machover joins GBH’s The Culture Show to discuss artificial intelligence in music, from exciting new tools to debates about licensing. Speaking with host Jared Bowen, he says “the field is changing so fast right now, it’s so important to keep up and also to decide how to influence it, because we’re trying to push this towards a positive end.”

Researchers at MIT have designed an “AI-powered chatbot that simulates a user’s older self and dishes out observations and pearls of wisdom,” reports Ian Sample for The Guardian. “The goal is to promote long-term thinking and behavior change,” says graduate student Pat Pataranutaporn. “This could motivate people to make wiser choices in the present that optimize for their long-term wellbeing and life outcomes.”

Reporting in Portuguese, Correio Braziliense highlights researchers at MIT who have developed a new technique that uses light stimuli to benefit people with paralysis or amputations. “Our work could help bring the use of optogenetics closer to humans in the realm of neuroprosthetics that control paralyzed muscles and other functions of the peripheral nervous system,” says graduate student Guillermo Herrera-Arcos. 

Scientific American’s Nick Hilden reports on the influence that popular narratives have on our collective perceptions. Graduate student Pat Pataranutaporn notes: “why do we always imagine science fiction to be a dystopia? Why can’t we imagine science fiction that gives us hope?”

NOVA program host Alok Patel explores the benefits of sharing personal data without compromising personal privacy. He visits Prof. Ramesh Raskar’s Camera Culture Lab, where Raskar discusses the concept of “smashing data” - the process of extracting useful information while obscuring private data. “Achieving privacy and benefits of the data is available, and it’s just a matter of convincing large companies to play along those rules,” said Raskar.

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have used quantitative and computational methods to analyze animal communication, reports Emily Anthes for The New York Times.

Writing for STAT, Prof. Kevin Esvelt explores how, “the immense potential benefits of biotechnology are profoundly vulnerable to misuse. A pandemic caused by a virus made from synthetic DNA — or even a lesser instance of synthetic bioterrorism — would not only generate a public health crisis but also trigger crippling restrictions on research.” Esvelt adds: “The world has too much to gain from the life sciences to continue letting just anyone obtain DNA sufficient to cause a pandemic.”