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Parallel programming may not be so daunting
Mon, 24/03/2014 - 15:00 — tpatchettComputer chips have stopped getting faster: The regular performance improvements we’ve come to expect are now the result of chipmakers’ adding more cores, or processing units, to their chips, rather than increasing their clock speed.In theory, doubling the number of cores doubles the chip’s efficiency, but splitting up computations so that they run efficiently in parallel isn’t easy. On the other hand, say a trio of computer scientists from MIT, Israel’s Technion, and Microsoft Research, neither is it as hard as had been feared.
Engineers design ‘living materials’
Mon, 24/03/2014 - 05:00 — tpatchettInspired by natural materials such as bone — a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells — MIT engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots.These “living materials” combine the advantages of live cells, which respond to their environment, produce complex biological molecules, and span multiple length scales, with the benefits of nonliving materials, which add functions such as conducting electricity or emitting light.
3 Questions: John Tirman on the warming U.S.-Iran relationship
Fri, 21/03/2014 - 15:00 — tpatchettThe U.S. and Iran have had a largely antagonistic relationship since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Could that be changing? In January, Iran and a U.S.-led group of six global powers agreed to an interim six-month deal that freezes Iran’s nuclear weapons program, in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions. The progress on the issue indicates that U.S.-Iran difficulties are not wholly intractable, suggests John Tirman, a principal research scientist and executive director of MIT’s Center for International Studies.
Cells get ready for their close-up
Fri, 21/03/2014 - 15:00 — tpatchettIn 2007, MIT scientists developed a type of microscopy that allowed them to detail the interior of a living cell in three dimensions, without adding any fluorescent markers or other labels. This technique also revealed key properties, such as the cells’ density.Now the researchers have adapted that method so they can image cells as they flow through a tiny microfluidic channel — an important step toward cell-sorting systems that could help scientists separate stem cells at varying stages of development, or to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous cells.
Patrick McGovern, founder of McGovern Institute for Brain Research, dies at 76
Fri, 21/03/2014 - 02:45 — tpatchettPatrick J. McGovern ’59, a longstanding MIT supporter who made the gift that launched MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, died March 19 at the age of 76. As an MIT undergraduate, McGovern studied biophysics and later went on to found International Data Group (IDG), a publisher of computer-related news, information, and research.
Polls open for Tasmanian election
Sat, 15/03/2014 - 08:14 — tpatchettDaniel Morcombe's killer should serve more than 20 years, says judge
Sat, 15/03/2014 - 08:01 — tpatchett