MIT News Newsletter

	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
May 25, 2018
MIT News: top stories
A weekly digest of the Institute’s research and innovation

Ingestible “bacteria on a chip” could help diagnose disease

Ultra-low-power sensors carrying genetically engineered bacteria can detect gastric bleeding.

Albatross robot takes flight

Autonomous glider can fly like an albatross, cruise like a sailboat.

Gauging language proficiency through eye movement

Study tracks eye movement to determine how well people understand English as a foreign language.

“Living drug factories” may one day replace injections

Startup develops implantable, encased cells that live in the body and secrete insulin and other therapeutics.

Researchers develop virtual-reality testing ground for drones

With new system, drones navigate through an empty room, avoiding crashes while “seeing” a virtual world.

A single-injection vaccine for the polio virus

Nanoparticles could offer a new way to help eradicate the disease worldwide.

In the Media

MIT researchers have developed an ingestible capsule that uses genetically engineered bacteria to detect potential health problems, reports Carla Johnson for the Associated Press. The researchers hope the capsule could eventually be used to, “find signs of ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease or even colon cancer.”

During this episode of NOVA Wonders, Professors Kristala Jones Prather and Kevin Esvelt discuss the future of genetic engineering. Speaking about the evolution of the biotech industry, Prather explains that, "the key observation that really fueled the entire biotech industry was recognizing that D.N.A. is really just a chemical, and the structure is what matters.”

NASA’s planet-hunting satellite TESS has “snapped its first test shot — an incredibly clear, star-studded image centered on the Southern constellation of Centaurus,” writes Bruce Dorminey for Forbes. “We are truly excited about how well the TESS cameras are working,” said George Ricker, the mission’s principal investigator and a senior research scientist at MIT’s Kavli Institute.