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Paleontologist’s New Theory for Why T. rex Had Such Ridiculously Short Arms

T. rex’s short arms may have lowered risk of bites during feeding frenzies. Over the two decades paleontologist Kevin Padian taught a freshman seminar called The Age of Dinosaurs, one question asked frequently by undergraduates stuck with him: Why are the arms of Tyrannosaurus rex so ridiculously short? He would usually list a range of paleontologists’ proposed hypotheses — for mating, for holding or stabbing prey, for tipping over a Triceratops — but his students, usually staring a lifesize replica in the face, remained dubious. Padian’s usual answer was, “No one knows.” But he also suspected that scholars who had…

Humanity’s Future in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

For the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing Dean Dan Huttenlocher, bringing disciplines together is the best way to address challenges and opportunities posed by rapid advancements in computing. What does it mean to be human in an age where artificial intelligence agents make decisions that shape human actions? That’s a deep question with no easy answers, and it’s been on the mind of Dan Huttenlocher SM ’84, PhD ’88, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, for the past few years. “Advances in AI are going to happen, but the destination that we get to with those advances is…

Newborn Cells in the Epileptic Brain Provide a Potential Target for Anti-Seizure Medications

Altered cells create an electrical “fire” in patients with epilepsy. Credit: BioRender illustration by Aswathy Ammothumkandy/Bonaguidi Lab/USC Stem Cell Over the years, everyone loses a few brain cells. A study led by scientists from USC Stem Cell and the USC Neurorestoration Center presents evidence that adults can replenish at least some of what they’ve lost by generating new brain cells, and that this process is dramatically altered in patients with long-term epilepsy. The findings are published in Nature Neuroscience. “Our study is the first to detail the presence of newborn neurons and an immature version of a related cell type,…

Gain Muscle Mass and Lose Fat: Can Weekly Prednisone Treat Obesity?

Obese mice gain muscle mass and lose fat with once-weekly prednisone. Daily prednisone promotes obesity, but weekly prednisone has ‘strikingly different’ results Weekly prednisone promotes nutrient uptake into muscles and improves lean body mass Many people take daily prednisone for immune conditions, resulting in weight gain and development of diabetes-like side effects Obese mice that were fed a high-fat diet and that received prednisone one time per week had improved exercise endurance, got stronger, increased their lean body mass, and lost weight, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The once-weekly prednisone promoted nutrient…

MIT Uses AI To Discover Hidden Magnetic Properties in Multi-Layered Electronic Material

Lead Image: MIT researchers discovered hidden magnetic properties in multi-layered electronic material by analyzing polarized neutrons using neural networks. Credit: Ella Maru Studio An MIT team incorporates AI to facilitate the detection of an intriguing materials phenomenon that can lead to electronics without energy dissipation. Superconductors have long been considered the principal approach for realizing electronics without resistivity. In the past decade, a new family of quantum materials, “topological materials,” has offered an alternative but promising means for achieving electronics without energy dissipation (or loss). Compared to superconductors, topological materials provide a few advantages, such as robustness against disturbances. To…