Magnetic resonance imaging is an attractive tool for detecting breast cancer, but its slow speed and poor resolution limit its viability. With hardware and software improvements, those problems are fixable: on the hardware end, multiple coils arranged in an array produce more data with less noise. Combined with an interpolation algorithm, that large amount of data can be rapidly processed to better serve patients: To create sharp images quickly, Kyung Sung, a researcher working with [Brian Hargreaves, principal investigator and assistant professor of radiology at Stanford], has developed a process that does more with less information. A conventional breast MRI scan takes up to an hour because of the large amount […]

Here’s another great talk — by Tony DeRose, Senior Scientist and head of the Research Group at Pixar Animation Studios — at the recent “Computation and the Transformation of Practically Everything” symposium commemorating MIT’s 150th anniversary celebration. DeRose stepped through the 80-year history of computer animation, with examples from Beauty and the Beast, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc. Animation started about 80 years ago… with the Walt Disney Studio, where they really invented what later became an art form. Steamboat Willie was one of the first milestones, and, in this era, the only real technology was pencil, paper, and film. So, the artist would draw a complete drawing, including outlines and shading, for […]

Just a heads up that NSF’s CISE Directorate has issued solicitations for its core programs: Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) — Algorithmic Foundations, Communications and Information Foundations, and Software and Hardware Foundations. Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) — Human-Centered Computing, Information Integration and Informatics, Robust Intelligence, and Computer Graphics and Visualization. Computer and Network Systems (CNS) — Computer Systems Research (to include cloud computing, embedded and hybrid systems, pervasive computing, sustainable computing) and Networking Technology and Systems. As in the recent past, deadlines for small, medium, and large proposals are later this fall. To learn more, click on a link above to view the division’s core programs. (Contributed by Erwin […]

At the Brookings Institution last week, Larry Summers, former head of the National Economic Council, and Eric Lander, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), discussed the role of government in fostering innovation — as well as the impact of science and technology R&D on the economy. Among the highlights, Lander discussed the long lead time in basic R&D investments: So current productivity is a lagging indicator of good investments made 25 years ago, perhaps. Where does, say, the information technology productivity that we celebrate today come from? You’re going to trace that all the way back to DARPA — to the DoD in the 1950s […]

A superb talk by Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, at TED ’11. “The mobility model that we have today simply will not work tomorrow … We need an integrated system that uses real-time data to optimize personal mobility on a massive scale.” Start at 8:10 after the jump…

Earlier this week, Google released a new report on energy innovation, in which it imagined a number of different possible energy scenarios for the U.S. Google concluded that energy innovation can grow the U.S. economy by $155 billion/year, create 1.1 million new net jobs, and save consumers almost $1000/year, while simultaneously reducing our oil consumption by 1.1 billion barrels/year and our green house emissions by 13%. The report didn’t delve into any specific technological breakthroughs — though we can all think of the many ways in which IT R&D is key here: Since predicting the probability, timing and magnitude of breakthroughs is likely to be impossible we assumed breakthroughs as fact and […]