Not new - see Mercury Redstone program (Score 1)

The suits used in the Mercury Redstone program also used mechanical counter-pressure. The modern elastic materials were not available then, so mechanical pressure was provided by miles of shoe-lace style ties up and down the legs, torso and arms. It was a long and laborious process to get in or out of one of these suits, and required a ground grew to suit up an astronaut (or U-2, X-15 pilot, etc.) before a high-altitude, low pressure flight.

Kudos to the fine folks at MIT, but again, they have done nothing new.

The first human in space was piloting an X-15 while the rocket program was still producing some rather impressive fireworks displays.