| Degradable Polymers | | | | | | MIT chemists have devised a way to synthesize polymers that can break down more readily in the body and in the environment. The materials could be useful for delivering drugs or imaging agents in the body, or as an alternative to some industrial plastics. |
| A new way to remove carbon dioxide from air A process engineered at MIT could work on the gas at any concentrations, from power plant emissions to open air. |  |
|
| 3 Questions: The impact of incarceration on voting Assistant Professor Ariel White finds that even short jail terms are disproportionately pushing African-American voters out of the electorate. |  |
|
| Self-transforming robot blocks jump, spin, flip, and identify each other Developed at MIT CSAIL, the robots can self-assemble to form various structures with applications in inspection, disaster response, and manufacturing. |  |
|
| When kids open her books, the world of science opens, too A background in engineering and a love of writing has led Christine Taylor-Butler ’81 to create STEM-infused books for children. |  |
|
| Double-sided tape for tissues could replace surgical sutures An adhesive that binds wet surfaces within seconds could be used to heal wounds or implant medical devices. |  |
|
| MIT’s very old milk // NPR “It’s kind of fun to think that maybe a future Nobel Prize winner that’s living in the dorm — that they got a little bit of fun, had a little bit of a better time because I forgot about milk in the fridge,” says Justin Cave ’98 of the 25-year-old carton of milk he originally purchased to make macaroni and cheese that has become a “mini-icon on campus.” |
|
| Economic incentives don’t always do what we want them to // The New York Times In an op-ed, professors Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee describe how financial incentives are often ineffective at influencing behavior. |
|
| Worm-like robots could one day build spaceships // Popular Mechanics MIT researchers have developed a system of tiny robots that could be used to assemble giant structures. |
|
| Woodie Flowers, who made science a competitive sport, dies at 75 // The New York Times Professor Emeritus Woodie Flowers was known as “an innovative and flamboyant mechanical engineering professor at MIT ... who championed a hands-on learning philosophy that reshaped engineering and design education.” |
|
| | | High-speed imaging, pioneered by the late MIT professor Harold “Doc” Edgerton, is a common educational tool within the MIT Edgerton Center. This image by undergraduates Kara Luo, Tim Magoun, and Amy Shim and Edgerton Center Associate Director Jim Bales freezes the motion of a supersonic bullet as it passes through a jack-o’-lantern. Lighting was provided by a lit tea candle inside the pumpkin and a Prism Science Works SPOT strobe with a flash duration of less than 1/2,000,000 of a second. Holes were cut into the sides of the pumpkin for the bullet to enter and exit. 🎃 |
 | | | | He was hungry, and it was a long walk. | | —Gloria Kelley Greenough, on meeting her longtime husband, Richard Greenough, both former MIT staff members, over doughnuts as high schoolers in Watertown, Massachusetts |
| | | Institute Professor Sallie “Penny” Chisholm has spent her career focused on Prochlorococcus, the world’s most abundant photosynthesizing organism. Prochlorococcus, a type of marine phytoplankton, photosynthesizes like land plants — and in fact accounts for some 10 percent of all ocean photosynthesis. In this TED Talk, Chisholm describes her muse, a microbe that existed for millions of years before she discovered it in the 1980s. Understanding its genetic code, she says, could help us move away from reliance on fossil fuels. |
This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by the fun of dressing up. 👗
Thanks for reading, and have a great week!
—MIT News Office |
|
|
