April 16, 2022
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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Efficient Heat Engine
 
MIT engineers have designed a heat engine with no moving parts that converts heat to electricity with over 40 percent efficiency — better than that of traditional steam turbines. The design could someday enable a fully decarbonized power grid, they say.
Top Headlines
MIT announces five flagship projects in first-ever Climate Grand Challenges competition
The portfolio of multiyear projects focuses on delivering breakthrough solutions.
MIT Heat Island
Should you get a second Covid-19 booster?
MIT Medical provides the latest guidance on Covid-19 antibodies and second booster shots.
MIT Heat Island
Architecture isn’t just for humans anymore
In the remote desert of Nevada, an MIT team designs shelter for all species.
MIT Heat Island
Engineered bacteria could help protect “good” gut microbes from antibiotics
Microbes that safely break down antibiotics could prevent opportunistic infections and reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance.
MIT Heat Island
Embracing ancient materials and 21st-century challenges
An early interest in archaeology led senior Sophia Mittman to explore many facets of materials science, from restoring artwork to making mining more sustainable.
MIT Heat Island
#ThisisMIT
In the Media
One on one with Alison Wendlandt // C&EN
“I think being different, whatever that means — in my case, being LGBTQ — has been like a superpower,” says Assistant Professor Alison Wendlandt of her journey to leading her own research lab and how being queer has been integral to that journey.
Race on campus // The Chronicle of Higher Education
Assistant Professor Jackson G. Lu co-authored a research article that suggests ethnic East Asian students often struggle in “classrooms where assertiveness is expected but not necessarily encouraged within their cultures. That’s especially true in business and law classes where rapid-fire discussions can feel, to some, like verbal sparring.”
MIT to boost five projects in first Climate Grand Challenges competition // Boston Business Journal
MIT announced five projects “targeting the world's toughest climate riddles” that were selected as part of the Institute’s Climate Grand Challenges following a rigorous two-year competition.
MIT, tech firms seek to improve artificial intelligence’s energy efficiency // EdScoop
The MIT AI Hardware Program seeks to bring together researchers from academia and industry to “examine each step of designing and manufacturing the hardware behind AI-powered technologies.”
Listen
In the People I (Mostly) Admire podcast from Freakonomics Radio, Professor Joshua Angrist speaks about natural experiments, the Talmud, and his path to winning the 2021 Nobel Prize in Economics. “Natural experiments started to attract people like me, partly because it was interesting and fun, and we had the opportunity to actually say something concrete about the world,” he reflects.
Listen to the episode
“
Some years, with student projects, it’s more like, “I want to try this paper and just make it a little bit better.” This year, it’s like, “I want a robot that’s going to tie my shoes.”
—Professor Russ Tedrake on the development of his new survey course on robotic manipulation
Scene at MIT
Flowers are blooming all across campus this week. Happy spring! 🌸
 
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