September 25, 2021
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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Pumpkin Patch
 
To comply with Covid-19 safety protocols, a new method of blowing glass was developed for MIT’s W. David Kingery Ceramics and Glass Lab. A year later, the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch is back, with 2,000 beautiful works of pumpkin art waiting for new homes.
Full story via MIT News →
Top Headlines
A new method for removing lead from drinking water
Engineers have designed a relatively low-cost, energy-efficient approach to treating water contaminated with heavy metals.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
New bionics center established at MIT with $24 million gift
An interdisciplinary research center funded by philanthropist Lisa Yang aims to mitigate disability through technologies that marry human physiology with electromechanics.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
Institute Professor Paula Hammond named to White House science council
The head of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering will serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
Five tools for fostering worker well-being
An employer toolkit from MIT Sloan and Harvard University shows how a work environment shapes employee well-being, and suggests how to build a healthy workplace culture.
Full story via MIT Sloan→
 MIT Heat Island
Concrete’s role in reducing building and pavement emissions
MIT researchers find emissions of U.S. buildings and pavements can be reduced by around 50 percent even as concrete use increases.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
#ThisisMIT
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In the Media
“It’s become increasingly hard for them to feel good about themselves” // The New York Times
Columnist Thomas B. Edsall spotlights Professor David Autor’s research exploring the state of men in the U.S., including the growing gender gaps in educational attainment and the labor market.
Full story via The New York Times→
Most mental health apps don’t work as advertised. This one actually does — and it’s a video game // Fast Company
“The Guardians: Unite the Realms,” a video game created by Media Lab developer Craig Ferguson, has won Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design award in the Wellness category.
Full story via Fast Company→
Research busts popular myths about innovation // The Wall Street Journal
Professor of the practice emeritus Christopher Magee and his colleagues have developed a platform that can help provide insights into how quickly different innovations are advancing.
Full story via The Wall Street Journal→
Biology starts to get a technological makeover // The New York Times
MIT startup Ginkgo Bioworks began with a “shared belief that biology could be made more like computing with reusable code and standard tools instead of the bespoke experiments of traditional biology.”
Full story via The New York Times→
MIT researchers develop glow-in-the-dark plants // USA Today
“The high-tech plants are embedded with nanoparticles that absorb light during the day or from other light sources like LEDs. After the lights go out, they slowly release that stored energy as luminescence over time.”
Full story via USA Today→
Scene at MIT
This week’s equinox, which took place Wednesday at 3:21 p.m. ET, marked one of two points in the calendar year (the other being the March equinox) at which the length of day and night are nearly the same. To mark the occasion, here’s a recent “Kendallhenge” photo, taken last week and looking west along Main Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“
People often ask me about my ballet background because it seems like strange preparation for an engineering career. To me it’s not peculiar at all. Ballet taught me many of the skills I use to excel in both the classroom and technical fields.
—Grace Young ’14, in a recent essay, “5 Ways Ballet Prepared Me for My Engineering Career” 🩰
Full story via Pointe Magazine→
Safe Cycling
As many students, staff, and faculty have returned to campus this semester for the first time since spring 2020, now is a good time to review bicycle safety tips and resources for the MIT community. The Department of Facilities maintains a helpful page on cycling to and around campus, including updates on Bluebikes subsidies and other bicycle commuter benefits as well as information on fix-it stations around MIT. The MIT Police also provide information on bike safety, security, and registration. And the City of Cambridge offers a number of resources for getting around the city by bike, including bike lane basics and general rules of the road. Happy cycling! 🚲
Learn more via MIT Facilities→
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