| Living Materials | | | | | | Inspired by kombucha tea, engineers at MIT and elsewhere have created “living materials.” They’ve found that a symbiotic culture of specialized yeast and bacteria can generate tough materials able to perform a variety of functions. |
| Letter: Distressing news about Gang Chen |
President Reif updates the community about Chen, a widely respected scholar and faculty member who was arrested Thursday on allegations of federal grant fraud. |
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| I got the Covid-19 vaccine! Can I toss my mask? |
MIT Medical explains current thinking about mask use after individuals have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. |  |
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| Ten “keys to reality” from Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek To understand ourselves and our place in the universe, “we should have humility but also self-respect,” the physicist writes in a new book. |  |
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| 3 Questions: Moya Bailey on the intersection of racism and sexism MLK Visiting Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies discusses misogynoir, social media, and her work at MIT this year. |  |
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| A new lens on real estate design With an artist’s eye, graduate student Natasha Sadikin keeps good design at the forefront of real estate development. |  |
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| Opinion: The most overlooked flaw in your retirement plan and how to fix it // Forbes Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, explores the importance of including story-based planning when anticipating retirement: “Crafting a retirement story explains why we do certain things, helps us share and discuss with others what is important to us and why, and enables us to anticipate possible futures — both desired and undesired.” |
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| Opinion: Censure won’t remove Trump, but it would hold him accountable. And cause big problems for Republicans. // WBUR |
“Dealing with the present constitutional crisis requires more than removing Donald Trump from office,” writes Professor Charles Stewart III. “It requires creating the conditions for electoral politics to marginalize opponents of constitutional government.” |
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| He created the web. Now he’s out to remake the digital world. // The New York Times Inrupt, a startup founded by Professor Tim Berners-Lee, is aimed at providing people more control over their personal data. “Tim has become increasingly concerned as power in the digital world is weighted against the individual,” explains Daniel Weitzner, a principal research scientist at MIT CSAIL. |
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| There is no legal way to stop Trump from ordering a nuclear strike if he wants to, expert says // The Washington Post “The president, and the president alone, possesses the sole authority to order a nuclear launch, and no one can legally stop him or her,” says Associate Professor Vipin Narang of the process by which a U.S. president can order a nuclear strike. “Despite reports that [U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy] Pelosi received assurances that there are safeguards in place in the event the president of the United States wants to launch a nuclear weapon, any such meaningful or effective safeguards would be illegal.” |
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| First Covid-19 Vaccinations | | |
| | | Late last month, MIT Medical received its first batch of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Over three days during winter break, 168 of its frontline workers were vaccinated. Lead Medical Housekeeper Fatima Rosario was the first vaccine recipient at MIT. |
| | | Since last March, classes across the Institute have had to adapt to the reality of remote learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This spring, students in one of MIT’s most iconic courses, 2.007 (Design and Manufacturing I), will participate in the class’s famous robot competition from afar. Whether they take the course virtually or semi-virtually, students will receive a kit of tools and materials to build their own unique robot along with a “Home Alone” inspired game board for the final global competition. |
| | | A mural of Martin Luther King Jr., featuring a quote from his 1964 book, “Why We Can’t Wait,” is seen in Cambridge’s “Graffiti Alley,” an ever-changing public art installation. MIT will be closed on Monday to honor the memory and work of the civil rights leader. Multiple programs at the Institute also commemorate and advance King’s legacy. |
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