| Marshall Scholars | | | | | | MIT is home to two new Marshall Scholars: seniors Katie Collins (left), a brain and cognitive sciences major, and Marla Odell, who is majoring in computer science, economics, and data science. Both will begin graduate studies in the U.K. next fall. Full story via MIT News → |
| Straight talk about race in academia |
MIT-hosted panel delves into ongoing challenges for Black scholars — and ways for everyone in university settings to start making a difference. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Explained: Quantum engineering Quantum computers could usher in a golden age of computing power, solving problems intractable on today’s machines. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Physicists capture the sound of a “perfect” fluid The results should help scientists study the viscosity in neutron stars, the plasma of the early universe, and other strongly interacting fluids. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Professor Emerita Judith Jarvis Thomson, a highly influential philosopher, dies at 91 The longtime MIT moral philosopher was a transformational figure and “the atomic ice-breaker for women in philosophy.” Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Undergraduate math student pushes frontier of graph theory // Quanta Quanta Magazine reporter Kevin Hartnett spotlights the work of graduate student Ashwin Sah, who has “produced a body of work that senior mathematicians say is nearly unprecedented for a college student.” Sah recalls how he was drawn to mathematics from a young age, noting that some of his “earliest memories are of my mom teaching me basic arithmetic.” Full story via Quanta→ |
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| These scientists set out to end blindness. Their innovations just won them $3 million. // National Geographic |
Professor James Fujimoto and research affiliate Eric Swanson have been named recipients of the Sanford and Sue Greenberg Prize to End Blindness. “The winners were chosen based on the strength of their contributions to eliminate blindness, the ambitious aim set out by the prize organizers in 2012.” Full story via National Geographic→ |
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| Change everything: 32 innovators who are building a better future // Wired Assistant Professor Giovanni Traverso has been highlighted by Wired as one of 32 innovators who are changing the world. Institute Professor Robert Langer notes that Traverso is “transforming how we interact with medications, for example through the development of pills that remain in the body for multiple weeks or months to address medication non-adherence, or the creation of small, swallowable devices enabling the delivery of biologics like insulin.” Full story via Wired→ |
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| The radical idea of making sure everybody has enough money to live on // HuffPost |
Associate Professor Tavneet Suri discusses her research exploring the effectiveness of a universal basic income (UBI). “We do think the UBI will provide some ‘insurance’ against bad events,” says Suri. “If something bad happens, you have a fallback.” Full story via HuffPost→ |
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| | | | | My pop-culture news is actually MIT Tech Review. I read it constantly. I think that’s really where inspiration strikes: hearing about all these amazing people at schools like MIT and Harvard who are doing such amazing work with technology. And I try to connect it back to what I see out there and put it together in a way that no one’s seen before. | | —Gitanjali Rao, a 15-year-old scientist and inventor who has been named TIME’s first ever Kid of the Year Full story via TIME→ |
| | | This is the week in which Nobel laureates typically travel to Stockholm and Oslo to receive their Nobel Prizes. This year, due to the pandemic, awards and related ceremonies are taking place remotely, which means Andrea Ghez ’87, a co-recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on black holes, received her prize in California, where she lives. Ghez joins at least 37 other Nobel laureates in holding a degree from MIT. Learn more via Slice of MIT→ |
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