December 1, 2018
Greetings! Here’s the latest from the MIT community.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gift of Music
A new building for music performance, practice, and instruction “will amplify the positive power of music in the life of MIT,” President L. Rafael Reif says. Some 1,500 students take music courses each year; it’s among the most popular of MIT’s 42 minors.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Top Headlines
MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts
The silent, lightweight aircraft doesn’t depend on fossil fuels.
MIT Heat Island
Potential arthritis treatment prevents cartilage breakdown
Injectable material made of nanoscale particles can deliver arthritis drugs throughout cartilage.
Three MIT faculty elected 2018 AAAS Fellows
Jacqueline Hewitt, Kristala Prather, and John Lienhard are recognized for their efforts to advance science.
MIT Heat Island
Healthy eating made easy 🥕
Startup PlateJoy sends users personalized meal plans to help them achieve health goals.
René García Franceschini: Engineering energy solutions for all
“The human impact that I have is equally, if not more, important to me than the technical rigor of the work I’m doing,” says the senior.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#ThisIsMIT
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the Media
It’s all smoots and garns // Physics World
Oliver Smoot ’62, namesake of the smoot unit of measurement, describes “how something that can take you an hour and a half ... in college can live to affect your whole life.”
What single word defines who you are? // BBC News
A test to determine whether you’re communicating with a chatbot or a human suggests “knowingly flouting a taboo and provoking, rather than simply describing, an emotion might be the most straightforward way of conveying your shared humanity.”
Climate change will cause more simultaneous disasters // The New York Times
By 2100, parts of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at once. “Nations, societies in general, have to deal with multiple hazards,” says Professor Kerry Emanuel.
Cutting-edge kit helps teach biology // WBUR
New classroom kits developed at MIT allow kids to learn and experiment with the building blocks of DNA.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Engineering Fun
Students in 2.00b (Toy Product Design) journey from toy ideation and modeling to testing. “There is a lot of engineering that goes into making toys durable but also whimsical,” says mechanical engineering instructor Georgia Van de Zande.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jump Champ
Did you know that MIT is home to a top jump roper? Stewart Isaacs, a PhD student in aeronautics and astronautics, has numerous jump rope achievements under his belt, including winning the 2017 Grand World Championship in single rope freestyle. He’s studying carbon-neutral alternatives to jet fuel and is the founder of MIT AeroAfro.
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