| Spotlight on Venus | | | | | | Astronomers may have found a signature of life on Venus: Evidence indicates phosphine, a gas linked with living organisms, is present in the habitable zone of its atmosphere. “Venus is a very challenging environment for life of any kind,” says Professor Sara Seager. Full story via MIT News → |
| Rapid test for Covid-19 shows improved sensitivity A CRISPR-based test developed at MIT and the Broad Institute can detect nearly as many cases as the standard Covid-19 diagnostic. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| New molecular therapeutics center established at MIT's McGovern Institute Collaborative research center funded by Lisa Yang and Hock Tan ’75 blends engineering and neuroscience to advance molecular tools for treating brain disorders. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Sonia Raman named assistant coach of the Memphis Grizzlies MIT women’s basketball head coach and assistant director of compliance will become the 14th female assistant coach in NBA history. Full story via MIT Athletics → | |
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| This CEO wields transparency and openness to crowdsource ideas Stephanie Lampkin started Blendoor in 2015 to match employers with diverse talent through anonymized profiles — no names, photos, or ages driving bias in hiring. Full story via MIT Sloan → | |
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| Why we feel lonely For neuroscientist Kay Tye ’03, searching for the underpinnings of loneliness could help us better understand the costs of social isolation. Full story via MIT Technology Review → | |
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| After grim cancer diagnosis, MIT’s Emily Rabinovitsj runs virtual Boston Marathon // The Boston Globe |
Third-year student Emily Rabinovitsj discusses her quest to complete the virtual Boston Marathon and raise funds for 15-40 Connection, a nonprofit dedicated to educating people on detecting early-stage cancer. “I got this gift of being able to have a full life after a diagnosis, and I feel like I have a responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity and help others have this same opportunity,” Rabinovitsj said. Full story via The Boston Globe → |
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| Astronomers find possible sign of life on Venus // CBS This Morning “Finding phosphine leaves us with two equally crazy ideas,” says Professor Sara Seager of the discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. “One is that there is some unknown chemistry, and the other one is that there’s some possibility there might be some kind of life producing phosphine on Venus.” Full story via CBS This Morning → |
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| The good, the bad and the “radically dishonest” // The New York Times A study co-authored by Professor Drazen Prelec examines lying and cheating patterns, and finds these behaviors tend to come in several distinct flavors. Full story via New York Times → |
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| Broadcom CEO donates $28 million to MIT, fueling research for brain disorders // Forbes A new center established at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research is aimed at accelerating the development of novel therapies and technologies. Full story via Forbes → |
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| | Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! After learning archery as part of the MIT Pirate Certificate (which requires taking pistol, archery, sailing, and fencing), Charles Wong ’90, SM ’92 had all but forgotten about the sport. Then, six years ago, he took it up again and went on to compete in national and international competitions. Since Covid-19 has led to the closure of ranges and the cancellation of archery tournaments, Wong is left to practice in the only space he has: his garage. A recent video from the MIT Alumni Association takes a look at his unique training accommodations.
Full video via Slice of MIT → |
| | | | | We are entering a period of megafires, where the scale of burning is just beyond what we’ve seen before. ... California really is a canary in the coal mine, here, and we need to be waking up. Just as the bird was dying from coal, we too are dying from burning coal, oil, and fossil gas. |
| | —Leah Stokes SM ’15, PhD ’15, a policy expert on energy, climate, and environment, on the recent wave of wildfires impacting California and the West Coast Full story via PBS NewsHour → |
In a recent episode of the TILClimate (Today I Learned Climate) podcast, host Laur Hesse Fisher of the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative talks with MIT Professor Dennis Whyte about fusion energy, a technology that could change our whole energy system but so far hasn’t generated a single watt. As director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Whyte has been a key enabler for the SPARC project, a compact, high-field, fusion energy experiment that aims to produce 50-100 MW of fusion power, becoming the first demonstration of net energy gain in the process.
Listen to the episode → |
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