July 3, 2021
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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New Chapter for edX
Photo of a young woman with long braided pink hair, sitting on a blue couch in a cyan room, working on her laptop and smiling
MIT and Harvard University announced a major transition for edX, the online platform for university courses: edX’s assets are to be acquired by education technology company 2U, and reorganized as a public benefit company. In exchange, 2U will transfer $800 million to a nonprofit organization, led by MIT and Harvard, to explore the next generation of online education.
Full story via MIT News →
Top Headlines
New face mask prototype can detect Covid-19 infection
The sensor technology could also be used to create clothing that detects a variety of pathogens and other threats.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
MIT welcomes six new assistant deans for diversity, equity, and inclusion
The Institute’s five schools and the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing will have dedicated professional staff to advance initiatives locally and across the Institute.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
3Q: Why “nuclear batteries” offer a new approach to carbon-free energy
Jacopo Buongiorno and others say factory-built microreactors trucked to usage sites could be a safe, efficient option for decarbonizing electricity systems.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
The power of two
Graduate student Ellen Zhong helped biologists and mathematicians reach across departmental lines to solve a longstanding problem in electron microscopy.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
A new chapter for space sustainability
MIT researchers are co-leading the design of a global Space Sustainability Rating system that will soon be operational.
Full story via MIT News →
 MIT Heat Island
#ThisisMIT
Instagram post featuring seven individuals linking arms and shoulders next to an Olympic sized pool in an arena. Text, in part: "@sharksandbeavers: Thank you Omaha!!! We had an awesome week at Wave I of the 2021 US Olympic Trials with the largest MIT contingent represented in program history!"
Follow @sharksandbeavers on Instagram →
In the Media
This new face mask tests you for COVID while protecting you from it // Fast Company
“If testing and sensing at a biological molecular level could be done in a format that can follow people around instead of people having to go to the clinic, maybe you can encourage people to get more testing done,” says Luis Soenksen of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health.
Full story via Fast Company →
These fonts are puzzles. Can you solve them? // The New York Times
MIT Professor Erik Demaine and robotics engineer and artist-in-residence Martin Demaine are designing “‘algorithmic puzzle fonts,’ mathematically inspired typefaces that are also puzzles.”
Full story via The New York Times →
The Prime effect: Inside the rise of Amazon Web Services // On Point
Professor Michael Cusumano, deputy dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management, discusses the growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and whether AWS should be broken off from Amazon.
Full story via On Point →
Nanofabricated “tetrakaidecahedrons” could out-bulletproof Kevlar // TechCrunch
MIT researchers have created a nanoengineered material that could prove tougher than Kevlar or steel. “Made of interconnected carbon ‘tetrakaidecahedrons,’ the material absorbed the impact of microscopic bullets in spectacular fashion.”
Full story via TechCrunch →
Watch This
Video screengrab image featuring the face of a young girls with long braids as painted on a mural
“To create radical change, you need to get people in a state of openness first,” says Linda Cheung MBA ’17, cofounder and creative director of Before It’s Too Late, a nonprofit using art and technology to both increase public awareness about climate change and to inspire action. The Miami-based organization uses murals to depict scenes from nature that come to life in augmented reality. Passersby can trigger animation of the murals by viewing them through an app on a mobile device.
Watch the video →
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