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June 15, 2024
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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Reimagining Creation
Dancer in Indigenous ceremonial dress front of a green screen
       
Multimedia artist Jackson 2bears, an artist in residence at the MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology, has created a new immersive experience reimagining the Haudenosaunee creation story. “It really was a project made in community,” he says.
Top Headlines
Nancy Kanwisher, Robert Langer, and Sara Seager named Kavli Prize Laureates
The MIT scientists are honored in each of the three Kavli Prize categories: neuroscience, nanoscience, and astrophysics, respectively.
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Exotic black holes could be a byproduct of dark matter
In the first quintillionth of a second, the universe may have sprouted microscopic black holes with enormous amounts of nuclear charge, MIT physicists propose.
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Through econometrics, Isaiah Andrews is making research more robust
“I would like to understand the extent to which we understand things,” the MIT economist says.
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The unexpected origins of a modern finance tool
Discounting calculations are ubiquitous today — thanks partly to the English clergy who spread them amid turmoil in the 1600s, an MIT scholar shows.
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Study models how ketamine’s molecular action leads to its effects on the brain
New research addresses a gap in understanding how ketamine’s impact on individual neurons leads to pervasive and profound changes in brain network function.
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#ThisisMIT
Jaylen Brown poses for portrait with Tim the Beaver. Text via @‌mittimthebeaver: Ready for nba finals, letssss go @‌celtics!
In the Media
What is the best way to cut an onion? // The New York Times
Kenji López-Alt ’02 slices into his research with Rui Viana ’05 on the best method for cutting an onion.
At its first open house since the pandemic, the Haystack Observatory in Westford unveils its window to space // The Boston Globe 
The MIT Haystack Observatory held its first open house since the Covid-19 pandemic, during which the general public was invited into the facility and offered a hands-on look at the work observatory scientists are conducting to investigate complex questions about our universe.
Susan Solomon: “Healing the Earth is possible” // Times Higher Education
Professor Susan Solomon chronicles her work “researching, teaching, and communicating climate science while also leading seemingly endless international environmental negotiations.”
Metabolizing new synthetic pathways // Nature
Professor Kristala Prather delves into what inspired her research on metabolic engineering, how her work in industry helped shape her career in academia, and her new role as head of MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering.
Watch This
Video screenshot of Nergis Mavalvala sitting at her desk, speaking, with bookshelves in the background
Several co-leaders of MIT’s LGBTQ+ Grad student group recently interviewed queer MIT faculty and discussed their own experiences and the importance of visibility in academia in a new video, “Scientific InQueery.” The video is meant to inspire young LGBTQ+ academics to take pride in the intersections of their identities and their academic work. “People need to create spaces for researchers to be able to discuss their scientific work and also be queer,” says Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science.
Listen
The text "TILclimate" is printed with a half-globe graphic below it.
Today, companies are storing millions of tons of carbon dioxide underground each year to prevent it from warming the planet. But is it dangerous to pump so much liquefied carbon below our feet? Geologist and carbon storage expert Bradford Hager, a professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, joins the TILclimate podcast to explain the risks and how to avoid them.
Listen to the episode
Quantum Explained
Close-up of square-shaped quantum computer
“Interdisciplinarity thrives at MIT, and it’s very important for technologies like quantum,” says Professor Will Oliver, director of the MIT Center for Quantum Engineering. “As we build quantum technologies, we need to draw on information from different expertise.” In this new video, Oliver, along with Research Scientist Jeff Grover, explore the origins of quantum mechanics and the state of quantum computing today.
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