The Blackest Black | | A yellow diamond coated with a new ultrablack material is the subject of “The Redemption of Vanity,” created by MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology artist-in-residence Diemut Strebe, in collaboration with MIT engineer Brian Wardle and his lab. | With apologies to “Spinal Tap,” it appears that black can, indeed, get more black. MIT engineers have cooked up a material made from vertically aligned carbon nanotubes that captures virtually all incoming light. Full story via MIT News → |
Siblings discover their family (and MIT) connection After a revelatory DNA test, siblings Don Bender ’79 SM ’83 and Freedom Baird SM ’97 met for the second time ever at Tech Reunions in June. Full story via Slice of MIT → | |
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A path to emissions-free cement MIT researchers have found a way to potentially eliminate carbon emissions from cement production — a major global source of greenhouse gases. Full story via MIT News → | |
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Cody Friesen PhD ’04 awarded $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize |
| Materials scientist recognized for social, economic, and environmentally-sustaining inventions that impact millions of people around the world. Full story via MIT News → | |
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Ruth Lehmann elected director of the Whitehead Institute The world-renowned developmental and cell biology researcher will be the institute’s fifth director. Full story via MIT News → | |
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Why the U.S. government is struggling with open innovation Tina Srivastava PhD ’15 examines why it’s hard for the government to approach innovation like the private sector. Full story via MIT Sloan → | |
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Fastest-ever Lamborghini gets a power boost from MIT // CNBC MIT engineers worked with Lamborghini to develop new supercapacitor technology, giving the Sian FKP 37 an electric boost of power. Full story via CNBC → |
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From moon goddesses to astronauts: Picturing women in space // Ms. Professor Dava Newman discusses her work developing the BioSuit, noting she hopes the suit will inspire girls and young women. “I do believe they need to ‘see’ themselves as astronauts and aerospace engineers to open up their minds and to allow themselves to accomplish these dreams!” Full story via Ms. → |
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To combat climate change, do we need the nuclear option? // WBUR Professor Jacopo Buongiorno discusses a recent MIT Energy Initiative study on the future of nuclear energy. “Our analysis shows that the most effective and frankly least-cost path toward decarbonizing our economy includes nuclear,” Buongiorno says. Full story via WBUR → |
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Mathematicians no longer stumped by the number 3 // Gizmodo |
| Using a new computing platform, researchers solved a longstanding mystery by finding three cubes that sum to 3. “Having access to this kind of computational power is like giving an astronomer a new telescope that is 100 times more powerful than any that existed before,” explains Principal Research Scientist Andrew Sutherland. Full story via Gizmodo → |
| | Whirlwind was not only the first digital computer at MIT, it was also the first anywhere to be able to operate in real-time. The key to this feat was a 3-D array of magnetic cores that revolutionized the machine’s performance. After successful demonstrations in the 1950s, the creation of Lincoln Laboratory followed, with the goal of turning Whirlwind into the SAGE air defense system. Whirlwind also created a highly influential community: Alumni of the project have founded countless companies and made numerous innovations in computer technology and software. Learn more via the MIT Museum → | | | I like the fact that MIT is boisterous and loud. When you walk down the Infinite, there’s always something going on. And if you find yourself getting curious about something new, you know there’s someone here who knows something about it. | —Ken Kamrin, associate professor of mechanical engineering, on the energy of MIT Full story via MIT News → | | Grad student Steve Sando in the Horvitz lab studies how roundworms “taste” light and then spit it out. Scientists have long known that, even without eyes, roundworms can detect and avoid bright light. The Horvitz lab has since found they’re actually tasting noxious chemicals produced by light, and when they do so they start to spit. Sando identified three neurons that allow worms to stop eating and expel the bad taste. “The worm community is having a lot of firsts,” he says. “We're going to learn more about ourselves and our nervous systems, and that has implications for our own health and well-being.” Watch the video → | |