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September 21, 2024
Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.
 
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Tiny Black Holes
A primordial black hole flying past, and briefly “wobbling” the orbit of Mars with the sun in the background.
An artist’s illustration depicts a primordial black hole (left) flying past and briefly “wobbling” the orbit of Mars (right).
MIT physicists have proposed a way to investigate whether tiny black holes make up the universe’s dark matter: One should zoom through our solar system at least once per decade, making Mars’ orbit wobble in a way we could detect from Earth.
Top Headlines
Engineers 3D print sturdy glass bricks for building structures
The interlocking bricks, which can be repurposed many times over, can withstand similar pressures as their concrete counterparts.
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A new way to reprogram immune cells and direct them toward anti-tumor immunity
MIT scientists’ discovery yields a potent immune response, which could be used to develop a potential tumor vaccine.
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How the generative AI marketplace might evolve
The generative AI market will likely be concentrated and controlled by a few key players, according to new research from MIT Sloan.
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Liftoff: The Climate Project at MIT takes flight
The major effort to accelerate practical climate change solutions launches as its mission directors meet the Institute community.
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Affordable high-tech windows for comfort and energy savings
MIT startup AeroShield has opened a new facility for manufacturing highly insulating windows that will reduce building energy use and cut carbon emissions.
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In molecules, one chemist sees art
Graduate student So Young Lee has long been a choreographer, baker, and painter. In the lab, she applies her creativity to molecule design.
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#ThisisMIT
MIT sailboat on the Charles River with the Boston skyline and full moon in the background. Text via @MITstudents: Moon river… MIT sailing held their traditional moonlight sail on the Charles River last night at sunset -- under the full Harvest Moon.
In the Media
This chatbot pulls people away from conspiracy theories // The New York Times 
A chatbot developed by MIT researchers aimed at persuading individuals to stop believing unfounded conspiracy theories has made “significant and long-lasting progress at changing people’s convictions.”
Mathematicians prove Hawking wrong about the most extreme black holes // Quanta Magazine 
Assistant Professor Christoph Kehle and his colleagues have demonstrated “that there is nothing in our known laws of physics to prevent the formation of an extremal black hole.”
Breakthrough “edge state” in atoms could lead to infinite energy sources // Interesting Engineering
MIT scientists have “observed and captured images of a rare ‘edge state’ in ultracold atoms.”
11 Greater Boston film festivals and series to check out this fall // WBUR
The MIT Museum will be presenting selections from the Woods Hole Film Festival with “monthly titles that broadly encompass ‘science on screen.’”
Get Ready to Vote
Sally Kornbluth speaks in front of bookcase wall.
Have you registered to vote? President Sally Kornbluth is encouraging members of the MIT community to visit the MIT TurboVote voter registration page. There, you can register in time for Election Day on Nov. 5 or confirm your registration. For a voting guide for your location, including registration deadlines, information about what’s on your ballot, and ways to submit your vote, you can also visit Vote411.
Look Back
Side by side covers of The Technology Review, from 1899, and MIT Technology Review from 2024
MIT Technology Review is celebrating 125 years of publication with its current issue. The magazine, notes publisher Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau, “was born four years before the Wright brothers took flight. Thirty-three before we split the atom, 59 ahead of the integrated circuit, 70 before we would walk on the moon, and 90 before the invention of the World Wide Web.” To mark the milestone, you can both look back at the magazine’s founding and look ahead to the innovations that will shape business, culture, and the environment in the next century, and beyond.
Scene at MIT
About 70 people raise their hands in celebration on a stage. A banner above them reads “MIT delta v Demo Day 2024.”
With this year’s delta v Demo Day, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship proved two things: that students can make remarkable progress toward creating impactful new businesses over the course of a single summer, and that the Trust Center remains one of the best party-throwers on campus. The Sept. 6 event revolved around 22 startups showcasing their business accomplishments in the delta v startup accelerator program.
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