In an article for The Boston Globe, Travis Anderson highlights how several of NASA’s new class of astronauts have MIT ties. Prof. Warren Hoburg and two MIT graduates - Raja Chari and Jasmin Moghbeli - were selected for NASA’s 2017 astronaut class from 18,300 applications, the largest pool ever, according to NASA.
Writing for The Mercury News, Tatiana Sanchez spotlights the story of Alejandro Diaz, a graduate of Christopher High School in Gilroy, California, who plans to attend MIT in the fall. Sanchez notes that Diaz’s plans to attend MIT, “mark an odds-defying achievement for a family of recent immigrants who embody the promises of the American dream.”
In an article for The Atlantic, Ashley Nunes, a research scientist with MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, examines a proposal to privatize the air-traffic control system in the U.S. Nunes explains that, “reforming how air-traffic services are delivered is worthwhile—but not without costs, and those costs are important to understand and address.”
Reporting for NECN, Sarah Betancourt highlights how MIT has received a $140 million donation in unrestricted funds from an anonymous alumnus. Betancourt notes that this type of “flexible funding provides resources such as laboratories, staff support, and equipment to foster the work of MIT's faculty and students. Unrestricted financial support also goes to financial aid for students.”
Reporting for WGBH about new technologies that can help reduce carbon emissions, Heather Goldstone spotlights how Media Lab researchers have developed shape-changing noodles that transform from a flat sheet of gelatin into 3-D shapes when dropped in water. “Those flat sheets can be shipped more efficiently,” explains Goldstone.
An anonymous alumnus has donated $140 million in unrestricted funds to MIT, according to the Associated Press. As an unrestricted donation, the gift, “be used in any way to support MIT's research and education mission.”
MIT has received an unrestricted $140 million gift from an anonymous alumnus, reports Melissa Korn for The Wall Street Journal. “An unrestricted gift of that size is rare in higher education, as donors often want a say in how their dollars are spent. Unrestricted donations can be used for things like facilities upkeep, as well as to pursue early-state scientific research.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik writes that MIT was awarded second place in a, “global list of the top utility patents (awarded by the U.S. for a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter) awarded in 2016.”
In a letter to The Wall Street Journal, Prof. Ron Prinn and John Reilly, co-directors of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, explain why their research shows the importance of the Paris climate agreement. “Paris provides an unprecedented framework for global cooperation on this serious threat. In our view, U.S. withdrawal from it is a grave mistake.”
Ashley Nunes, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, examines President Trump’s proposal to privatize air traffic control in an article for The Washington Post. Nunes explains that the proposal may be difficult to pass, noting that many lawmakers are, “hesitant to cede regulatory authority — akin to political power — to others.”
Financial Times reporter Martin Sandbu highlights how MIT researchers have quantified the contribution U.S. states can make to the Paris climate agreement. The researchers found that climate change policy, “reduces the risk for private sector investments in green energy-related sectors that are well on their way to becoming lucrative growth industries.”
Wen Wang, a former grad student and research scientist, speaks with Janelle Nanos of The Boston Globe about the shape-shifting noodles she and her colleagues engineered. The technique, which transforms a flat sheet of noodles into 3-D shapes, could reduce food shipping costs and could eventually be used to feed astronauts. “You can save space in space,” explains Wang.
NBC News reporter Maggie Fox writes that MIT researchers have developed a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that could eventually offer relief to patients with diseases like Parkinson’s and epilepsy without requiring surgery. Fox explains that the method allows for sending, “electrical signals deep into the brain without affecting the layers in between.”
In this episode of WBUR’s Open Source, Christopher Lydon speaks with Prof. Emeritus Noam Chomsky about a wide range of topics, from the current political situation in America and Europe to the greatest challenges facing humanity. Chomsky noted that a “Socratic-style willingness to ask whether conventional doctrines are justified,” is a key ingredient in his thought process.
John Reilly of MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change speaks with Barbara Howard of WGBH’s All Things Considered about how his group’s research on the Paris climate agreement was distorted. Reilly explains that he and his colleagues hoped their research would, “solidify the idea that the Paris Agreement was moving us forward.”