Jane Peterson of The New York Times examines MIT’s research and academic efforts in Singapore. Prof. Thomas Magnanti explains that the Institute’s collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design helps MIT achieve its mission "to create knowledge and educate students to improve the world.”
USA Today reporter Tracy Moran writes about the use of environmentally friendly materials in constructing buildings, highlighting Prof. Rolland Pellenq’s work to make concrete more sustainable. “His work has proven that reducing the ratio of certain materials can make concrete nearly twice as resistant to fractures while cutting concrete emissions by as much as half,” writes Moran.
Brendan Borrell writes for Scientific American about how MIT researchers have engineered the DNA of E.coli to detect and record environmental information. “Building gene circuits requires not only computation and logic, but a way to store that information,” says Prof. Timothy Lu. “DNA provides a very stable form of memory and will allow us to do more complex computing tasks.”
Scientific American reporter Charles Choi writes that MIT researchers have uncovered evidence that magnetic fields played a role in forming the early solar system. "Magnetic fields can introduce viscosity into the disk, essentially making the gas in it more sticky," explains MIT graduate student Roger Fu.
Steve Ginsburg of Reuters writes about the success of the MIT football team. “With 81 Nobel laureates having ties to MIT, the perception of the student body is one of bookish scholars. With 33 varsity sports, however, there aren't just a bunch of academics walking around the Cambridge campus just outside Boston,” writes Ginsburg.
Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston about the 3-D/4-D exhibition being presented at the MIT Museum. The displays are made up of 3-D printed materials that independently fold into new shapes.
Writing for The Huffington Post, Shane Paul Neil speaks with Professor Sandy Pentland about the difficulties of protecting personal information in the age of big data. “[Y]ou have to be prepared for losses, and focus on building a resilient defensive system that accounts for attacks on both computers and people,” says Pentland.
Cate McQuaid writes for The Boston Globe about “Reanimation,” a piece of performance art created by Professor Emeritus Joan Jonas. “This densely layered piece deploys drawing, video projection, and passages read aloud from the novel ‘Under the Glacier,’ by Halldór Laxness, the Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic author,” writes McQuaid.
Vladimir Duthiers of CBS News reports on the MIT football team’s undefeated season. The team’s head coach, Chad Martinovich, says of the Engineers that, “whether it’s academics, athletics, research, clubs, activities, whatever it is they do, they look to excel.”
Nature highlights the top science news of the week, including the new interdisciplinary center at MIT aimed at examining the microbiome. “The center will initially focus on inflammatory bowel disease, but organizers hope to eventually broaden the scope to diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis and autism,” Nature reports.
In a piece for The Huffington Post, Heidi Legg interviews Prof. Hashim Sarkis, the newly appointed dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, about his vision of the world as one city. “The city as an entity has become difficult to understand or explain because it's everywhere and nowhere,” explains Sarkis.
MIT engineers have altered the DNA of E.coli so that it can store memories, reports Colin Barras for New Scientist. The research could “pave the way for cellular biographers that can be inserted into our bodies for the inside scoop on our health,” Barras explains.
“A recent estimate from leading researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University found that without strong actions, China’s emissions could grow with no peak in sight,” writes Jake Schmidt for The Huffington Post about new MIT research examining carbon emissions in China.
Dr. David Ridley of MIT is leading a new effort to study the amount of volcanic particles at high altitudes and how these particles might have contributed to a pause in global warming . Ridley and his team found a “high enough level of particles to account for a global cooling of 0.05–0.12 °C since 2000,” Nature reports.
Sanjay Salomon writes for Boston.com about the MIT Media Lab’s “You Are Here” project, highlighting the maps researchers have produced exhibiting transportation options for 100 cities. “According to the project’s map of Cambridge, public transportation seems to fall short for most of the city,” writes Salomon.