Keith Powers writes for WBUR about the upcoming premieres of three new works by MIT lecturer and composer Elena Ruehr. “Most composers are happy to have one premiere of a major work every year. Elena Ruehr has three in November alone,” explains Powers.
In a piece for The Wall Street Journal about business schools starting business analytics programs, Lindsay Gellman highlights one of MIT’s new offerings. “Professors and administrators at its Sloan School of Management are developing a tentatively titled Masters in Analytics program to be offered jointly with the university’s Operations Research Center beginning in 2016,” Gellman writes.
Wired reporter Kyle Vanhemert writes about the next-generation space suit Professor Dava Newman is designing to give astronauts greater mobility. The suit, a “form-fitting ‘soft exoskeleton’,” would serve as a “second-skin suit” for astronauts, Newman explains.
In a piece for The Atlantic, Sarah Laskow writes about how MIT researchers have developed a new drug-delivery capsule that could serve as an alternative to injections. The new drug capsule would make it possible to “deliver drugs that would otherwise break down in the digestive tract.”
Washington Post reporter Philip Bump writes about the average voter waiting time in states across the U.S., citing Professor Charles Stewart’s work examining voting lines. Stewart and his colleagues found that in 2012 Florida voters had to wait on average 45 minutes, Bump reports.
Stav Ziv of Newsweek writes about the “Dance your Ph.D.” contest, which challenges Ph.D. students to explain their research through dance. MIT graduate student Hans Rinderknecht, winner of the physics category, submitted video of a live performance at MIT’s Simmons Hall in April, in which dancers depict how light is used to create nuclear fusion.
NPR’s Lynn Neary writes about the life and legacy of MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi, who along with his brother, Ray, became famous for their NPR program Car Talk. “They liked to act like they were just a couple of regular guys who happened to be mechanics, but both of them graduated from MIT,” writes Neary.
Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Chawkins writes about Tom Magliozzi, an MIT alumnus and co-host of NPR’s Car Talk, highlighting the MIT commencement address Magliozzi delivered with his brother in 1999. "I became a bum," said Magliozzi of the period in his life after he quit his job as an engineer. "I spent two years in Harvard Square drinking coffee."
Washington Post reporter Adam Bernstein writes about Tom Magliozzi, an MIT alumnus and co-host of the popular NPR program Car Talk, who passed away at age 77. “As youngsters, Tom and Ray, who is 12 years his junior, conducted science experiments in the back yard and enjoyed tinkering with their father’s Depression-era car,” writes Bernstein.
“Wielding his unmistakable laughter as ably he would a wrench, Tom Magliozzi hosted NPR’s “Car Talk” for 35 years with his brother, Ray, instructing and entertaining millions,” writes Boston Globe reporter Bryan Marquard of MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi, who passed away Monday.
Reporting for Scientific American, Cynthia Graber examines how MIT researchers have developed a battery coating that reduces the risk of injury if swallowed. Inside the coating, “microparticles of conductive metal are suspended in an insulating layer,” Graber explains.
BBC News reporter Jonathan Webb writes that researchers from MIT have created child-safe batteries by developing a coating that allows batteries to conduct electricity only when squeezed. The “pressure-sensitive design makes use of a property called quantum tunneling, which is also used in touch pads and screens,” writes Webb.
Alison Bruzek of NPR reports that MIT researchers have developed a shield that can prevent the electrical currents in a battery from damaging the esophagus. The material used to create the shield is already commercially available, NPR reports, making the coating a cheap solution to the issue of children swallowing batteries.
MIT alumnus Tom Magliozzi ‘58, co-host of Car Talk on NPR, has died at 77. In a remembrance on WBUR, Bruce Gellerman highlights a clip from Magliozzi’s 1999 commencement speech at MIT, where he used the speech to elaborate on his famous “theory of life.”
Matt Rocheleau of The Boston Globe writes about how attention being drawn to sexual assault on college campuses is increasing conversation among students about how to tackle the issue. MIT sophomore Charlie Andrews-Jubelt describes how “inspired” he was to overhear classmates who are not activists discussing the topic. “I was really happy to just see it happening organically,” he says.