MIT has been rated the world’s best university by the QS World University Rankings for the 11th year in a row, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “MIT’s success takes the spotlight as the world’s preeminent university and the US shines as the world’s superlative higher education system,” says Ben Sowter, QS Senior Vice President.
Artist Matthew Angelo Harrison’s solo exhibition “Robota” is on display at the MIT List Visual Arts Center through July 24. The exhibition “positions organized labor and workers’ rights as entombed relics, victims of post-industrial economy,” writes Murray Whyte for The Boston Globe.
Researchers at MIT have developed a wood-like plant material which could eventually serve as a viable wood substitute in various construction projects, reports Tim Newcomb for Popular Mechanics. Researchers adjust “chemicals in the growth process to precisely control the physical and mechanical properties, such as stiffness and density,” explains Newcomb.
Boston Globe reporter Brittany Bowker spotlights the work of Amy Brand, director and publisher of the MIT Press, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month. “I feel like I have one of the best jobs in the world because I’m living in this realm of exciting ideas and discoveries,” Brand says. “I’m getting to walk and work with such brilliant and amazing people at the press, but also in general. Authors who are passionate about what they do and passionate about the potential for knowledge.”
In an editorial for Nature, Chancellor Melissa Nobles, Chad Womack of the UNCF, Prof. Ambroise Wonkam of Johns Hopkins University, and Elizabeth Wathuti of the Green Generation Initiative detail the long history of racism in science and outline their work as guest editors on a series of special issues of Nature focused on racism in science. “Racism has led to injustices against millions of people, through slavery and colonization, through apartheid and through continuing prejudice today,” write Nobles and her co-authors.
Based on data from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers have found that mortality rates are improving faster in Democratic counties than Republican ones, reports Adrianna Rodriguez for USA Today. “Democratic counties also saw greater reductions in deaths from chronic lower respiratory tract diseases, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, and kidney disease,” writes Rodriguez.
Information from MIT’s Election Data and Science Lab and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were used in a new study that found mortality rates in Democratic and Republican counties are growing further apart, reports WCVB. The study found “that mortality rates decreased more in Democratic counties than in Republican counties,” writes WCVB.
Keri Pearlson, executive director of the Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan consortium, and Prof. Stuart Madnick write for The Wall Street Journal about how managers should build and equip their organizations for cyber threats. “It is more effective to build a cybersecurity culture – an effort that goes beyond training and gets employees to see security as part of their job,” write Pearlson and Madnick.
Incoming first-year student Robbie Khazan founded Kiddo Byte, an organization that offers coding classes for kids, which is now branching out to help young Ukrainian refugees, reports Jim Morelli for Boston 25 News. “It [coding] really gets the mind going,” says Khazan. “It gets critical thinking going, which is a super important skill nowadays. The more coders that they have in Ukraine, the better suited they’ll be to rebuild.”
Associate Provost Richard Lester and Prof. Noelle Selin speak with Tiziana Dearing, host of Radio Boston, about MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges. “To me, the Climate Grand Challenges effort really represents that we’re kind of at a frameshift when thinking about the climate problem. It’s not just a problem that some people can work on,” says Selin. “A climate challenge is a whole of society challenge, and therefore it really has to be a whole of MIT challenge.” Lester adds he hopes the challenges will “inspire a new generation of students to roll up their sleeves, put their shoulders to the wheel and help us solve this problem.”
Prof. Simon Johnson and Oleg Ustenko, economic advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky write for The Los Angeles Times about the importance of restarting the Ukrainian economy as the fighting continues. “The good news is that the European Union, the United States and other allies have already committed substantial resources to support Ukrainians, including when they leave the country as refugees,” write Johnson and Ustenko. “What is needed now is to adjust how those resources are deployed, to encourage these refugees to return home when it is safe to do so.”
Researchers from MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) are working on making commercial nuclear fusion a reality, reports Juandre for Popular Mechanics. “CFS will build [the tokamak] SPARC and develop a commercial fusion product, while MIT PSFC will focus on its core mission of cutting-edge research and education,” says Prof. Dennis G. Whyte, director of the PSFC.
Katie Spies ’14, founder and CEO of Maev (a company that produces human-grade, raw dog food brand), speaks with Fortune editor Rachel King about what inspired her to start Maev, the company’s development process, and where Spies sees the company expanding in the future. “Among other exciting expansion initiatives, we’re really looking forward to expanding our product portfolio; our goal is to be a trust brand for dog essentials, especially product categories that are currently lacking in healthy, well-made options,” says Spies.
Prof. Lydia Bourouiba speaks with BBC CrowdSource presenter Marnie Chesterton about her work in understanding how bodily fluids such as snot and spittle spread after leaving the body using high speed cameras. “What is very clear is that we emit… droplets of a continuum of sizes but they are not coming out alone,” explains Bourouiba. “They are coming out with an air that is in our lungs, that is hot and moist and turbulent, which changes the physical dynamics of the emission and how the drops will evolve.”
William E. Stoney Jr. ’49, MS ’62, an aeronautical engineer who made great contributions in developing early rockets during NASA’s space race and lead engineering on the Apollo program died at the age of 96 on May 28, 2022, reports Emily Langer for The Washington Post. Stoney “served in top engineering roles during the Apollo program, whose signal accomplishment was the moon landing by astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1969,” writes Langer. “That year, Mr. Stoney received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his work on the Apollo mission.”