National Geographic reporter Catherine Zuckerman spotlights the work of research scientist Felice Frankel, a photographer who captures images that are intended to captivate and inform viewers about complex scientific advances. Frankel explains that the goal of her new book is to help scientists “understand that beautiful images can engage the public.”
WBUR reporter Erin Trahan spotlights a new course that brings together MIT students and inmates at the South Bay House of Correction to create a two-story mural. She speaks with MIT first-year student Sherry Xiao, who explains that she is learning how to collaborate with people, share ideas, and respect other people's ideas.
Writing for Inside Higher Ed, research scientist Felice Frankel explains the importance of scientists learning how to communicate their work. “I am convinced that learning how to make technically accurate, interesting and honest images and graphics of science should be part of every scientist’s education,” writes Frankel.
Boston Globe reporter Cate McQuaid highlights the “Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974-1995” show on display at the MIT List Visual Arts Center as the best video show of 2018.
Boston Globe reporter Zoë Madonna spotlights a performance by the Arneis Quartet at MIT, which included pieces by Prof. John Harbison and lecturer Elena Ruehr. Madonna writes that, “With high risks came high reward, and the Arneis Quartet offered an intense, indelible experience to the small crowd in Killian Hall.”
Reporting for WBUR, Amelia Mason spotlights a collaboration between graduate student Ben Bloomberg and Jacob Collier, a singer and former MIT artist-in-residence. Bloomberg explains that he and Collier aim to use technology as a means to augment human capabilities, explaining that, “technology should do things that technology is good at, and the people should do things that people are good at.”
Graduate student Jonny Sun is writing the script for a new movie called “Paper Lanterns,” which will blend live action and animation, reports Kevin Slane for Boston.com.
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Abigail Cain spotlights how Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at MIT Libraries, is building a dictionary cataloging the historical practice of letterlocking. Dambrogio explains that to accurately recreate some of the more intricate locks requires “looking at thousands of artifacts and having the ability to remember them.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a technique that makes it possible to create 3-D motion sculptures from 2-D video, reports Jennifer Kite-Powell for Forbes. The new technique could “open up the possibility to study social disorders, interpersonal interactions and team dynamics,” Kite-Powell explains.
BBC Click reports on a system developed by CSAIL researchers that creates 3-D motion sculptures based off of 2-D video. The technique, say the researchers, “could help dancers and athletes learn more about how they move.”
Keith Powers highlights Prof. Tod Machover’s new opera, Schoenberg in Hollywood,” in WBUR’s guide to the most innovative operas being performed in Boston this fall. Powers writes that in the opera, Machover “investigates the improbable but true story of Schoenberg, the leader of the Second Viennese School, who actually did flee to Hollywood to escape the Nazis.”
Boston Globe reporter Jeremy Eichler spotlights Prof. Tod Machover’s new opera, “Schoenberg in Hollywood,” which looks at the life and work of the composer Arnold Schoenberg. Eichler writes that the opera is “at once an earnestly admiring tribute and an unconventional biographic fantasia.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, Cate McQuaid highlights Delia Gonzalez’s new exhibit at the MIT List Visual Arts Center. McQuaid notes that Gonzalez turns to “ancient civilization in search of meaning — specifically the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii, in the year 79.”
Boston Globe reporter David Weininger highlights a recording of three new works by Prof. Peter Child. Weininger writes that the new pieces, “demonstrate the MIT composer’s remarkable stylistic diversity.”
The Boston Globe reports that Prof. Emerita Joan Jonas has been awarded the 2018 Kyoto Prize. The prize honors “important figures in the fields of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy.”