Cambridge, Boston and region

Writing for The Boston Herald, President Emeritus L. Rafael Reif and Alan M. Leventhal, founder of Beacon Capital Partners, underscore the importance of protecting Massachusetts’ research infrastructure, noting that the state’s life sciences sector alone supports 143,000 jobs. “It is imperative that we act now to preserve the research infrastructure that Massachusetts has built so carefully over the last decades. This is the time for the Commonwealth’s leadership in government, academia, business, and philanthropy to join forces and take bold action,” they write. “Decisive action will enable us to preserve our world-leading research infrastructure and protect the economic health of our Commonwealth for the benefit of all our citizens.” 

Graduate students Anika Jane Beamer, Nanticha Ocharoenchai, Pratik Pawar and Paulina Rowińska write for GBH to highlight health care deserts in the Boston area. “There are no hospitals or emergency care facilities in Mattapan,” they write. “With the closure of Carney Hospital, the nearest emergency room is at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, over three miles away. Getting there can be difficult.” 

MIT Open Space will host The Modular Troupe, an “artist collective that will be bringing live hip-hop and R&B sounds,” to the area on Wednesday, May 14, reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. “In collaboration with the Cambridge Hip Hop Collective, the Midday Music event will turn lunch hour into a dance party with high-energy performances and on-site food trucks selling local eats,” explains Orozco. 

On Tuesday, May 6, the MIT Museum is hosting “Seeing and Understanding the Unknown,” a panel discussion to celebrate the opening of their latest exhibit, “Monsters of the Deep,” reports Adelaide Parker for The Boston Globe. “MIT physicists and curators will guide you through centuries of scientists’ work picturing the unseen — from 16th-century zoologists exploring life underwater to modern physicists modeling black holes,” explains Parker. 

Boston Globe reporter Mark Feeney spotlights“Monsters of the Deep: Between Imagination and Science,” a new exhibit at the MIT Museum that offers “views of whales and related sea creatures, monstrous and otherwise, afforded by more than 40 maps and prints and books, some dating to the 16th century.” Feeney notes that the exhibit dives into the “conceptual and stimulating: a kind of case study in the nature of our knowledge about nature. In this particular case, that natural knowledge concerns whales.”

Lee Selwyn PhD '69 speaks with WVCB reporter Ben Simmoneau about how gas companies in Massachusetts promised consumers discounts on their March and April bills, following soaring energy costs this winter. 

Biogen will move its headquarters to a new facility at 75 Broadway in MIT’s Kendall Common development, reports Greg Ryan and Hannah Green for the Boston Business Journal. “The lease is one of the most significant life sciences real estate transactions in Greater Boston,” they write. 

Biogen will move its headquarters to MIT’s Kendall Common development in 2028, reports Catherine Carlock and Jonathan Saltzman for The Boston Globe. “Biogen has been a foundational presence in the Massachusetts life science ecosystem for close to half a century,” says Governor Maura Healey. “We are thrilled to see them begin a new era in our state.”

Sloan Lecturer Harvey Michaels speaks with Boston Globe reporter Scooty Nickerson about skyrocketing energy costs in Massachusetts. Michaels explains that one contributing factor is the vast but costly energy system that can supply heat during cold dips but is expensive to maintain. “It’s like having a fleet of planes flying around with very few passengers on them,” Michaels explains. “It’s going to be very expensive for the passengers that do fly” to make it worth it.

President Sally Kornbluth shares her love of the Boston Pops with Boston Globe reporter Ian Prasad Philbrick in a roundup of the Greater Boston area’s historical sights, restaurants, art museums, and more. “They’re a great mixture of playful and serious," says Kornbluth of what makes the Pops such a standout cultural experience, "sort of a good microcosm of Boston.”

The Smoot Standard, a new neighborhood café, restaurant and bar has opened in Cambridge’s Central Square, reports Kara Baskin for The Boston Globe. “The name is an homage to Ollie Smoot, MIT ‘62, whose body was famously used to measure the Harvard Bridge in 1958 (which is 364.4 smoots),” explains Baskin. 

WBUR’s Maddie Browning spotlights “List Projects 32: Elif Saydam,” a new exhibit at the MIT List Visual Arts Center by Elif Saydam that explores gentrification through art. Saydam paints “urban scenes like gas stations and apartment buildings, then layers them with gold,” explains Browning. “Saydam’s work references historical painting traditions like miniature painting and illuminated manuscripts.” 

As part of MIT’s Artfinity festival - a new festival of the arts at MIT featuring 80 free performing and visual arts events, celebrating creativity and community – this month’s After Dark event on Thursday, March 13^th at the MIT Museum will be free and open to the public, reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. Attendees will be able to enjoy “a night of activities, including a ‘Flash Portrait’ drawing and textile design, as well as live DJ sets, open exhibits by faculty, and a talk from Behnaz Farahi, the interdisciplinary designer behind ‘Gaze to the Stars,’ which has brought the MIT dome to life,” explains Orozco. 

The nondenominational MIT Chapel was named by Financial Times readers as one of the best places of worship in the world. “The Eero Saarinen-designed chapel at MIT is otherworldly,” they write. “This is what spiritual contemplation probably looks like in another galaxy.” 

“Pedro Gómez-Egaña: The Great Learning,” the newest exhibition at the List Visual Arts Center, features “an orchestra of sculptures meticulously curated with hidden instruments to create sound,” reports Marianna Orozco for The Boston Globe. The show will be on display through July 2025.