Using the Hubble Space Telescope, Prof. Julien de Wit and his colleagues have “detected microflares coming from the TRAPPIST-1 star every hour or so that last for several minutes,” reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “These tiny bursts of radiation appear to interfere with our ability to observe the light that passes through the planets’ atmospheres – if they exist – thwarting the main method of detecting what chemicals might be in any atmospheres,” explains Wilkins.
American Kahan spotlights Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy office and dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, who was recently named the Institute’s new provost. “As Chandrakasan prepares to guide MIT through this evolving landscape, he remains grounded in the principles that have shaped his career: excellence, innovation, and collaboration,” writes American Kahan.
A study by researchers at MIT and elsewhere has proposed an alternative scenario to how life survived “Snowball Earth,” a “super ice age that froze the entire planet from poles to the equator” during the Cryogenian period, reports David Bressan for Forbes. “The scientists found that lifeforms could have survived the global freeze by thriving in watery oases on the surface,” explains Bressan.
The Press Trust of India spotlights how Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering and MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer, has been named the Institute’s new provost. In announcing Chandrakasan’s new role, President Sally Kornbluth noted that he “brings to this post an exceptional record of shaping and leading important innovations for the Institute.”
Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT’s chief innovation and strategy officer and dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, has been named the Institute’s new provost, reports The Hindu. “As MIT’s chief academic officer, Prof. Chandrakasan will focus on three overarching priorities: understanding institutional needs and strategic financial planning, attracting and retaining top talent, and supporting cross-cutting research, education, and entrepreneurship programming.”
Woods Hole Film Festival will showcase “Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution,” a film highlighting Prof. Emeritus Phil Sharp’s academic journey and discovery of RNA splicing, reports Erin Trahan for WBUR. The festival runs from July 26 – August 2 in Falmouth, MA.
A study by Prof. Noelle Selin has found that climate change will impact our ability to curb smoke and smog pollutants, reports Vivian La for WBUR. The researchers “used computer models to predict how air pollution will develop in the Eastern United States over the next few decades,” explains La. Selin underscored the importance of policies that reduce air pollution noting that: “what we’re doing to the atmosphere has impacts and it’s important not to roll these back.”
Prof. Tali Sharot speaks with Darian Woods of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money about why members of Gen Z may be feeling financial dysmorphia. “In order to be happy and satisfied, we need to see ourself progressing,” says Sharot. “That is true on every level, whether it is intellectually or whether it's financially.”
Gizmodo reporter Isaac Schultz writes that MIT astronomers have uncovered the most distant galaxy ever detected, dubbed MoM-z14, using the James Webb Space Telescope. Schultz notes that MoM-z14 “isn’t just some dim smudge, either—it’s unexpectedly luminous, echoing a growing theme in JWST’s discoveries. MoM-z14 now joins a strange new class of young galaxies that shine far more brightly than anyone expected.”
MIT astronomers have found evidence that a massive asteroid impact billions of years ago “may have briefly amplified the moon's old, weak magnetic field, leaving behind a magnetic imprint still detectable in lunar rocks,” reports Sharmila Kuthunur for Space.com. “While the moon once had a weak magnetic field generated by a small molten core, the team's research suggests it likely wouldn't have been strong enough on its own to magnetize surface rocks,” Kuthunur explains. “However, a massive asteroid impact may have changed that — at least briefly.”
Ars Technica reporter Jennifer Oulette writes that MIT researchers have found that a “large asteroid impact briefly boosted the Moon's early weak magnetic field—and that this spike is what is recorded in some lunar samples.”
Postdoc Rohan Naidu and his colleagues have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to examine galaxy MoM-z14, first spotted in 2023, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for New Scientist. “Naidu and his colleagues confirmed MoM-z14 is the most distant galaxy yet,” writes Naidu. “The light we see now was emitted just 280 million years after the big bang, breaking the previous record by about 10 million years.”
Prof. Sebastian Lourido speaks with Salon reporter Elizabeth Hlavinka about the risks associated with parasite cleanses. “When you cause significant changes in the intestine, you are at times obliterating many of the beneficial organisms that are helping us digest food, but in some cases, producing vitamins that are actually occupying that niche and preventing bad organisms from taking over,” says Lourido.
Prof. Emeritus Kerry Emanuel speaks with WBUR reporters Vivian La and Barbara Moran about the impact of NOAA cuts on the future of weather forecasting. “They're cutting into bone and muscle when they should be cutting into fat,” says Emanuel. He adds that streamlining operations and saving money “requires deep understanding of the organization and deep consultation with people who understand it.”
A study by Prof. Rebecca Saxe and her colleagues has found that the medial prefrontal cortex in infants is active when exposed to faces, reports Elizabeth Hlavinka for Salon. “Maybe it’s not that [at] first babies do visual processing and only later are connected to social meaning,” says Saxe. “Maybe these brain regions are active because babies are responding to the social meaning of people and faces as early on as we can measure their brains.”