In an article for the Cambridge Chronicle, Maya Johnson describes MIT’s efforts to mitigate Covid-19 transmission on campus. “Our main goal is to know where the virus is and make sure that we can prevent our community from getting the virus,” says Suzanne Blake, director of MIT Emergency Management. “Public health and safety is our number one priority for students.”
Michael Hecht of MIT’s Haystack Observatory speaks with Perry Russom of NECN about MOXIE, a new experimental device that will convert carbon dioxide in the Marian atmosphere into oxygen. Hecht explains that the inspiration for MOXIE lies in how it would be easier, “if we could make that oxygen on Mars and not have to bring this huge honking oxygen tank with us all the way from Earth.”
Prof. Tanja Bosak speaks with Vox reporter Brian Resnick about how Martian materials collected by the Perseverance rover might provide clues about early life forms on Earth. "These [Martian] rocks are older, by half a billion or a billion years, than anything that’s well preserved that we have on Earth,” says Bosak.
Boston Globe reporter Caroline Enos spotlights the contributions of MIT researchers to the Mars 2020 mission, in particular the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment or MOXIE. “MOXIE could have a big impact on future missions if it is successful,” Enos explains.
Haystack’s Michael Hecht, the principal investigator for the Mars MOXIE experiment, speaks with Max G. Levy of Smithsonian about the challenges involved in developing MOXIE’s oxygen-producing technology. “We want to show we can run [MOXIE] in the daytime, and the nighttime, in the winter, and in the summer, and when it’s dusty out," says Hecht, "in all of the different environments."
Michael Hecht, MOXIE principal investigator and director of research at MIT Haystack Observatory, speaks with CNN’s Ashley Strickland about MOXIE, an apparatus that was designed to convert carbon dioxide on Mars into breathable oxygen and fuel. With MOXIE, "you don't have to take an estimated 27 metric tons of oxygen to Mars,” says Hecht.
Principal research scientist Andrew Sutherland and a colleague at the University of Bristol have solved a decades-old math problem known as the “summing of the three cubes.” The team found the answer with the help of the platform the Charity Engine, “which utilizes idle, unused computing power from over 500,000 home PCs to create a crowdsourced and environmentally conscious supercomputer,” writes David Grossman for Popular Mechanics.
Ryan Mandelbaum writes for Gizmodo about the efforts of principal research scientist Andrew Sutherland and others to use a crowd-sourced supercomputer to solve a math problem that scientists have been working on since the 1950s. “You wait and wait and just when you’re at the point of giving up, the number shows up,” said Sutherland. “It’s very gratifying.”
Esteban Bustillos of WGBH’s On Campus highlights the work of MIT Director of Athletics Julie Soreiro ahead of her retirement at the end of the fall semester. “Soriero's biggest contribution may be making the school’s athletic mission an extension of its academic one,” says Bustillos. “It’s best summed up in a phrase that’s become something of a mantra for her: ‘We will not apologize for winning.’”
Carey Goldberg reports for WBUR CommonHealth on the MIT president’s recent letter to the community describing immigration as a kind of oxygen. “In his letter, MIT President Reif adds the force of his own bully pulpit, writing that MIT flourishes because it draws talent from around the globe,” writes Goldberg.
Boston Business Journal reporter Hilary Burns spotlights the diligent preparation that goes into the reading of graduates’ names and ensuring that MIT’s Commencement ceremony runs smoothly. “We practice. It can be too slow or too fast,” explains Sarah Gallop, one of eight readers. “There is a magic sweet spot in the pace.”
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.”
President Reif speaks with Gerry Baker of WSJ at Large about the impact of AI on the future of education and work. “Part of the goal of the [MIT Schwarzman] college is, as we educate people to use these [AI] tools, to educate them in a way that empowers human beings, not replaces human beings,” says Reif.
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.
Provost Martin Schmidt and SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles speak with Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Castellanos about MIT’s efforts to advance the study of AI and its ethical and societal implications through the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Schmidt says this work “requires a deep partnership between the technologists and the humanists.”