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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Honoring work to support innovation in aging
On Sept. 13, MIT AgeLab co-hosted a celebration honoring the 10th anniversary of Boston Bridge, a nonprofit professional development organization in the field of aging with a longtime AgeLab association. Since its founding in 2012, AgeLab has been affiliated with Boston Bridge, an interdisciplinary program that works with business, government, and nongovernmental organizations to improve the quality of life of older people and those who care for them. MIT AgeLab researcher Taylor Patskanick is the current president of Boston...

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Coordinating climate and air-quality policies to improve...
As America’s largest investment to fight climate change, the Inflation Reduction Act positions the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. But as it edges the United States closer to achieving its international climate commitment, the legislation is also expected to yield significant — and more immediate — improvements in the nation’s health. If successful in accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy alternatives, the IRA will sharply reduce...

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Two first-year students named Rise Global Winners...
In 2019, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, launched a $1 billion philanthropic commitment to identify global talent. Part of that effort is the Rise initiative, which selects 100 young scholars, ages 15-17, from around the world who show unusual promise and a drive to serve others. This year’s cohort of 100 Rise Global Winners includes two MIT first-year students, Jacqueline Prawira and Safiya Sankari. Rise intentionally targets younger-aged students and focuses on identifying what the...

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Seven with MIT ties receive awards from...
The American Physical Society (APS) recently honored a number of individuals with ties to MIT with prizes and awards for their contributions to physics. They include: Institute Professor Arup Chakraborty; associate professors Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz and Lina Necib; Yuan Cao SM ’16 PhD ’20; Alina Kononov ’14; Elliott H. Lieb ’53; Haocun Yu PhD ’20; and several former MIT postdocs. Max Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics Institute Professor Arup Chakraborty, a professor of chemical engineering, physics, and chemistry, received the 2023 Max Delbruck...

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Building with nanoparticles, from the bottom up
Researchers at MIT have developed a technique for precisely controlling the arrangement and placement of nanoparticles on a material, like the silicon used for computer chips, in a way that does not damage or contaminate the surface of the material. The technique, which combines chemistry and directed assembly processes with conventional fabrication techniques, enables the efficient formation of high-resolution, nanoscale features integrated with nanoparticles for devices like sensors, lasers, and LEDs, which could boost their performance. Transistors and other...

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A “door” into the mitochondrial membrane
Mitochondria — the organelles responsible for energy production in human cells — were once free-living organisms that found their way into early eukaryotic cells over a billion years ago. Since then, they have merged seamlessly with their hosts in a classic example of symbiotic evolution, and now rely on many proteins made in their host cell’s nucleus to function properly. Proteins on the outer membrane of mitochondria are especially important; they allow the mitochondria to communicate with the rest of...

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Designing the cities of tomorrow
Reflecting on the mission and approach of SENSEable City Lab at MIT and his role as its director, Carlo Ratti quotes the Nobel laureate Herbert Simon, who said, “The engineer, and more generally the designer, is concerned with how things ought to be — how they ought to be in order to attain goals, and to function.” Simon was a political scientist and economist, but his groundbreaking research on decision-making within organizations was informed by disparate disciplines including computer...

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Simplifying the production of lithium-ion batteries
When it comes to battery innovations, much attention gets paid to potential new chemistries and materials. Often overlooked is the importance of production processes for bringing down costs. Now the MIT spinout 24M Technologies has simplified lithium-ion battery production with a new design that requires fewer materials and fewer steps to manufacture each cell. The company says the design, which it calls “SemiSolid” for its use of gooey electrodes, reduces production costs by up to 40 percent. The approach...

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Q&A: David Kaiser on Freeman Dyson, the...
In the early 2000s, David Kaiser first visited famed physicist Freeman Dyson at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. By the end of the conversation, Dyson was handing over keys to his office, along with files, to help Kaiser’s research — a characteristically open gesture by Dyson, a legendary quantum theorist. The English-born Dyson started his career as a mathematical prodigy who helped expand quantum electrodynamics (QED) — the study of the quantum behavior of light...

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The tenured engineers of 2022
The School of Engineering has announced that MIT has granted tenure to 14 members of its faculty in the departments of Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (which reports jointly to the School of Engineering and MIT Schwarzman College of Computing), Materials Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. “I am truly amazed by our newest cohort of tenured faculty,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of the School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of...

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Celebrating the life of undergraduate Mohamed Magdi...
Mohamed Magdi Taha, an undergraduate student in Course 6-9 (Computation and Cognition) passed away in August. A native of California and Khartoum, Sudan, the rising junior and New Vassar resident was passionate about social justice issues, had deep love for his home country and family, and had a penchant for writing and studying poetry. Writing on an Instagram thread for members of the MIT class of 2024, he described himself with wit and humor: “I was born in California...

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MITx MicroMasters Program in Supply Chain Management...
A milestone in the evolution of education in the supply chain field was reached at the end of September, with the one-millionth enrollment in the MITx MicroMasters Program in Supply Chain Management (SCM). The landmark number reflects both the success of the program and the changes transforming professional education as more learners turn to online programs to gain knowledge and improve their lives. The MITx MicroMasters Program in SCM was launched in 2015 to meet the rapidly growing demand...

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On campus, a warm welcome for MIT’s...
Incoming MIT President Sally Kornbluth greeted members of the Institute community at a campus event on Thursday afternoon, outlining her vision and values, and thanking everyone for the reception she has enjoyed. “The warmth and welcome I’ve received from all of you at MIT has been incredible,” said Kornbluth, speaking to a large audience in MIT’s Room 10-250, Huntington Hall. Kornbluth’s selection was announced on Thursday morning, after the MIT Corporation voted to ratify the decision made by an...

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Deep learning with light
Ask a smart home device for the weather forecast, and it takes several seconds for the device to respond. One reason this latency occurs is because connected devices don’t have enough memory or power to store and run the enormous machine-learning models needed for the device to understand what a user is asking of it. The model is stored in a data center that may be hundreds of miles away, where the answer is computed and sent to the...

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MIT engineers develop sensors for face masks...
Wearing a mask can help prevent the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, but a mask’s effectiveness depends on how well it fits. Currently, there are no simple ways to measure the fit of a mask, but a new sensor developed at MIT could make it much easier to ensure a good fit. The sensor, which measures physical contact between the mask and the wearer’s face, can be applied to any kind of mask. Using this sensor, the researchers...

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