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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.

 
Giving robots better moves
For most people, the task of identifying an object, picking it up, and placing it somewhere else is trivial. For robots, it requires the latest in machine intelligence and robotic manipulation. That’s what MIT spinoff RightHand Robotics has incorporated into its robotic piece-picking systems, which combine unique gripper designs with artificial intelligence and machine vision to help companies sort products and get orders out the door. “If you buy something at the store, you push the cart down the...

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Physicists observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole theorem...
There are certain rules that even the most extreme objects in the universe must obey. A central law for black holes predicts that the area of their event horizons — the boundary beyond which nothing can ever escape — should never shrink. This law is Hawking’s area theorem, named after physicist Stephen Hawking, who derived the theorem in 1971. Fifty years later, physicists at MIT and elsewhere have now confirmed Hawking’s area theorem for the first time, using observations...

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Three from MIT receive 2021 Hertz Foundation...
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation has selected three MIT students as recipients of its prestigious fellowships this year: Allen Liu ’20, Alex Miller ’21, and Isabelle Yan Phinney ’20. In addition, two Hertz Fellows from other undergraduate institutions will soon join the MIT community as doctoral students: Kartik Chandra (computer science), and Alexander Zlokapa (physics). The foundation awarded 12 fellowships in all, chosen from a pool of over 900 applicants from around the country. “The 2021 Hertz fellows...

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Some brain disorders exhibit similar circuit malfunctions
Many neurodevelopmental disorders share similar symptoms, such as learning disabilities or attention deficits. A new study from MIT has uncovered a common neural mechanism for a type of cognitive impairment seen in some people with autism and schizophrenia, even though the genetic variations that produce the impairments are different for each condition. In a study of mice, the researchers found that certain genes that are mutated or missing in some people with those disorders cause similar dysfunctions in a...

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The power of two
MIT’s Hockfield Court is bordered on the west by the ultramodern Stata Center, with its reflective, silver alcoves that jut off at odd angles, and on the east by Building 68, which is a simple, window-lined, cement rectangle. At first glance, Bonnie Berger’s mathematics lab in the Stata Center and Joey Davis’s biology lab in Building 68 are as different as the buildings that house them. And yet, a recent collaboration between these two labs shows how their disciplines complement each other. The...

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3 Questions: Anna Jagielska on printing artificial...
Tens of millions of people worldwide suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and Lou Gehrig’s disease — but no effective treatments exist for these conditions. Research Scientist Anna Jagielska of the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering thinks repairing the myelin wrapping around axons is key to preserving neurological function and slowing or stopping neurodegeneration. Her team, with support from the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, the U.S. Department of Defense, Sanofi-Genzyme, and...

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MIT and U.S. Department of Defense team...
MIT has pioneered many online learning solutions, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has taken note. MIT and the DoD have teamed up to launch a new edX learning platform, manufacturingworkforce.org. In the past decade, the DoD has launched nine public-private manufacturing institutes to spur U.S. advanced manufacturing industry forward in areas such as additive manufacturing, robotics, photonics, functional fabrics, and bio-fabrication. An important part of the institutes’ mission is workforce development, which includes online learning. To that...

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Letter from President Reif: A new future...
To the members of the MIT community, I write to share important news about the future of edX, the nonprofit that MIT and Harvard launched together in 2012 to offer the world an open-source online learning platform for university-level courses. I will begin with the news and then offer some context and detail. The news After a thorough and thoughtful process, and with the support of the senior leadership of MIT and Harvard, the edX board has agreed to...

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FAQs on agreement to sell edX to...
This set of FAQs offers information about today’s announcement of a transaction to sell edX as a public benefit company while funding a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the impact of digital learning.  General questions  What is MIT announcing today?  With the support of the senior leadership of MIT and Harvard University, the edX board has agreed to sell the assets of edX to 2U, Inc., a publicly traded company that provides a platform for life-long learning. Through this acquisition, edX — the...

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MIT and Harvard agree to transfer edX...
MIT and Harvard University have announced a major transition for edX, the nonprofit organization they launched in 2012 to provide an open online platform for university courses: edX’s assets are to be acquired by the publicly-traded education technology company 2U, and reorganized as a public benefit company under the 2U umbrella.   The transaction is structured to ensure that edX continues in its founding mission, and features a wide array of protections for edX learners, partners, and faculty who...

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New face mask prototype can detect Covid-19...
Engineers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a novel face mask that can diagnose the wearer with Covid-19 within about 90 minutes. The masks are embedded with tiny, disposable sensors that can be fitted into other face masks and could also be adapted to detect other viruses. The sensors are based on freeze-dried cellular machinery that the research team has previously developed for use in paper diagnostics for viruses such as Ebola and Zika. In a new study,...

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Agustín Rayo named interim dean of SHASS
MIT Provost Martin A. Schmidt has named professor of philosophy Agustín Rayo PhD ’01 as interim dean of MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), effective Aug. 18. The appointment comes in response to the announcement that SHASS Dean Melissa Nobles will become MIT’s chancellor later this summer. Schmidt also appointed a 10-member advisory committee chaired by Caspar Hare, professor of philosophy, to select the next SHASS Kenan Sahin Dean. The committee members are Stephanie Ann Frampton...

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MIT welcomes six new assistant deans for...
As an important step forward in MIT’s ongoing efforts to create a more welcoming and inclusive community, the Institute has hired six new assistant deans, one in each school and in the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, to serve as diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals. Set to be in place by the fall of 2021, these new positions are a result of the February 2020 recommendations of the MIT working groups charged with implementing the findings of...

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A new chapter for space sustainability
Each day, new and innovative space technologies are being developed in countries around the world, and with that, a steady stream of satellites, rockets, cargo ships, and crew vehicles are being launched into the Earth’s orbit and beyond. So what happens to these systems when they come to the end of their functional life, or malfunction and break?   Some are programmed to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere where, if all goes well, they incinerate safely upon entry. Some are programmed...

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Engineered yeast could expand biofuels’ reach
Boosting production of biofuels such as ethanol could be an important step toward reducing global consumption of fossil fuels. However, ethanol production is limited in large part by its reliance on corn, which isn’t grown in large enough quantities to make up a significant portion of U.S. fuel needs. To try to expand biofuels’ potential impact, a team of MIT engineers has now found a way to expand the use of a wider range of nonfood feedstocks to produce...

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