Future Archives - Page 191 of 249 - BRANDMOIAHORA

Say WOW

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.

Everything is a Brand

An IAP class in four-part harmony

March 5, 2021

Just a few months shy of February graduation during the pandemic and the start of a fifth-year master’s program, senior Jeana Choi realized that she had never taught a class during the January Independent Activities Period (IAP). “I thought, wow, I can’t end my college experience like this,” she says. An electrical engineering and computer science major who minored in music, Choi, a violinist, became excited by the prospect of teaching about something she loved: classical music. The result...

Pondering the unknowable

March 5, 2021

In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble, using data from the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, found that the universe is expanding. This was “probably the most important cosmic discovery of all time,” writes Alan Lightman in his new book, “Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings.” Certainly it is among the most thought-provoking. Hubble’s discovery complicates how we grasp space and time. Can you picture a universe that expands infinitely? And if it is expanding, it must have had a...

Kevin Costello: Exploring the intersections of math...

March 5, 2021

“Good night, Kev. Think big.” His father smiled, tucking him in and closing the door. The next day, 13-year-old Kevin Costello III arrived for the first time to MIT. But his visit wasn’t for the average campus tour. Costello, a three-time Rubik’s Cube national champion, had come to compete. Tension grew in the competition room as the final round approached. Costello knew he had less than six seconds to solve the cube drawing from the 300 solving algorithms he...

Retrofitting MIT’s deep learning “boot camp” for...

March 4, 2021

Deep learning is advancing at lightning speed, and Alexander Amini ’17 and Ava Soleimany ’16 want to make sure they have your attention as they dive deep on the math behind the algorithms and the ways that deep learning is transforming daily life. Last year, their blockbuster course, 6.S191 (Introduction to Deep Learning) opened with a fake video welcome from former President Barack Obama. This year, the pair delivered their lectures “live” from Stata Center — after taping them weeks...

Study reveals how egg cells get so...

March 4, 2021

Egg cells are by far the largest cells produced by most organisms. In humans, they are several times larger than a typical body cell and about 10,000 times larger than sperm cells. There’s a reason why egg cells, or oocytes, are so big: They need to accumulate enough nutrients to support a growing embryo after fertilization, plus mitochondria to power all of that growth. However, biologists don’t yet understand the full picture of how egg cells become so large....

Eyeless roundworms sense color

March 4, 2021

Roundworms don’t have eyes or the light-absorbing molecules required to see. Yet, new research shows they can somehow sense color. The study, published on March 5 in the journal Science, suggests worms use this ability to assess the risk of feasting on potentially dangerous bacteria that secrete blue toxins. The researchers pinpointed two genes that contribute to this spectral sensitivity and are conserved across many organisms, including humans. “It’s amazing to me that a tiny worm — with neither...

When more Covid-19 data doesn’t equal more...

March 4, 2021

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, charts and graphs have helped communicate information about infection rates, deaths, and vaccinations. In some cases, such visualizations can encourage behaviors that reduce virus transmission, like wearing a mask. Indeed, the pandemic has been hailed as the breakthrough moment for data visualization. But new findings suggest a more complex picture. A study from MIT shows how coronavirus skeptics have marshalled data visualizations online to argue against public health orthodoxy about the benefits...

Study shows online school reviews reflect school...

March 3, 2021

MIT researchers analyzed more than 800,000 online school reviews using advanced natural language processing, determining that reviews were largely associated with schools’ test scores — a measure that correlates closely with race and family income and tends to reinforce inequities in educational opportunity — rather than measures of student growth, which reflect how well schools actually help students learn. “Our hope is that parents who learn about our study will be highly discerning when they read school reviews and take...

Microsystems Annual Research Conference goes virtual, preserves...

March 3, 2021

For 17 years, the Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC) has brought together an audience of over 200 every January for a two-day exploration of research achievements. A gathering that prizes personal interactions as much academic presentations, MARC traditionally takes place in New Hampshire, where skiing, snowshoeing, and social activities intermingle with poster sessions and technical talks. So, how could the spirit of MARC be preserved during a pandemic, when coming together is not possible? This was the major challenge...

Study offers an explanation for why the...

March 3, 2021

One of the most significant genetic risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease is a gene called APOE4, which is carried by almost half of all Alzheimer’s patients. A new study from MIT shows that this gene has widespread effects on brain cells’ ability to metabolize lipids and respond to stress. In studies of human brain cells and yeast cells, the researchers found that the APOE4 gene significantly disrupts brain cells’ ability to carry out their normal functions. They also...

Virtual bootcamps recruit from a wider world

March 3, 2021

Any past participant of MIT Bootcamps can tell you that the program lives up to the intensity implied by its name. But they’d also be quick to say that the military analogy extends even further — to an enduring camaraderie that tends to bind its members together for years after their experience has ended, across cohorts, industries, continents, and all walks of life. Though bootcamps shifted last year from a blended learning model to an all-virtual one, the structured,...

MIT and Danish university students unite to...

March 3, 2021

Climate action is among the top priorities for the Institute and one that demands global solutions. With Denmark’s reputation as a leader in sustainable thinking, finding a way to bring the two together presented a natural synergy for the MIT-Denmark program. Part of MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), MIT-Denmark connects students and faculty with institutions and industry in Denmark to advance critical research, build new technologies, and create innovative partnerships. Despite the recent challenges due to pandemic-imposed...

Helping soft robots turn rigid on demand

March 3, 2021

Imagine a robot. Perhaps you’ve just conjured a machine with a rigid, metallic exterior. While robots armored with hard exoskeletons are common, they’re not always ideal. Soft-bodied robots, inspired by fish or other squishy creatures, might better adapt to changing environments and work more safely with people. Roboticists generally have to decide whether to design a hard- or soft-bodied robot for a particular task. But that tradeoff may no longer be necessary. Working with computer simulations, MIT researchers have...

MIT Solve announces 2021 global challenges

March 2, 2021

On March 1, MIT Solve launched its 2021 Global Challenges, with over $1.5 million in prize funding available to innovators worldwide. Solve seeks tech-based solutions from social entrepreneurs around the world that address five challenges. Anyone, anywhere can apply to address the challenges by the June 16 deadline. Solve also announced Eric s. Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom, and Karlie Kloss, founder of Kode With Klossy, as 2021 Challenge Ambassadors. To help with the challenge application process, Solve runs...

Fostering ethical thinking in computing

March 2, 2021

Traditional computer scientists and engineers are trained to develop solutions for specific needs, but aren’t always trained to consider their broader implications. Each new technology generation, and particularly the rise of artificial intelligence, leads to new kinds of systems, new ways of creating tools, and new forms of data, for which norms, rules, and laws frequently have yet to catch up. The kinds of impact that such innovations have in the world has often not been apparent until many...

191 of 249
« Previous
1
…
189
190
191
192
193
…
249
Next »

© 2021 BrandMoiAhora. All Rights Reserved

Powered by Curiosity