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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.

 
Examining racial attitudes in virtual spaces through...
The national dialogue on race has progressed powerfully and painfully in the past year, and issues of racial bias in the news have become ubiquitous. However, for over a decade, researchers from MIT’s Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory (ICE Lab) have been developing systems to model, simulate, and analyze such issues of identity.  In recent years there’s been a rise in popularity of video games or virtual reality (VR) experiences addressing racial issues for educational or training purposes, coinciding...

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How tutoring programs can combat the “Covid-19...
The current pandemic has led to unprecedented disruptions in student learning in the United States. Remote learning, decreased instruction time, and fewer opportunities for personalized interactions with teachers have set the stage for widespread learning loss, also referred to as the “Covid-19 slide.” These risks are greatest for low-income students, students of color, and students who were already in need of additional support before schools closed their doors.  As the education system works to stabilize and adapt, addressing learning...

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Helping robots avoid collisions
George Konidaris still remembers his disheartening introduction to robotics. “When you’re a young student and you want to program a robot, the first thing that hits you is this immense disappointment at how much you can’t do with that robot,” he says. Most new roboticists want to program their robots to solve interesting, complex tasks — but it turns out that just moving them through space without colliding with objects is more difficult than it sounds. Fortunately, Konidaris is...

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Rapid test for Covid-19 shows improved sensitivity
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers at MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, along with their collaborators at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Ragon Institute, have been working on a CRISPR-based diagnostic for Covid-19 that can produce results in 30 minutes to an hour, with similar accuracy as the standard PCR diagnostics now used. The new test, known as STOPCovid, is still in the...

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Highly sensitive trigger enables rapid detection of...
Any space, enclosed or open, can be vulnerable to the dispersal of harmful airborne biological agents. Silent and near-invisible, these bioagents can sicken or kill living things before steps can be taken to mitigate the bioagents’ effects. Venues where crowds congregate are prime targets for biowarfare strikes engineered by terrorists, but expanses of fields or forests could be victimized by an aerial bioattack. Early warning of suspicious biological aerosols can speed up remedial responses to releases of biological agents;...

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MIT Integrative Microbiology Initiative will stimulate environmental...
An interdepartmental team of environmental scientists from MIT has received funding to develop a new program, called the MIT Integrative Microbiology Initiative (MIMI), aimed at enhancing the study of environmental sciences at MIT. The team of researchers and faculty, led by Professor Otto X. Cordero of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, hopes the new initiative will build on the rich history of Parsons Laboratory as a leader of the environmental science space, and help identify and develop...

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A legacy of curiosity in the name...
American surgeon, urologist, and medical researcher Hugh Hampton Young (1870-1945) was known for leading with his curiosity. His inquisitive mind led him to explore the field of aviation, the arts, and civic enhancement, though he is best known for innovation in medical science. The aim of the Hugh Hampton Young Fellowship administered by MIT’s Office for Graduate Education (OGE) is therefore to reward academic achievement across multiple disciplines and to honor students who possess exceptional character strengths. These students harbor outstanding potential to make a positive...

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New molecular therapeutics center established at MIT's...
More than 1 million Americans are diagnosed with a chronic brain disorder each year, yet effective treatments for most complex brain disorders are inadequate or even nonexistent. A major new research effort at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT aims to change how we treat brain disorders by developing innovative molecular tools that precisely target dysfunctional genetic, molecular, and circuit pathways. The K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience was established...

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Did our early ancestors boil their food...
Some of the oldest remains of early human ancestors have been unearthed in Olduvai Gorge, a rift valley setting in northern Tanzania where anthropologists have discovered fossils of hominids that existed 1.8 million years ago. The region has preserved many fossils and stone tools, indicating that early humans settled and hunted there. Now a team led by researchers at MIT and the University of Alcalá in Spain has discovered evidence that hot springs may have existed in Olduvai Gorge...

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2020 Beaver Works Summer Institute goes virtual
Despite the Covid-19 emergency, this year’s Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) carried on in a virtual format, offering seven classes to 178 students from 26 states across the country and Canada. 2020 marks the fifth year of the program — a four-week hands-on STEM learning experience for rising high school seniors — which concluded on July 31 with a finale event that showcased student projects, a virtual grand prix, awards, and more.  “Even with the virtual format, the students...

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Action learning in the virtual world
This year marked the third time that MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node hosted a fintech entrepreneurship program designed for students from MIT and from Hong Kong, but this summer marked the first time the experience was hosted online. Called MIT Entrepreneurship and Fintech Integrator (MEFTI), 33 students participated remotely across five different time zones due to Covid-19. “Doing this virtually is a challenge for everyone, and we’re proud that our students made it through the nine days,” says Professor Charles...

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Astronomers may have found a signature of...
The search for life beyond Earth has largely revolved around our rocky red neighbor. NASA has launched multiple rovers over the years, with a new one currently en route, to sift through Mars’ dusty surface for signs of water and other hints of habitability. Now, in a surprising twist, scientists at MIT, Cardiff University, and elsewhere have observed what may be signs of life in the clouds of our other, even closer planetary neighbor, Venus. While they have not...

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MIT named No. 4 university by U.S....
U.S. News and World Report has placed MIT fourth in its annual rankings of the nation’s best colleges and universities, which were announced today. The Institute shares the No. 4 spot with Yale University. MIT’s engineering program continues to top the magazine’s list of undergraduate engineering programs at a doctoral institution. The Institute also placed first in five out of 12 engineering disciplines. No other institution is No. 1 in more than two disciplines. MIT also remains the No....

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MIT releases financials and endowment figures for...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Investment Management Company (MITIMCo) announced today that MIT’s unitized pool of endowment and other MIT funds generated an investment return of 8.3 percent during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, as measured using valuations received within one month of fiscal year end. At the end of the fiscal year, MIT’s endowment funds totaled $18.4 billion, excluding pledges. MIT’s endowment is intended to support current and future generations of MIT scholars with the resources...

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3 Questions: Frank Levy and Arshia Mehta...
As part of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future’s new series of research briefs, MIT Professor Frank Levy teamed with Wellesley College undergraduate Arshia Mehta to examine the future of logistics, especially in light of changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The brief explores how technology is changing the warehousing and trucking industries and the resulting impacts on employment. Levy is a professor emeritus of MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and an advisory...

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