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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.

 
In his element in the chem lab...
Before coming to MIT to pursue a PhD in chemistry, Levi Knippel would spend hours after his workdays at Genentech, where he was an associate scientist, training with two world champion kickboxers. “It helped me break out of my shell,” he says of the sport. “This zen state of just me, my body, and my opponent trying to hurt me –– it’s like this chess match.” In the ring, he has a combined record of one win, one loss,...

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A voice for diversity, equity, and inclusion...
Md Sami Hasnine is in the business of understanding people. From his research developing and building predictive models of human behavior, to his work in MIT’s diversity, equity, and inclusion community, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) postdoc has displayed both a passion for, and some considerable skill in, promoting equality and diversity, and helping to drive change within his community. Hasnine is an engineer at heart; he’s got a passion for the work that seems to...

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MIT Schwarzman College of Computing announces first...
The MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing announced its first two named professorships, beginning July 1, to Frédo Durand and Samuel Madden in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). These named positions recognize the outstanding achievements and future potential of their academic careers. “I’m thrilled to acknowledge Frédo and Sam for their outstanding contributions in research and education. These named professorships recognize them for their extraordinary achievements,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman...

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Better simulation meshes well for design software...
The digital age has spurred the rise of entire industries aimed at simulating our world and the objects in it. Simulation is what helps movies have realistic effects, automakers test cars virtually, and scientists analyze geophysical data. To simulate physical systems in 3D, researchers often program computers to divide objects into sets of smaller elements, a procedure known as “meshing.” Most meshing approaches tile 2D objects with patterns of triangles or quadrilaterals (quads), and tile 3D objects with patterns...

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Exhaled biomarkers can reveal lung disease
Using specialized nanoparticles, MIT engineers have developed a way to monitor pneumonia or other lung diseases by analyzing the breath exhaled by the patient. In a study of mice, the researchers showed that they could use this system to monitor bacterial pneumonia, as well as a genetic disorder of the lungs called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. “We envision that this technology would allow you to inhale a sensor and then breathe out a volatile gas in about 10 minutes that...

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Tackling the misinformation epidemic with “In Event...
Can you recognize a digitally manipulated video when you see one? It’s harder than most people realize. As the technology to produce realistic “deepfakes” becomes more easily available, distinguishing fact from fiction will only get more challenging. A new digital storytelling project from MIT’s Center for Advanced Virtuality aims to educate the public about the world of deepfakes with “In Event of Moon Disaster.” This provocative website showcases a “complete” deepfake (manipulated audio and video) of U.S. President Richard...

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A mechanical way to stimulate neurons
In addition to responding to electrical and chemical stimuli, many of the body’s neural cells can also respond to mechanical effects, such as pressure or vibration. But these responses have been more difficult for researchers to study, because there has been no easily controllable method for inducing such mechanical stimulation of the cells. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found a new method for doing just that. The finding might offer a step toward new kinds of therapeutic...

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Faculty receive funding to develop artificial intelligence...
Artificial intelligence has the power to help put an end to the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only can techniques of machine learning and natural language processing be used to track and report Covid-19 infection rates, but other AI techniques can also be used to make smarter decisions about everything from when states should reopen to how vaccines are designed. Now, MIT researchers working on seven groundbreaking projects on Covid-19 will be funded to more rapidly develop and apply novel AI...

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Researchers develop new materials for energy and...
A team of researchers from MIT and Northwestern University has demonstrated the ability to fine-tune the electronic properties of hybrid perovskite materials, which have drawn enormous interest as potential next-generation optoelectronic materials for devices such as solar cells and light sources. The materials are classified as “hybrid” because they contain inorganic components like metals, as well as organic molecules with elements like carbon and nitrogen, organized into nanoscale layers. In a paper published online this week in Nature Chemistry,...

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3 Questions: Thomas Kochan on new policies...
Professor Thomas A. Kochan has been studying work and employment in the United States for decades — and he thinks it is time for the country to make significant policy changes. Kochan, the George M. Bunker Professor of Management and a professor of work and organization studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a member of both the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future and the faculty steering committee for the Good Companies, Good...

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MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society...
In addition to making online education crucial to continued learning, the coronavirus pandemic poses the kind of global, societal challenges that must be addressed with rigorous data analysis. As the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS) and other organizations worldwide use statistics and machine learning to model infection rates, predict policy outcomes, and inform reopening plans, the need for people trained in these methods has never been more clear. IDSS is helping to expand and promote this...

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MIT-BU law clinics help students bring innovations...
In 2015, the first of two MIT-Boston University law clinics was formed to provide free legal services to student innovators while giving law students experience working on technology-related legal matters. Several metrics could be used to measure the clinics’ success since then: More than 750 student teams have received support through the program over the course of its lifetime. Those interactions have led to about 50,000 hours of client work performed by BU law students, accounting for around $17.5...

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In a first, astronomers watch a black...
It seems the universe has an odd sense of humor. While a crown-encrusted virus has run roughshod over the world, another entirely different corona about 100 million light years from Earth has mysteriously disappeared. For the first time, astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have watched as a supermassive black hole’s own corona, the ultrabright, billion-degree ring of high-energy particles that encircles a black hole’s event horizon, was abruptly destroyed. The cause of this dramatic transformation is unclear, though the...

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Four MIT faculty members receive U.S. Department...
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) recently announced the names of 76 scientists who have been selected for their 2020 Early Career Research Program. The list includes four faculty members from MIT: Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz, assistant professor of physics and researcher in the Laboratory for Nuclear Science (LNS); Karthish Manthiram, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Phiala Shanahan, assistant professor of physics and researcher in the Center for Theoretical Physics within the LNS; and Wim van Rees, assistant professor...

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Building a more sustainable MIT — from...
Like most offices across MIT, the Office of Sustainability (MITOS) has in recent months worked to pivot projects while seeking to understand and participate in the emergence of a new normal as the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite now working off campus, the MITOS team methodology — one that warrants collective engagement, commitment to innovative problem solving, and robust data collection — has continued. An expanded look at resiliency When the MIT community transitioned off campus, many began...

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