| Desert Feathers | | | | | | After soaking water into its belly feathers, the male Namaqua sandgrouse can fly 20 kilometers or more to deliver the water to its chicks. Materials scientists have now identified the microscopic structures giving the feathers their remarkable water-retention ability. |
| Flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage A modeling framework developed at MIT can help speed the development of flow batteries for large-scale, long-duration electricity storage on the future grid. |  |
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| Study: Shutting down nuclear power could increase air pollution If reactors are retired, polluting energy sources that fill the gap could cause more than 5,000 premature deaths, researchers estimate. |  |
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| Mel King Community Fellowship Program upholds the late civil rights activist’s legacy Created by community organizer and MIT adjunct professor emeritus Mel King, the program continues to empower and connect changemakers. |  |
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| MIT CSAIL researchers discuss frontiers of generative AI Experts convene to peek under the hood of AI-generated code, language, and images as well as its capabilities, limitations, and future impact. |  |
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| The buzz on keeping bees The MIT Beekeepers Club wants the Institute’s hive to thrive. |  |
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| Memory of MIT officer killed by Boston Marathon bombers kept alive through nonprofit // NBC Boston The Officer Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund, an organization set up by Officer Collier’s family, raises “funds to help young athletes and the families of fallen officers.” “I think he’d be thrilled,” says retired MIT Police Sgt. Rich Sullivan, who was Collier’s boss at the department and helps run the fund. |
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| Eight Massachusetts residents named Guggenheim Fellows // The Boston Globe Professor Ronitt Rubinfeld has been named a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, “one of the most sought-after honors in academe and culture.” |
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| If tech is driving the “productivity bandwagon,” it’s time to hit the brakes // The Financial Times “Power and Progress,” a new book by Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu and Professor Simon Johnson, explores “several moments over the last millennium when technology led to the opposite of shared prosperity.” |
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| Here’s a database of media scientifically verified to give you the chills // Motherboard Researchers at the MIT Media Lab and elsewhere created a database of movies and other media that may give a person the chills. |
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| 31 | | Number of MIT staff and faculty who’ve been inducted into the Quarter Century Club so far in 2023; an additional 11 recently achieved the distinction of 50 years of service to the Institute |
 | | | | [Y]ou actually can have your cake, eat it too, and lose weight. Under the right circumstances, and with the right tools, you can achieve impact while delivering attractive returns to investors. | | —Professor Andrew Lo, on how he shifted from being a skeptic to a believer in the benefits of environmental, social, and governance-related (ESG) investing |
| | Growing a climate-resilient MIT involves understanding what risks and disruptions may impact the campus in order to prepare the campus community for the impacts of climate change. These impacts include flooding from more frequent and extreme rains; flooding from storm surges and rising sea levels; and extreme heat events. The MIT Climate Resiliency Committee, managed by the Office of Sustainability (MITOS), is tasked with assessing, planning, and operationalizing a climate-resilient campus. MITOS also convenes operational experts, research scientists, and municipal planning experts to identify climate challenges and opportunities for enhancing resiliency and preparedness at the campus and city scale. |
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