| Exercising Neurons | | | | In response to biochemical and physical cues from exercise, motor neurons (in purple) exhibit faster new growth (in green) than neurons that aren’t exposed to exercise. | | Exercise does a body good, strengthening muscles and bolstering bones, blood vessels, and the immune system. Now, MIT engineers have found that exercise can also have a significant biochemical effect on the growth of individual neurons. Full story via MIT News → |
| Admir Masic: Using lessons from the past to build a better future The associate professor of civil and environmental engineering studies ancient materials while working to solve modern problems. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| MIT engineers make converting CO2 into useful products more practical A new electrode design boosts the efficiency of electrochemical reactions that turn carbon dioxide into ethylene and other products. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Samurai in Japan, then engineers at MIT A new exhibit explores the Institute’s first Japanese students, who arrived as MIT was taking flight and their own country was opening up. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Graph-based AI model maps the future of innovation An AI method developed by Professor Markus Buehler finds hidden links between science and art to suggest novel materials. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| A portable light system that can digitize everyday objects A new design tool uses UV and RGB lights to change the color and textures of everyday objects. The system could enable surfaces to display dynamic patterns, such as health data and fashion designs. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Startup turns mining waste into critical metals for the U.S. Phoenix Tailings, co-founded by MIT alumni, is creating domestic supply chains for rare earth metals, key to the clean energy transition. Full story via MIT News → | |
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| Opinion: Boston needs to reexamine school assignment system // The Boston Globe Professors Joshua Angrist and Parag Pathak and Senior Policy Associate Amanda Schmidt of MIT’s Blueprint Labs examine the effectiveness of Boston’s school assignment system and transportation policy. Full story via The Boston Globe → |
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| MIT maps how the brain experiences movies // Popular Science MIT researchers have created a detailed map showing how the human brain processes information while watching movies. Full story via Popular Science→ |
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| AI helps robot dogs navigate the real world // New Scientist Researchers at MIT developed a virtual training program for four-legged robots by taking a popular computer simulation software that follows the principles of real-world physics and inserting a generative AI model to produce artificial environments. Full story via New Scientist→ |
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| Remembering New England’s trailblazing Black military meteorologist // WCVB-TV WCVB-TV spotlights Captain Wallace Patillo Reed ’42, a “meteorologist whose barrier-breaking work allowed pilots to land and dreams to take off.” Full story via WCVB-TV→ |
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| | | No mere child’s play, tiddlywinks can be fiercely competitive — and MIT alumni have been at the highest ranks of the game for decades. “There’s a lot of strategy involved,” says Larry Kahn ’75, SM ’76, who holds 24 world championship titles in singles competition and 20 in pairs. Watch the video→ |
Name: Sonia Boor
Affiliation: Postdoc at the Whitehead Institute, in the lab of Professor Mary Gehring
What is your current research focus? I’m working with a legume called pigeon pea, which is an underutilized crop. Pigeon pea provides a key source of nutrition for about a billion people worldwide, particularly in regions with higher levels of food insecurity … but there isn’t much known about it. My project is trying to increase the genetic diversity of pigeon pea.
How did you become interested in a research career? When I was in graduate school, the climate crisis was just getting worse, and I felt compelled to put my molecular biology skills towards addressing that. That’s what led me to plant biology.
Any hobbies? I read and listen to audiobooks. I also like to run, which is when I do a lot of my audiobook listening. I mostly do distance running, like marathons and half marathons. I want to do all of the six marathon majors: Boston, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, London, and Berlin.
Full interview via Whitehead Institute→ |
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| | | Jennifer Yang ’97 channels her creativity and love for science into her passion: making spirits. As co-founder of Covalent Spirits, Yang manages operations at the craft distillery and develops drinks, mixers, and syrups. Much like in chemistry, Yang hopes to cultivate bonds in the covalent spirit and believes that “the best bonds you can have with someone is by sharing something.” Watch the video→ |
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