| Imaging viruses inexpensively | | | | | Labs worldwide began using expansion microscopy soon after Ed Boyden’s lab introduced it in 2015. Now, using ordinary light microscopy, the team has devised a technique whose accuracy should enable imaging of viruses or even single biomolecules. |
| Matthew Vander Heiden named director of the Koch Institute |
MIT biology professor and pioneering researcher of cancer cell metabolism will succeed longtime director Tyler Jacks. |  |
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| NFTs, explained Have you seen the term “NFT” spinning around the internet and found yourself completely confused? This primer will bring you up to speed. |  |
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| Why we need a more precise understanding of vaccine hesitation |
In a Q&A, Charles Senteio discusses Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans and the “tsunami of inequity” accelerated by the pandemic. |  |
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| Supporting the Covid-19 vaccine rollout with extra-strength glass Corning executive Mark Kurz SM ’95 leads a team producing vials for vaccine distribution. |  |
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| Navigating uncertainty through song Senior Alberto Naveira has found himself and his community as a member of the a cappella group the Chorallaries. |  |
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| Opinion: America’s maps are full of racial slurs — and that needs to change // Scientific American |
Graduate students Meghana Ranganathan, Julia Wilcots, Rohini Shivamoggi, and Diana Dumit call for the removal of racist language from the names of many geographic features and places in the United States. |
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| High-tech face masks aim to step up the fight against Covid-19 // The Wall Street Journal Assistant Professor Giovanni Traverso and his colleagues are developing a reusable, silicon-rubber face mask with “sensors that give feedback on fit and functionality,” while Professor Michael Strano has designed a mask that “incorporates a copper mesh heated to about 160 degrees that traps and deactivates the virus.” |
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| Simple filters made from conifer trees could have a huge impact on the clean water crisis // Popular Science MIT researchers have created a filter from tree branches that could provide an inexpensive, biodegradable and low-tech option for water purification. |
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| Art is a bridge “between facts and feelings” for MIT’s Ekene Ijeoma // The Boston Globe |
Through his art and information-based work, Assistant Professor Ekene Ijeoma “finds the humanity in data points.” Ijeoma hopes his work — including “A Counting,” a sonic poem featuring recordings of people from around the world counting to 100, and the virtual Black Mobility and Safety Seminar hosted by his research team — bridges “the gap between facts and feelings. It gets to ‘what are the things being felt when experiencing this?’” |
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I’m planning to get vaccinated, because ...
I’m looking forward to Institute-wide events on campus with lots of friends and food.
—Danielle Geathers, junior in mechanical engineering and president of the Undergraduate Association |
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| | | Since its founding 20 years ago, MIT OpenCourseWare has granted free access to MIT course materials, laying the foundation for other open educational resource platforms. “It’s made an impact on literally millions of lives,” says Krishna Rajagopal, dean for digital learning. |
| | | “To promote greater fellowship among Institute women” — that was the goal of the MIT Women’s Association, founded in 1899 and later renamed the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA). Take time to read about some of the notable women in MIT history via the AMITA Timeline. Starting in 1870 with the admission of Ellen Henrietta Swallow as an “experimental student,” the timeline honors pioneers and events that have shaped women’s history at the Institute. |
| | | A team of researchers from the departments of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and MIT’s Division of Comparative Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has made it to the finals of the 2021 STAT Madness competition, a bracket-style tournament featuring recent innovations in science and medicine. The researchers developed a non-invasive way to temporarily coat the small intestine with a polymer that could one day improve medication delivery. Other MIT affiliates competing this year include groups from the McGovern Institute, Koch Institute, Whitehead Institute, and Broad Institute. |
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