Palindrome poet + Turing Award + textile recycling + MIT’s first female student

MIT Weekly	March 25, 2023
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Palindrome Poet

Barry Duncan sits on a bench inside MIT Press bookstore, with shelves of colorful books surrounding him.

Monday began a series of days that can be read the same forward and backward — palindromes. Today (3-25-23) the series continues. To mark the occasion, we introduce you to Barry Duncan, a staff member at the MIT Press Bookstore who is also a professional palindromist, with works appearing in galleries, anthologies, and more. “I hope it gives people an idea of what can be accomplished in two directions,” he says.

Full story via MIT News | Watch the video→

Top Headlines

Bob Metcalfe ’69 wins $1 million Turing Award

The CSAIL research affiliate and MIT Corporation life member emeritus has been honored with the “Nobel Prize of computing” for his invention of Ethernet.

Full story via MIT News →

Fiber “barcodes” can make clothing labels that last

Drawing inspiration from butterfly wings, reflective fibers woven into clothing could reshape textile sorting and recycling.

Full story via MIT News →

MIT physicists predict exotic new phenomena and give “a recipe” for realizing them

Work with skyrmions could have applications in future computers and more.

Full story via MIT News →

Tackling counterfeit seeds with “unclonable” labels

Fake seeds can cost farmers more than two-thirds of expected crop yields and threaten food security. Trackable silk labels could help.

Full story via MIT News →

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2023

The Institute also ranks second in five subject areas.

Full story via MIT News →

#ThisisMIT

Members of the MIT Black Women’s Alliance executive board pose for portrait. Text via @mitstudents: Hi guys! We are the MIT Black Women’s Alliance executive board! BWA is a student-run, undergraduate group that aims to promote the awareness of Black women's issues in the MIT community through activities designed to increase the visibility of Black women on campus. Every year at the intersection of Black History Month and Women's History Month, BWA holds a week of events called Black Women's Week. This year's theme is visibility, and we are excited to celebrate the Black women of MIT with our community!

Follow @mitstudents on Instagram→

In the Media

Cambridge runner looks to beat his best of New Englanders time in Boston Marathon // WCVB-TV

Postdoc Matt McDonald discusses his efforts to prepare for the 2023 Boston Marathon. McDonald, who at last year’s marathon finished fourth in the American pack and first among New Englanders, says “the crowds are unbelievable. And knowing that you’ve done it at that point, makes it just incredibly emotional.”

Full story via WCVB-TV→

MIT scientists twist apart more than 1,000 Oreos in search for perfect method // The Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal reporter Aylin Woodward writes about how graduate student Crystal Owens and undergraduate Max Fan set out to solve a cookie conundrum: whether there was a way to twist apart an Oreo and have the filling stick to both wafers.

Full story via The Wall Street Journal→

This bumblebee-inspired bot can bounce back after injuring a wing // Popular Science

MIT engineers developed a technique that enables bug-sized aerial robots to handle a sizeable amount of damage and still fly.

Full story via Popular Science→

MIT researchers tackle key question of EV adoption: When to charge? // Fast Company

MIT scientists have found that delayed charging and strategic placement of EV charging stations could help reduce energy demands caused by more widespread EV adoption.

Full story via Fast Company→

Look Back

150 years ago this spring, Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842-1911) became the first woman to graduate from MIT. She would go on to found the MIT Women’s Laboratory and served as an instructor in chemistry until her death in 1911. At a time when women were rarely offered opportunities for advanced study — especially in science and engineering — Richards helped to open higher education for women in the U.S., and she remains a pivotal figure at the Institute. This relief sculpture in her likeness is on display in the Ellen Swallow Richards Lobby in Building 4.

Learn more via the National Women’s Hall of Fame→

I am confident that we will invent the future. The question in my mind is: Will we manufacture the future?

—Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in a recent talk at MIT on the future of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing

Full story via MIT News →

Did You Know?

Google Doodle illustration of Mario Molina looking over an Earth system with a refrigerator, aerosol spray, and single family homes pointing to holes in the ozone layer. Text above the Earth says GOOGLE, with the first O stylized as O3, and the second O stylized as the sun.

A Google Doodle on March 19 celebrated the 80th birthday of the late MIT Institute Professor Emeritus Mario Molina, a Nobel laureate in chemistry whose work explained the depletion of the Earth’s delicate ozone layer. Molina, who died in 2020 at age 77, helped humanity to reduce the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and was a key driver behind the Montreal Protocol, which the Doodle notes, “is considered one of the most impactful environmental treaties ever made — a precedent that shows governments can work together effectively to tackle climate change.”

Google Doodle | Learn more via MIT News→

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