February 2, 2019
Greetings! Here’s the latest roundup from the MIT community.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Wireless Energy
Batteries-free electronics are now within reach: Tomás Palacios and colleagues have used flexible, inexpensive materials to make a device that converts energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity to power smartphones, wearables, and more.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Top Headlines
MIT robot combines vision and touch to play Jenga
Machine-learning approach could help robots assemble cellphones and other small parts in a manufacturing line.
MIT Heat Island
Champion figure skater thrives at MIT
Computer science major Kevin Shum is a two-time U.S. national champion in figure skating.
MIT Heat Island
Ingestible, expanding pill monitors the stomach for up to a month
A soft, squishy device could potentially track ulcers, cancers, and other GI conditions over the long term.
MIT Heat Island
Hayden Library to undergo renovation in 2020
Redesigned spaces will focus on fostering community and accommodating diverse study, learning, and research styles.
MIT Heat Island
The gift of light, through science and service
Professor Pawan Sinha is addressing a humanitarian need — treatable blindness — and advancing our understanding of visual development in the brain.
MIT Heat Island
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#ThisIsMIT
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the Media
Why do people fall for fake news? // The New York Times
Associate Professor David Rand examines what makes people susceptible to believing false or misleading information and suggests solutions based on his research.
Inmates and MIT students team up to turn a blank wall into a lasting experience // WBUR
A new course brings together MIT students and inmates at the South Bay House of Correction to create a two-story mural.
How to make us happier on the job // Financial Times
Adjunct Associate Professor Zeynep Ton has co-founded the Good Jobs Institute in an effort to help companies create good jobs, particularly for service and retail workers.
Can we make artificial intelligence ethical? // The Washington Post
“If we want to realize AI’s incredible potential, we must also advance AI in a way that increases the public’s confidence that AI benefits society,” writes Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone. Schwarzman provided foundational funding for MIT’s new college of computing.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scene at MIT
MIThenge,” the biannual event in which light from the setting sun can be seen all the way down MIT’s Infinite Corridor, took place this week. During last fall’s MIThenge, grad student Hongzi Mao captured this fantastic shot from the third floor of Building 8. “Didn’t know the henge is literally this real!” Mao wrote. It is definitely real — except when there are clouds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Digit
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Address of MIT’s “new front door,” currently under construction on Main Street in Kendall Square — because, of course, we will be home to pi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Watch This
WCVB-TV reporter Mike Wankum recently visited the Edgerton Center’s Area 51 machine shop to see how MIT students are developing cutting-edge technologies such as solar-powered vehicles, electric racing cars, and other innovative devices in a space that Wankum calls “classic MIT.” “It’s really cool,” says third-year student Serena Grown-Haeberl. “You get to see those math equations really come to life.”
Photo of Maia Weinstock
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Thanks for reading, and enjoy your week!

—Maia, MIT News Office
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