News

Studying astrophysically relevant plasma physics

July 3, 2024

Thomas Varnish loves his hobbies — knitting, baking, pottery — it’s a long list. His latest interest is analog film photography. A picture with his mother and another with his boyfriend are just a few of Varnish’s favorites. “These moments of human connection are the ones I like,” he says.Varnish’s love of capturing a fleeting […]

Signal processing: How did we get to where we’re going?

July 3, 2024

On May 24, Ford Professor of Engineering Al Oppenheim addressed a standing-room-only audience at MIT to give the talk of a lifetime. Entitled “Signal Processing: How Did We Get to Where We’re Going?”, Oppenheim’s personal account of his involvement in the early years of the digital signal processing field included a photo retrospective — and […]

Summer 2024 recommended reading from MIT

July 3, 2024

MIT faculty and staff authors have published a plethora of books, chapters, and other literary contributions in the past year. The following titles represent some of their works published in the past 12 months.  Looking for more literary works from the MIT community? Enjoy our book lists from 2023, 2022, and 2021. Happy reading! Novel, […]

The rules of the game

July 2, 2024

At the core of Raymond Wang’s work lies a seemingly simple question: Can’t we just get along? Wang, a fifth-year political science graduate student, is a native of Hong Kong who witnessed firsthand the shakeup and conflict engendered by China’s takeover of the former British colony. “That type of experience makes you wonder why things […]

Pioneering the future of materials extraction

July 2, 2024

The next time you cook pasta, imagine that you are cooking spaghetti, rigatoni, and seven other varieties all together, and they need to be separated onto 10 different plates before serving. A colander can remove the water — but you still have a mound of unsorted noodles. Now imagine that this had to be done for […]

“Rollerama” roller rink opens in Kendall Square

July 1, 2024

The former U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Volpe Center site — now named “Kendall Common” in anticipation of its transformation into a vibrant mixed-use development — is now activated and open to all this summer. “Rollerama at Kendall Common” offers free roller-skating and roller skate rentals, community programming, and family-friendly events through September. “We are extremely excited […]

From group stretches to “Hitting Roman,” MIT Motorsports traditions live on

June 28, 2024

While siblings Kevin Chan ’17 and rising senior Monica Chan may be seven years apart in age, as Monica Chan puts it, “we’re eight grades apart, so, like, eight life-years apart.” Despite this age gap — Kevin left for college when Monica was in fifth grade — the siblings share remarkably similar experiences and interests. Both led subteams […]

Two MIT films nominated for New England Emmy Awards

June 27, 2024

Two films produced by MIT were honored with Emmy nominations by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Boston/New England Chapter. Both “We Are the Forest” and “No Drop to Spare” illustrate international conversations the MIT community is having about the environment and climate change. “We Are the Forest,” produced by MIT Video Productions (MVP) […]

“UnrulyArt” creates joy and engagement, regardless of ability

June 26, 2024

An unmistakable takeaway from sessions of “UnrulyArt” is that all those “-n’ts” — can’t, needn’t, shouldn’t, won’t — which can lead people to exclude children with disabilities or cognitive, social, and behavioral impairments from creative activities, aren’t really rules. They are merely assumptions and stigmas. When a session ends and the paint that was once […]

Designing for outer space

June 23, 2024

A new MIT course this spring asked students to design what humans might need to comfortably work in and inhabit space. The time for these creations is now. While the NASA Apollo missions saw astronauts land on the moon, collect samples, and return home, the missions planned under Artemis, NASA’s current moon exploration program, include […]