Located a top of a hill and built in the 11th century, this Romanesque half castle and half abbey watch all over the city of Huesca and the surrounding areas. It was designed by Sancho Ramirez, king of Aragón and Pamplona, to aid in the conquest of the city of Huesca from the moors, after the Reconquista. The castle lost its military function but remained an abbey for 750 years until Spanish confiscation in the 19th century. In the……
The name Sybil has its origins in the oracles of Ancient Greece, also known as sibyls: feminine figures who were relied upon to relay divine knowledge of the unseen and the omnipotent past, present, and future. Now, the name has been excavated from antiquity and bestowed on an artificial intelligence tool for lung cancer risk assessment being developed by researchers at MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health, Mass General Cancer Center (MGCC), and Chang Gung……
In the heart of Pune, near the shopping area of Tulshibaug, there is a beautiful white building on the main road. The building has European-style arched windows and a balcony overlooking the thoroughfare below. This building houses the Pune Nagar Vachan Mandir, the city’s oldest public library which dates back to the 19th century. Historically, Pune has always been known as a center of learning and has encouraged intellectual discussions throughout the ages. Institutions of knowledge have received support……
In patients with Huntington’s disease, neurons in a part of the brain called the striatum are among the hardest-hit. Degeneration of these neurons contributes to patients’ loss of motor control, which is one of the major hallmarks of the disease. Neuroscientists at MIT have now shown that two distinct cell populations in the striatum are affected differently by Huntington’s disease. They believe that neurodegeneration of one of these populations leads to motor impairments, while damage to the other population,……
People at MIT know “mens et manus,” or “mind and hand,” as the school motto. But it’s also a good framework for early childhood education. Kids often learn best when they’re allowed to explore the environment around them, building models of the world by picking things up and moving them around. Back in 2014, that insight was the inspiration for a Media Lab project that designed new learning environments. Four years later, that project became the inspiration for a……
Among the various churches in Old Goa, there is a large collection of ruins near the western side of the historic site. Half a church spire rises into the sky, towering over the lush green surroundings. All around the tower are crumbling arches, stone walls, and ruins of what was once one of the largest churches in Goa. These are the ruins of the Church of St. Augustine, which was built between 1597 and 1602 by Augustinian Friars who……
In the archives of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England, there is a green metal box, a miniature filing cabinet with two drawers filled with rarely seen 5-inch by 8-inch index cards, most bearing the picture of an adorable dog. These are the employment records of the hundreds of sled dogs that worked on behalf of Great Britain in Antarctica from 1945 to 1994, and each one tells the story of an intrepid, furry explorer in a dangerous……
If you mention Leslie Regan’s name to any alum of MIT’s mechanical engineering graduate program, their face will break into a smile. For nearly five decades, Regan’s kind, caring presence was a mainstay for thousands of mechanical engineering students. Now, after 47 years, Regan can reflect back on an impactful journey as she begins her retirement. Regan joined MIT’s staff in September 1974. She started as an administrative assistant supporting three faculty members, including Professor David Wormley. It was……
The Bishop Rosendo Salvado Statue is an interesting public sculpture made of bronze that commemorates the life of the Benedictine monk, Dom Rosendo Salvado Rotea. Situated in the Perth suburb of Subiaco, the work was created in 2011 by local Australian artist Greg James who has built a reputation for his eye-catching work, many of which have become iconic landmarks across the city. The statue was commissioned by Ear Science Institute Australia and is situated in a prime position on Salvado……
Sulafa Zidani is an assistant professor in the Comparative Media Studies Program whose work focuses on digital culture: the social, political, and cultural dynamics in which technology operates and the role it plays in transnational power. She is working on her first book, which focuses on multilinguistic memes and centers the creators of these memes. By looking into the lives and work of these global meme makers, the book tells the story of globalization in the digital era as……
Every summer, a pack of ducks roams a six-acre rice farm in Vergennes, Vermont. They wade through rice paddies, nibble at undergrowth, and waddle across fields. They’re not just part of the idyllic landscape; they’re working, performing the essential tasks of fertilization and weed control. The ducks are part of a Japanese agricultural technique known as aigamo, and their Vermont home resembles flooded rice paddies found in eastern Asia, particularly those of Japan’s Miyagi prefecture. It may seem random,……
Nobody knows who made the ancient pottery that washes up on St. Phillips Island, a remote 4,600-acre wonderland nestled between Beaufort, SC and Hilton Head Island. The artifacts are plentiful here, appearing along hiking trails, beaches, and the island’s only road that cuts through thick, undisturbed jungles between the marsh and the sea. The impenetrable jungle terrain coupled with the strict conservation efforts of St. Phillips has prevented extensive archaeological examinations of the island. The barrier islands of South……
When National Hockey League player, Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton, opened this first branch of his first eponymous restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario, on May 17, 1964, no one would have imagined that his name would become as synonymous with Canada as maple leaves, poutine, and hockey itself. Today, the franchise has grown into Canada’s largest fast-food chain, with over 5,000 locations in 15 countries. Horton was a Canadian ice hockey defenseman who played professionally for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New……
WASHINGTON (AP) — The countdown toward a possible U.S. government default began Thursday with Treasury implementing accounting measures as a stopgap, while frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans raise alarms about whether the U.S. can sidestep a potential economic crisis. The Treasury Department said in a letter to congressional leaders it has started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity of $31.381 trillion. An artificially imposed cap, the debt ceiling…
Rivers have frequently made convenient borders between neighboring groups. But what happens when years and years of erosion and shifting weather patterns cause a river to change its course? What happens when someone builds a dam or irrigation controls that alter the river’s path? It had been a nearly universally-practiced convention that with the gradual and natural changes to a river over the course of many years, the boundary also gradually moves, but that sudden or man-made alterations would……
