Say WOW

Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

Qatar unveils 6,000 cabin World Cup fan...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar on Wednesday unveiled a 6,000-cabin fan village in an isolated lot near its airports, an offering for housing toward the lower end of what’s available for the upcoming World Cup just days away from starting. As journalists toured the cabins, desert winds kicked up sand at the 3.1 square-kilometer (1.1 square-mile) site, which housed a metro station, a bus stop, and a planned temporary restaurant and convenience store. The area could in theory hold…

Read More

Musk seeks to reassure advertisers on Twitter...

Elon Musk sought to reassure big companies that advertise on Twitter on Wednesday that his chaotic takeover of the social media platform won’t harm their brands, acknowledging that some “dumb things” might happen on his way to creating what he says will be a better, safer user experience. The latest erratic move on the minds of major advertisers — that the company depends on for revenue — was Musk’s decision to abolish a new “official” label on high-profile Twitter…

Read More

Lincoln Laboratory launches summer internships for local...

Every summer, hundreds of students come to Lincoln Laboratory to gain hands-on research experience. Historically, the laboratory’s summer research program has primarily served undergraduate and graduate students, with their internships complementing their fields of study. A few local high school students have participated in this program over the years through AFCEA International, a nonprofit providing educational and networking opportunities. But this summer, as the laboratory reopened its doors for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the program……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Advancing the energy transition amidst global crises

“The past six years have been the warmest on the planet, and our track record on climate change mitigation is drastically short of what it needs to be,” said Robert C. Armstrong, MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) director and the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering, introducing MITEI’s 15th Annual Research Conference. At the symposium, participants from academia, industry, and finance acknowledged the deepening difficulties of decarbonizing a world rocked by geopolitical conflicts and suffering from supply chain disruptions, energy insecurity,……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

3 Questions: Supporting student veterans at MIT

Last spring, Liam Gale joined the MIT Office of the Vice Chancellor’s staff in a newly created role to provide services geared for student veterans and their families. As the program administrator for the Student Veteran Success (SVS) office, he helps them navigate the MIT and United States Veterans Affairs landscapes and develops programming to create community among this cohort. Gale knows the student veteran experience firsthand; he served in the U.S. Air Force for eight years before attending……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Podcast: On the Appalachian Trail

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we hit the Appalachian Trail. Our guide is a listener, with a story of fording rivers, climbing mountains, and working across one of the most storied backpacking routes in North America. Tell us more about your own travel quests by sending a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com or leaving a message at 315-992-7902, and you might be featured in……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

NY attorney general, a thorn in Trump’s...

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of former President Donald Trump’s chief legal nemeses, was trying to win a second term Tuesday in a race that pits her against a lesser-known Republican lawyer. James, a Democrat, is being challenged by Republican Michael Henry, a commercial litigation attorney who has been endorsed by various police unions but faces long odds against one of the state’s most powerful Democrats. While the Associated Press hadn’t yet called…

Read More

2022 midterms live updates: Latest election news...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Follow along for real-time, on-the-ground updates on the 2022 U.S. midterm elections from The Associated Press. Live updates — all times Eastern — are produced by Ashraf Khalil, Annie Ma, Aamer Madhani, Chris Megerian, Mallika Sen and AP journalists around the country. ___ DID YOU KNOW? The 2022 elections are on track to cost $16.7 billion at the state and federal level, making them the most expensive midterms ever, according to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets. For perspective:…

Read More

New research collaboration aims to tackle global...

At a signing ceremony last week, leaders from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD) and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) announced the Hasso Plattner Institute-MIT Research Program on Designing for Sustainability. This research collaboration, funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation, is an eight-year program to drive joint scientific research at both institutes in sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies, as well as in translating research results into practice. Through this engagement,……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Urbanization: No fast lane to transformation

Accra, Ghana, “is a city I’ve come to know as well as any place in the U.S,” says Associate Professor Noah Nathan, who has conducted research there over the past 15 years. The booming capital of 4 million is an ideal laboratory for investigating the rapid urbanization of nations in Africa and beyond, believes Nathan, who joined the MIT Department of Political Science in July. “Accra is vibrant and exciting, with gleaming glass office buildings, shopping centers, and an……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Podcast: The Wren’s Nest

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta, the house museum of journalist Joel Chandler Harris, and a hub for modern storytellers that preserves Black American folklore and oral history. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Shake Up Your Cocktails with Miso and...

THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE NOVEMBER 5, 2022, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. A couple of weeks ago, I was at Wiggle Room, a cocktail bar in New York’s East Village, when the contents of my glass stopped me mid-sip. The drink, called a Slam Dunk Disco, tasted like a white negroni on a tropical vacation. There were hints of banana and apricot—but then there was also a note of something……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

A whole new world of learning via...

Like millions of others during the global Covid-19 lockdowns, Emmanuel Kasigazi, an entrepreneur from Uganda, turned to YouTube to pass the time. But he wasn’t following an influencer or watching music videos. A lifelong learner, Kasigazi was scouring the video-sharing platform for educational resources. Since 2013, when he got his first smartphone, Kasigazi has been charting his own learning journey through YouTube, educating himself on subjects as diverse as psychology and artificial intelligence. And it was while searching for……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Understanding rogue waves of the Eastern Mediterranean...

The eastern Mediterranean Sea, a large basin surrounded by ancient cultural sites, is also a climatology hot spot. However, the region has received comparatively little attention when it comes to understanding the extreme sea states that produce massive and potentially catastrophic waves. Recognizing a gap in scientific knowledge, an international team of researchers led by Francesco Fedele, associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech, investigated potential hazards for ship navigation in the eastern…

Read More

UpNano joins MIT.nano Consortium

MIT.nano has announced that UpNano US Inc., a company that manufactures and supplies high-precision and high-resolution 3D printing instruments for academia and industry, has joined the MIT.nano Consortium. This engagement, initially planned for two years, will include locating one of UpNano’s NanoOne 1000 instruments in MIT.nano. “We’re thrilled to welcome UpNano to the MIT.nano Consortium,” says Vladimir Bulović, the founding faculty director of MIT.nano and the Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technology. “Not only is UpNano’s 3D printing……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More