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.

Meteorite Crater in Duckwater, Nevada

A 1951 article in Popular Astronomy suggested that this enigmatic depression might be a meteorite crater, and a report of a local Native American legend about “a ball of fire rushing from the sky” lent some support. The feature has even given its name (“Meteorite Crater”) to the USGS 7.5′ topographic quadrangle map. However, the feature is not mentioned in the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 99A on the geology of northern Nye County. The depression has been……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

There Maybe Could Possibly Be a Treasure...

The archives of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland house many treasures—but only one honest-to-goodness treasure map. “It is an odd thing,” says research services manager Scott Daniels of manuscript number 2039, a scrap of creased and stained tracing cloth kept in the library’s climate-controlled vault. Unfolded, the document is 6 inches tall and 18 inches wide, covered from edge to edge on one side with long strings of blunt capital letters written in blue pencil, and……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

MIT scientists discover new antiviral defense system...

The following press release was issued today by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Bacteria use a variety of defense strategies to fight off viral infection, and some of these systems have led to groundbreaking technologies, such as CRISPR-based gene-editing. Scientists predict there are many more antiviral weapons yet to be found in the microbial world. A team led by researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

A new method boosts wind farms’ energy...

Virtually all wind turbines, which produce more than 5 percent of the world’s electricity, are controlled as if they were individual, free-standing units. In fact, the vast majority are part of larger wind farm installations involving dozens or even hundreds of turbines, whose wakes can affect each other. Now, engineers at MIT and elsewhere have found that, with no need for any new investment in equipment, the energy output of such wind farm installations can be increased by modeling……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Scientists identify a plant molecule that sops...

Symbiotic relationships between legumes and the bacteria that grow in their roots are critical for plant survival. Without those bacteria, the plants would have no source of nitrogen, an element that is essential for building proteins and other biomolecules, and they would be dependent on nitrogen fertilizer in the soil.  To establish that symbiosis, some legume plants produce hundreds of peptides that help bacteria live within structures known as nodules within their roots. A new study from MIT reveals……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Passion projects prepare to launch

At the start of the sixth annual MITdesignX “Pitch Day,” Svafa Grönfeldt, the program’s faculty director, made a point of noting that many of the teams about to showcase their ventures had changed direction multiple times on their projects. “Some of you have pivoted more times than we can count,” Grönfeldt said in her welcoming address. “This makes for a fantastic idea because you have the courage to actually question if your ideas are the right ones. In the……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Podcast: Friendship Park

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit a binational service at the Border Church at Friendship Park, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, with one reporter on the American side and another on the Mexican side. Join us to learn more about how changes to the border have affected the park and the community. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous,……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Thinking like a cyber-attacker to protect user...

A component of computer processors that connects different parts of the chip can be exploited by malicious agents who seek to steal secret information from programs running on the computer, MIT researchers have found. Modern computer processors contain many computing units, called cores, which share the same hardware resources. The on-chip interconnect is the component that enables these cores to communicate with each other. But when programs on multiple cores run simultaneously, there is a chance they can delay……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Eating Like an Explorer Once Called for...

When British explorer and Royal Navy captain James Cook set sail aboard the HMS Endeavour on August 26, 1768, for an expedition around the Pacific, he brought along 18 months of provisions. These included pigs, poultry, a goat for milking, and a large supply of portable soup. Also known as “pocket soup” or “veal glue,” the latter became a breakfast staple—often reboiled with celery and oatmeal, or mixed with hot water and green pea flour to create an edible……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Reif, Zuber attend signing of CHIPS and...

            President L. Rafael Reif and Vice President for Research Maria Zuber were among those on hand Tuesday when President Biden signed the “CHIPS and Science” bill into law in an upbeat ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. The act provides $52 billion in federal funding to advance the U.S. semiconductor industry through research, design, and manufacturing, and authorizes the doubling of the National Science Foundation and the creation of a new directorate at the agency…….

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Run, Laal, run: Aamir Khan stars in...

Indian actor Aamir Khan enjoyed “Forrest Gump” so much that he’s starring in a Hindi remake. Released in 1994, the original film went on to sweep the Oscars, taking six trophies including best picture and best actor for Tom Hanks. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth based on Winston Groom’s novel, “Forrest Gump,″ is the tale of a slow-witted but mathematically gifted man who witnesses key points and figures of U.S. history, like the Vietnam War,…

Read More

Reviving Mexico’s groundbreaking muralism a century later

POXINDEJE, Mexico (AP) — A painter in orange overalls touches up the image of a hand holding a rifle while an artist perched on scaffolding painstakingly places bits of colorful ceramic in a mosaic of a guerrilla fighter. The artists aren’t just decorating a wall: Together, they are helping to revive muralism, a movement that put Mexico at the vanguard of art a century ago. Just as their famous predecessors did shortly after the Mexican Revolution, teachers and students…

Read More

Caspar Hare, Georgia Perakis named associate deans...

Caspar Hare and Georgia Perakis have been appointed the new associate deans of the Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), a cross-cutting initiative in the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Their new roles will take effect on Sept. 1. “Infusing social and ethical aspects of computing in academic research and education is a critical component of the college mission,” says Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

3 Questions: Amar Gupta on an integrated...

Covid-19 was somewhat of a metaverse itself. Many of our domains turned digital — with much attention toward one emerging space: virtual care. The pandemic exacerbated the difficulties of providing appropriate medical board oversight to ensure proper standard of services for patients. MIT researcher and former professor Amar Gupta explores through his research on how different states approach quality, safety, and coordination issues related to telemedicine and health care — and how we need to take an integrated approach……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Podcast: Seven Keys Lodge

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the world’s largest random, assorted key collection. It’s located outside Denver, Colorado, and was inspired by a literary infatuation. 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 meet some fascinating people and hear their stories…….

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More