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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: MIT

MIT stories: 49 news summaries

21 - 40 of 49 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

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 Did the Egyptians
 Invent Concrete?

New theory on the Pyramids: 'less sweat and more smarts'

Apr 22, 08 1:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Egyptians may have used concrete to build the pyramids, an MIT professor suggests, and he's using materials available at the time (and students as his slave labor), to test the theory on a small mock-up of a pyramid, reports the Boston Globe. "It could be they used... More »

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Boston • MIT • Pyramids • ancient Egypt • concrete • Linn Hobbs

obituary

'Father of Chaos Theory'
Dead at 90

Edward Lorenz came up with concept of 'butterfly effect'

Apr 17, 08 10:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - The MIT scientist whose pioneering of chaos theory revolutionized science, has died at the age of 90, MIT News reports. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz came up with the concept of chaos theory after meticulously analyzing weather data and discovering microscopic differences could have huge effects, leading to his paper "Predictability:... More »

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science • MIT • meteorology • scientific discoveries • Edward Lorenz

Sun Banks on Lasers
to Make Next Speed Leap

Using light, not wires, to connect chips could make computers 1,000 times faster

Mar 24, 08 1:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sun Microsystems is moving toward connecting computer chips using lasers instead of wires, a move that could make computers 1,000 times faster. The company snagged a $44 million Pentagon contract to continue work that could also mean smaller, more energy-efficient machines. It won’t be easy, though: A Sun... More »

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Pentagon • Stanford • Intel • MIT • IBM • Sun Microsystems • computer chip • computer • University of California at San Diego • lasers • silicon photonics • NEC Corporation • Luxtera • Kotura • supercomputer • Hewlett-Packard

Scientists Find Planets Out of This World

Discoveries of, info about new heavenly bodies pour into NASA

Mar 24, 08 9:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Humans took centuries to discover the other planets in the solar system, but in the 13 years since the first additional planet was identified, planetary scientists have found 277 more worlds orbiting other suns. And those extrasolar planets are just the confirmed ones—many more are suspected, and excitement among... More »

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NASA • planet • MIT • space • extrasolar planets • JPL • Joint Propulsion Laboratory

Fed 'Will Get on Top of This,' Says Bernanke Mentor

Scope 'far exceeds'
that of previous crises

Mar 18, 08 10:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ben Bernanke has the savvy to inject enough liquidity into the US economy to push it through the current credit crisis, says a leading economist who advised the Fed chief's MIT doctoral thesis. “The Fed will get on top of this,” said Stanley Fischer, ahead of this afternoon's... More »

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inflation • Ben Bernanke • Federal Reserve • International Monetary Fund • MIT • IMF • credit crisis • interest rate cut • financial crisis

Best Undergrad Biz Schools

Wharton keeps the top spot for undergraduate business education

Mar 1, 08 6:10 PM CST
(Newser) - The financial world may be on its ear, but undergraduate business schools are booming as increasing numbers of quality high school grads drive up standards and B-school grads command more on the employment market. Here are the 10 best, as ranked by Business Week:
  1. Pennsylvania (Wharton): Can be too
... More »

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MIT • University of Texas • UC Berkeley • business school • Notre Dame • NYU • Emory University • University of Virginia • University of Michigan • Indiana University • Wharton School of Business • Ross School of Business • BYU

Scheme to Plant Telescope
on Moon
Gathers Steam

MIT, Navy working on far-side plans

Feb 25, 08 5:16 AM CST
(Newser) - The moon may have to start earning its keep if NASA gets its way. With the far side of our lunar satellite a perfect environment for delicate, deep-space measurements, two research teams are furiously plotting ways to deploy astronomy equipment there. If astronauts return to the moon after 2019, they... More »

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NASA • MIT • deep space • moon • radio telescope • Naval Research Laboratory • far side of the moon • big bang

Gecko Toes Inspire New Surgical Tape

MIT team duplicates nano-scale ridges on lizards' sticky feet

Feb 19, 08 9:20 AM CST
(Newser) - Inspired by geckos' sticky feet, MIT scientists have developed a bandage that could soon be used in place of stitches or staples during surgery. The waterproof material, coated with a sugar-based adhesive that has the nano-scale hills and valleys found on lizard feet, is flexible enough to be used on... More »

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medical breakthrough • surgery • MIT • antibiotics • adhesive • gecko • sutures • stitches

Intel Bails on Kid Laptop Project

Feud over rival computer sales

Jan 4, 08 7:51 AM CST
(Newser) - Intel has dropped out of its uneasy partnership with the "One Laptop Per Child" global nonprofit program, designed to put inexpensive computers in the hands of millions of children in developing countries. Intel has been feuding with project founder Nicholas  Negroponte, an MIT professor on leave who developed the... More »

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Intel • MIT • XO • One Laptop Per Child • Nicholas Negroponte • Consumer Electronics Show • Classmate • Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Your Phone Knows Where You Sleep

...And lots of other potentially useful things about the way we live

Dec 20, 07 12:17 PM CST
(Newser) - Your cell phone knows more than it lets on. Most can tell where they are, for starters, and how close other phones are. Since most of us tote them everywhere, our phones could track or analyze movement patterns for huge populations. “This is obviously sort of useful,” says... More »

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cell phones • MIT • privacy • sociology • accelerometer • Sandy Pentland

Net Makes Star of MIT Eccentric

Physics professor creates rainbows, has Net-happy acolytes in India and China

Dec 19, 07 8:11 PM CST
(Newser) - The latest Net sensation doesn’t defend Britney Spears or mimic the history of dance; instead he explains electrostatics, pendulums, and the conservation of energy. Walter Lewin, a 71-year-old MIT physics professor, is one of the first academic superstars of the Internet, bringing educational showmanship—say, demonstrating rockets by riding... More »

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Britney Spears • Internet • MIT • iTunes • classroom

Green Tech Boosts Heartland

Advances no longer limited to America's coastal cities

Dec 13, 07 8:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Green-tech venture capital is still concentrated in coastal urban centers, but middle America is catching up. Silicon Valley, Massachusetts, and Washington state are among the top five hotspots, but so is Texas and the nation's agricultural heartland, reports CNET, which tracked the money fueling startups and university research. More »

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Silicon Valley • ethanol • MIT • biodiesel • venture capital • green technology • heartland

Getting into Harvard not as Easy as P-R-E-P

Elite colleges taking more students from abroad, public schools

Dec 1, 07 4:19 PM CST
(Newser) - Ivy-League-seeking parents beware: admissions officers at top schools around the country are looking for more than just the private-school preppie. While private and prep schools still lead the way, a growing percentage of students at elite universities are public school grads and international scholars, the Wall Street Journal reveals.... More »

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Duke University • high school • Ivy League • college admissions • MIT • University of Chicago • Cornell University • Johns Hopkins University • University of Pennsylvania • Harvard • Princeton • Williams • Pomona • Swarthmore • Phillips Academy • Brown University

College Gets Podcasted

Apple serves up free education with iTunes U

Nov 24, 07 2:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Want to attend Yale for free? Thanks to Apple, you sort of can. Many colleges, including Yale, Stanford and MIT, now offer free lecture downloads through iTunes U. You won’t get a diploma, but thousands of non-traditional learners don’t mind, the LA Times reports. “They thirst... More »

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Stanford • Yale University • MIT • iTunes • higher education • iPod • UC Berkeley • podcast • iTunes Store

MIT Sues
Gehry for Negligence

Architect's $15M design for campus building called 'deficient'

Nov 6, 07 5:35 PM CST
(Newser) - One of the most famous buildings on the MIT campus is plagued by design flaws, the school says, and it has sued Frank Gehry, alleging the world-famous architect provided "deficient design services" for the $300 million project. The university paid Gehry $15 million to design the Stata Center, which... More »

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architecture • MIT • lawsuit • Frank Gehry • Stata Center • negligence

New Clothing Senses, Reports Domestic Abuse

Computerized web in lining of garments records external forces

Nov 4, 07 12:41 PM CST
(Newser) - Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created clothing designs that can detect domestic abuse, the Discovery Channel reports. Under the lining of garments equipped with the system, such as a hoodie prototype, is a web of fabric-based pressure sensors that can deliver specific information about the intensity and geography... More »

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MIT • abuse • domestic violence • intimate partner violence • IPV

It's a Plane! It's a Car! It's ...

A Massachusetts company's breakthrough makes aero-auto hybrids a closer reality

Oct 11, 07 6:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - A new vehicle suitable for both air and road travel could be available within two years, reports MIT's Technology Review. By recently producing the world's first automated folding wing, Massachusetts company Terrafugia, Inc. came a step closer to creating the Transition, a "light sport aircraft" that works on the... More »

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MIT • auto industry • airplane • cars


XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO buyers will be asked to buy 2nd laptop for needy children

Sep 24, 07 6:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Americans will be asked to buy XO laptops in pairs—one for themselves and one for a child in a developing nation. Organizers of the "One Laptop Per Child" program hope to distribute laptops to millions of Third World schoolchildren this way. The combined cost of the pair of... More »

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Brazil • MIT • Cambodia • Rwanda • XO • One Laptop Per Child • Nicholas Negroponte • Third World

MIT Student Wears Fake Bomb to Airport

Woman arrested
at gunpoint says
circuit board is 'art'

Sep 21, 07 12:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - An MIT student was arrested today at the Boston airport wearing a device that appeared to be a bomb. Police armed with machine guns took her into custody and determined that the circuit board on her chest was harmless. “Thankfully because she followed our instructions, she ended up in... More »

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War on Terror • Boston • MIT • airport security • Logan Airport • Star Simpson

Colleges Don’t Care if Kids
Can Write

At least on the SAT, where you may need only write long words

Sep 20, 07 3:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - The hours and dollars spent on SAT writing preparation might be for naught, the Boston Globe reports, as 56% of four-year colleges don’t even use the newest section of the aptitude test. Skeptics find fuel in a study showing that big words were all it took to achieve near-perfect... More »

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SAT • MIT • writing • college • university • Georgetown University • Smith College • college student

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