David Julius ’77 wins Nobel + Welcome Center opens + a voice for Native voices

MIT Weekly October 9, 2021 Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.  Want a daily dose of MIT in your inbox? [Subscribe to the MIT Daily](. Nobel Laureate # David Julius ’77 has won a share of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Julius, a physiology professor at the University of California at San Francisco, shares the prize with neuroscientist Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries regarding how the body senses touch and temperature. [Full story via MIT News →]( Top Headlines Mathematicians solve an old geometry problem on equiangular lines How many lines can be pairwise separated by the same angle in high dimensions? A geometry breakthrough gives new insights into spectral graph theory. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( MIT Welcome Center opens in Kendall Square The new center provides information and services to MIT visitors, while the adjacent open space offers community-building events and activities. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( A voice for Native voices Leah Lemm ’04 produces radio segments and podcasts that examine media portrayals of Native people. [Full story via Slice of MIT→]( [MIT Heat Island]( Rover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake The findings include signs of flash flooding that carried huge boulders downstream into the lakebed. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Maria Zuber testifies before Congress on striking a balance between research security and openness “U.S. competitiveness depends less on defensive measures than on what we do to strengthen our own capacities,” says MIT’s vice president for research. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( #ThisisMIT # [Follow @mit.omp on Instagram→]( In the Media Can nuclear fusion put the brakes on climate change? // The New Yorker Researchers at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) discuss the history of fusion research and the recent test of their large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet. “I feel we proved the science. I feel we can make a difference,” says Joy Dunn ’08, head of manufacturing at CFS. [Full story via The New Yorker→]( Opinion: Manipulating viruses and risking pandemics is too dangerous. It’s time to stop. // The Washington Post “Natural pandemics may be inevitable. Synthetic ones, constructed with full knowledge of society’s vulnerabilities, are not,” writes Assistant Professor Kevin Esvelt. “Let’s not learn to make pandemics until we can reliably defend against them.” [Full story via The Washington Post→]( Breakthrough in amputation narrows gap between human and machine // Financial Times An amputation technique being developed by MIT researchers provides patients with more sensory feedback from prosthetic limbs. “The technique could transform the way that amputation has long been viewed: not as a last-resort method that subtracts from the body but an act of rejuvenation with the potential to restore a sense of completeness.” [Full story via The Financial Times→]( A journey from the horse-and-buggy to outer space // The Boston Globe MIT Haystack Observatory honored the work of Herbert Weiss, a trailblazing engineer and former researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory who helped establish Haystack, which operates a radio telescope whose work “is the stuff of scientific legend.” Colin Lonsdale, director of Haystack, says of Weiss, “This place wouldn’t exist if he had not had the leadership and the vision and the drive to make it happen.” [Full story via The Boston Globe →]( Nano Day # Today (10/9) is National Nanotechnology Day, the day we celebrate the world at the scale of one nanometer, 10^-9 or one billionth of a meter. This year, you’re invited to step virtually inside [MIT.nano]( the Institute’s state-of-the-art nanoscience and nanotechnology facility. In this video, you can follow along as Jorg Scholvin, assistant director of user services at FAB.nano, fabricates an image of MIT students onto a silicon wafer coated with a layer of aluminum just 50 nanometers thick. You’ll visit MIT.nano’s cleanroom, discover the importance of bunny suits and amber lighting, and learn some of the techniques and methods used to build the chips, sensors, and other technologies that power our world. [Watch the video]( Digit 1,000 Number of career wins achieved by MIT Women’s Volleyball Coach Paul Dill. The team, ranked No. 18 in the nation, recently improved to 17-0 for the season. [Full story via MIT Athletics→]( Watch This # If you’re ever in need of a replacement heart valve, [Ellen Roche]( has you covered. An associate professor at MIT’s Institute of Medical Engineering and Science and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Roche is devoted to teaching the next generation of medical engineers and inventors. She’s also a professor at Harvard Medical School, and part of a team of instructors teaching 2.75 (Medical Device Design). Last spring, she her colleagues led senior undergraduate and graduate students in bringing their projects to fruition despite being remote. [Watch the video→]( This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by [a few things that are certain](. 🥜 Have feedback to share? Email mitdailyeditor@mit.edu. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! —MIT News Office [Forward This Email]( [Subscribe]( [MIT Logo] Massachusetts Institute of Technology This email was sent to {EMAIL} because of your affiliation with MIT, or because you signed up for our newsletters. 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