Electrifying airplanes + vibration vs. Alzheimer’s + MIT’s diversity + track champs

MIT Weekly June 10, 2023 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](. Electrifying Airplanes #[Rendering shows 3 airplanes in flight. 2 look like modern airplanes while one, on right, is shorter and sleeker. They say “Airbus ZeroE.”]( MIT [aerospace engineers]( designed a 1-megawatt electrical motor that is a stepping stone toward electrifying the largest aircraft. “Heavy stuff doesn’t go on airplanes,” says Professor Zoltan Spakovszky. “So, we’ve got to come up with very small, lightweight, and very powerful electric motors.” [Full story via MIT News →]( Top Headlines 40 Hz vibrations reduce Alzheimer’s pathology and symptoms in mouse models Tactile stimulation improved motor performance, reduced phosphorylated tau, preserved neurons and synapses, and reduced DNA damage, a new study shows. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Reaffirming MIT’s commitment to diversity President Sally Kornbluth and Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services Stu Schmill share their thoughts on the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decisions that may affect college admissions. [Kornbluth's letter via the Office of the President]( | [Schmill’s post via the MIT Admissions Blog→]( Men’s track and field captures 2023 outdoor national title The team earned its first-ever NCAA National Championship as well as nine USTFCCCA All-American honors. [Full story via MIT Athletics→]( [MIT Heat Island]( Life in a hologram Physicist Daniel Harlow explores an alternate quantum reality in search of fundamental truths to our physical universe. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( Spotlight on Class of 2023 “bilinguals” Meet 44 of the many graduating seniors who focused deeply on both liberal arts and STEM fields at MIT, each reflecting on the value of their multi-dimensional education — and their plans for the future. [Full story via MIT SHASS→]( [MIT Heat Island]( He made linear algebra fun A series of numbers describes the career of Professor Gil Strang as he retires from MIT after six highly influential decades on the faculty. [Full story via MIT News →]( [MIT Heat Island]( #ThisisMIT #[Students from the MSRP-Bio program stand in 3-by-6 array formation of as they prepare to dance on campus courtyard. Text via @‌MandanaMsrp: the 2023 #MSRPBio had a very productive first day @‌MIT as they learned about team work, coordination, work ethics, resilience & getting quick on their feet ⁦⁦⁦@ScienceMIT An Excellent beginning to what should be a life changing summer #REU]( [Tweet via @MandanaMsrp→]( In the Media The most interesting startup in America is in Massachusetts. You’ve probably never heard of it. // The Boston Globe VulcanForms, an MIT startup, is at the “leading edge of a push to transform 3D printing from a niche technology — best known for new-product prototyping and art-class experimentation — into an industrial force.” [Full story via The Boston Globe →]( Mathematicians find hidden structure in a common type of space // Quanta Magazine Graduate students Ashwin Sah and Mehtaab Sawhney, along with University of Oxford Professor Peter Keevash, have confirmed the existence of special objects called subspace designs. [Full story via Quanta Magazine→]( MIT hackathon tackles racial wealth gap // The Bay State Banner MIT students and community leaders recently gathered for “Hacking the Archive,” a hackathon aimed at addressing the wealth gap between Black and white residents of Boston, with a particular focus on housing as a generator of wealth. [Full story via The Bay State Banner→]( Hey, Alexa, what should students learn about AI? // The New York Times The Day of AI is a program developed by the MIT RAISE initiative aimed at introducing and teaching K-12 students about AI. [Full story via The New York Times→]( They’re building an “ice penetrator” on a hillside in Westford // The Boston Globe Researchers from MIT’s Haystack Observatory have built an “ice penetrator,” a device designed to monitor the conditions of sea ice and send back data via satellite “to help scientists study how the ice is changing and how it is behaving in current conditions.” [Full story via The Boston Globe →]( [“] After this past weekend’s college reunion, I returned home to California inspired and rejuvenated. I fell in love with my alma mater all over again. I realized that much of my passion and living at the intersection of art and science was seeded since my early years at MIT. —Christine Ying ’93, in an essay on how her time at MIT instilled a love of learning and encouraged her curiosity [Read the full essay→]( Listen #[The text "TILclimate" is printed with a half-globe graphic below it.]( Hydrogen gas acts like a fossil fuel, but with no carbon emissions. Is it the silver bullet we’ve been waiting for? In this episode of [TILclimate]( Laur Hesse Fisher of the [MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative]( speaks with Svetlana Ikonnikova of the Technical University of Munich, who brings light to how hydrogen works and its potential in the energy transition. [Listen to the episode]( Meet Your MIT Neighbor #[Collage of two images with diagonal cross-section: Tomo Kumon portrait and illustrated gray mouse holding two test tubes atop coral peach background.]( Name: Tomo Kumon Affiliation: Postdoc in the Whitehead Institute What do you investigate? I study satellite DNA, which is a type of repetitive DNA or DNA that contains many repeated copies of the same short sequence of nucleotides or genetic bases. … When I started my PhD, I wasn’t that interested in repetitive DNA, but over time I got more interested in this field because it asks the fundamental question of how the genome or chromosomes evolve. What did you want to be when you were a kid? A scientist. I was interested in nature and animals, and so studying science was my dream. What’s your favorite memory at Whitehead Institute? I designed a logo for the lab, and we made a fleece with that logo that people in the lab wear. The logo is a crest, like the crests that universities have, but full of things related to [MIT Professor Yukiko Yamashita’s] lab. Drawing seems to be a big passion of yours. How did you get started? I have liked drawing since I was a kid, and I always liked drawing cartoons of animals. I started [drawing mice]( during my PhD program … and when I told a friend what I was doing, they said I should share my art on social media. [Full interview via Whitehead Institute]( This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by [nine ways of saying goodbye to MIT](. 🗒️ 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. [subscribe]( [update preferences]( [unsubscribe]( [view in browser]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( MIT News Office · 77 Massachusetts Avenue · Cambridge, MA 02139 · USA