In the world

In the World: Turning waste into profitStudents aim to improve Kenyan slum-dwellers’ access to basic sanitation — and generate renewable energy and jobs along the way.

In the World: Drinking water, from sunshineMIT team designs solar-powered portable desalination system to use in disaster zones and remote regions.

In the World: Health care in the palm of a handMIT-led student team develops mobile-device software to help improve health-care accessibility in remote regions.

In the World: Breath of lifeLow-cost portable ventilator could be a lifesaver for people in remote locations and for hospitals in the developing world.

In the World: Easy on the eyesSimple, low-cost device that affixes to a cell phone could provide quick eye tests throughout the developing world.

LINC 2010 engages and inspiresConference focuses on the present and future of technology-enabled learning worldwide

Deworming the worldHow MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Kristin Forbes is helping to improve school participation in developing countries for just pennies per child

MIT men’s basketball makes return trip to TaiwanFor the second time in the last five years, the MIT men’s basketball team will travel abroad to Taiwan to participate in the Fifth Annual Kainan University International Basketball Invitational.

Making Progress in Product DesignHow a mashup of disciplines builds genius — and really cool stuff

Slideshow: Mapping the oil spillMIT student leads project using balloons and kites to provide aerial documentation of the Gulf oil slick’s extent and effects

In the World: Clean Water for GhanaMIT students help a researcher build a factory that could provide water filters for 1 million people in northern Ghana

In the World: Better wound treatment for allA streamlined version of 'negative-pressure' wound therapy is put to the test in Haiti — and could have 'enormous potential' across the developing world.

A system that’s worth its saltNew approach to water desalination could lead to small, portable units that could be sent to disaster sites or remote locations.

In the World: Nanotech on the farmMIT chemical engineer Paula Hammond lends her nanotechnology expertise to farmers in Africa.

New wheelchair gets its first real-world testGrad student’s device aims to meet the needs of millions of people in the developing world.

Medical entrepreneurship, from the bottom upMIT students aim to bring affordable health care to India’s masses.

MIT Professional Education delivers its first course in IndiaThis week, MIT Professional Education is conducting its first-ever three-day course in India, “Airport and Airline Systems: Planning, Design and Management,” as part of the program’s new international outreach initiative.

Researching and writing a thesis (and a blog) in TanzaniaMechanical Engineering major, Tish Scolnik ’09, is spending this January developing her thesis focused on appropriate technology for the developing world.

President Hockfield meets key MIT Portugal stakeholders during three-day visit to LisbonReceives first-of-its-kind honorary doctorate from leading Portuguese universities

Solving history’s ‘largest mass poisoning’Research points to carbon in man-made ponds as catalyst for arsenic contamination in Bangladeshi wells

Of note: Legatum Seed Grant applications now being accepted

Saving laborPolitical scientist Richard Locke says our system of improving factory conditions around the world is broken.
He proposes a new solution.

Of note: Bustani seminars focus on Mideast

In the World: A better way to beat around the bushInternational teams in Ghana tackle local needs of village farmers for better methods and devices to harvest their crops

'Genius' grant for MIT economistEsther Duflo receives MacArthur Fellowship for transformative work on economic development; has brought field experiments to studies of poverty around the world

Spin cycle: a new kind of washerMachine could produce clean clothes and local jobs

An a-maize-ing path out of povertyD-Lab-developed device makes corn processing more efficient