Updates from campus: Read messages from MIT's leaders regarding recent events on campus, sharing relevant policies, and correcting misinformation.
Today begins MIT’s Commencement, a three-day celebration including an address by Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87. The Class of 2024 “is truly a special group of self-starters and trailblazers that can accomplish anything they put their minds to,” Andre Hamelberg says.
MIT researchers are learning how to control muscles with light. Their new study suggests optogenetics can drive muscle contraction with greater control and less fatigue than electrical stimulation.
A volunteer team used the tools of MIT.nano to etch the names of 339,537 community members, from 1861 to 2023, onto an 8-inch silicon wafer. “No matter when we came to MIT, whatever our roles, we all leave a mark on this remarkable community,” Vladimir Bulović says.
In international relations, it’s the message, not the medium, political scientists report. Their research shows that warnings issued by world leaders are taken equally seriously whether issued on social media or through formal statements.
On campus and beyond, senior Cindy Xie is working to connect people grappling with the social and cultural implications of climate change. “With climate action, there is such a need for collective change. We all need to be a part of creating the solutions,” she says.
Surprising findings suggest sunspots and solar flares could be generated by a magnetic field within the sun’s outermost layers, rather than deep within the star. If confirmed, the results could help scientists better predict space weather.
Astronomers have determined how to measure the spin of a nearby supermassive black hole using a new calculation method. Gizmodo reports: “They found the black hole’s spin was less than 25% the speed of light — slow, at least for a black hole.”