As Synthetic Biology Becomes Affordable, Amateur Labs Thrive
In a third-floor loft where programmers build Internet start-ups, Mackenzie Cowell is talking about the tools he and like-minded young colleagues are using to fuel what they hope will be the next big thing in biology. The list includes a cut-up Charlie Card, ingredients bought on eBay to make a kind of scientific Jell-O, and a refrigerator, just scored on Craigslist.com, that chills to 80 degrees below zero.
Caltech Committee Visits MIT to Learn Our Ways
From Sept. 2 to Sept. 4., a group of 11 undergraduates from Caltech visited MIT as part of a two-week, cross-country trip to observe student life and culture at eight East Coast colleges, including Harvard University, Williams College, Princeton University, and Olin College.
Harvard Endowment Grew By 8.6 Percent In Last Fiscal Year
Harvard University’s $36.9 billion endowment earned 8.6 percent on its investments in its latest fiscal year, the school’s money managers reported Friday, even as stock markets around the world were losing money.
Caltech Economist Puts Textbook Online for Free to Protest Pricing
Squint hard, and textbook publishers can look a lot like drug makers. They both make money from doing obvious good — healing, educating — and they both have customers who may be willing to sacrifice their last pennies to buy what these companies are selling.
Confusion in Student Voter Registrations
The widespread practice of students’ registering to vote at their college address has set off a fracas in Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election.
Could Cancer Genes Be Used to Harness Stem Cell Therapies?
On a visit to Bangalore in 1998, Robert A. Weinberg ’64, one of America’s leading cancer researchers, met a voraciously curious young doctoral student from a South Indian village so remote that he grew up without phones or television, studying by kerosene lamp. He had no Western-style last name, only a first — Mani.
At NW35, Fall Community Picnic Toasts New Dorm, Dean Colombo
Despite the long trek from main campus to NW35, turnout for last Monday’s fall Community Picnic was far greater than organizers had anticipated, said Gayle M. Gallagher, senior director of Institute events.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between Aug. 25, 2008 and Sept. 3, 2008. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, or medical shuttles.</i>
Fall 2008 UA Election Candidates
Voting online requires Web certificates. Candidate platforms and photos are available at elections.scripts.mit.edu/candidates.
Senate Seats
Residence Seats Candidates NW35 1 Samuel Rodarte ’12 East Campus 2 Harrison L. Bralower ’11, Donald B. Guy ’12, Ciara M. Lomax ’12, Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11 McCormick 2 Kristina N. Cibor ’11, Mengjie Ding ’12, Eleni Orphanides ’10, Ye Yao ’11 Next House 2 Timothy J. Stumbaugh ’12 New House 2 Shin Nee S Wong ’12, Richard A. Dahan ’12 Burton-Conner 2 Zachary D. Tribbett ’12, Caryn E. Krakauer ’11 Baker 2 Cyril Lan ’11, Andy Wu ’12, Daniel L. Katz ’12 Simmons 2 Daniel D. Hawkins ’12, Vinay Tripuraneni ’11, David S. Zhu ’12 Random 1 Ekaterina Kuznetsova ’09 IFC 5 William G. Near ’10, Sun Kim ’11 Panhel 1 None Bexley 1 None MacGregor 2 None Senior Haus 1 None Off Campus 1 None LGC 1 None
Aafia Siddiqui’s Son Released; DOJ Hints At Conspiracy Charges
The young boy arrested with Aafia Siddiqui ’95 on July 17 has been released to Pakistani custody to be turned over to Siddiqui’s relatives, The Associated Press reported yesterday.
Dow Falls Over 500 Points In Largest Loss Since 2001
Fearing that the crisis in the financial industry could stun the broader economy, investors drove stocks down almost 5 percent on Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index to their lowest levels in two years.
Obama, McCain Take Different Approaches to Wall Street
The crisis on Wall Street will leave the next president facing tough choices about how best to regulate the financial system, and although neither Sen. Barack Obama nor Sen. John McCain has yet offered a detailed plan, their records and the principles they have set out so far suggest they could come at the issue in very different ways.
Shorts (right)
After almost three decades of untrammeled power, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Monday signed an agreement that gives his longtime political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, the authority to shape and carry out government policies as the country’s new prime minister.
Covert Georgian Recordings Cast Russia As an Aggressor
A new front has opened between Georgia and Russia, now over which side was the aggressor whose military activities early last month ignited the lopsided five-day war. At issue is new intelligence, inconclusive on its own, that nonetheless paints a more complicated picture of the critical last hours before war broke out.
Many States Aim to Cut Greenhouse Gases by Billing Polluters
Ten states from Maryland to Maine are about to undertake the nation’s most serious effort yet to tackle climate change, putting limits on carbon dioxide emissions from utilities and making them pay for each ton of pollutants.
Shorts (left)
Federal Reserve officials were in urgent talks with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on Monday to put together a $75 billion lending facility to stave off a crisis at the American International Group, the latest financial services company to be pummeled by the turmoil in the housing and credit markets.
No Swift Return to Heavily Damaged Galveston Island
As the search continued here for people killed or stranded by Hurricane Ike, authorities said Monday that they were faced with much larger challenges than simply clearing roadways and restoring electricity before they could let residents back onto this debris-strewn island.
Sunny September to Continue
When people ask “When’s the best time to visit Boston?” I smile and think to myself, “could they have asked an easier question?” September is certainly the best time. Climatologically, this is the month with the most number of sunny days. Combine that with the comfortable temperatures, this is the month where anybody would be able to enjoy the outdoors (OK, maybe not those pesky skiers). Excluding the effects of the two tropical storms, this September is no different. In fact, if you blindly believe the numerical weather prediction models, there will not be any rain for the next two weeks!
A Brief Response
A week ago I wrote an article on the Georgian conflict titled “Eastern Promises.” In the article, I described the rhetoric being trotted out by foreign policy hawks to justify a hard stance against Russia, dismissed their narrative as flawed, and then argued for why even if the narrative was correct, it would be in U.S. interests to engage Russia diplomatically rather than revert to a Cold War us-them mentality.
Going Ballistic: Treasury Uses Their Bazooka
Two Sundays ago, Henry Paulson’s Treasury Department again tried its hand at directing this year’s hot new drama “Credit Crunch” by placing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a conservatorship. Since the program’s debut last year to scathing reviews by bankers turned critics, it has been marked by epic plot twists including major bank failures and the death of some of the financial industry’s most established players. As such, it is this investor’s sincere hope that the Treasury has finally succeeded in scripting a conclusion to this saga.
Go Out and Get a Job!
As the MIT Career Fair approaches, the sound of my classmates polishing their résumés becomes a constant roar, and the semester’s worries are temporarily replaced by career anxieties. It is that time of year when students are already thinking about the next one, and undergraduates and graduates alike try to determine where their stepping stone into the “real world” is. As someone who has been through both an undergraduate and graduate job hunt, there is just one important tidbit of advice I would like to impart.
The Russian-Georgian Conflict: An Inside View
Right in the middle of an 18-month treatment for a pair of amenorrheic ovaries on strike due to poor diet, I couldn’t help wondering, sitting in the waiting room of the Moscow clinic earlier this year, whether my Georgian-born gynecologist would be at any minute snatched away by the Russian security services, put on a Tbilisi-bound plane and sent back home indefinitely.
The Pickens Plan: A Windy Salvation?
I woke up in the wee hours of last Sunday morning to the sound of Tropical Storm Hanna tearing at my open window. Groggily, I stood up to admire the force of the storm and found I could barely make out the typically brilliant lights of downtown Boston through the driving rain. The juxtaposition of the raw power of storm winds with the awe-inspiring expanse of city lights reminded me of plans to help replace energy needs with wind power. Too tired to dwell on the matter, I climbed back in bed and let the storm’s unlikely lullaby return me to sleep.
Women’s Tennis Team Defeats Springfield 9-0 In Match on Saturday
The MIT Women’s Tennis Team won their match 9-0 this past Saturday over Springfield College.
Field Hockey Captures Third Place At Betty Richey TournamentSalem State Women’s Soccer Tops MIT, 1-0 Cross Country Captures Engineers’ Cup over RPI and WPI
For the third consecutive season, the MIT Field Hockey Team captured third-place in the Betty Richey Tournament hosted by Vassar College. The Engineers overpowered Elms College 11-0 in Sunday’s consolation game, after dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime loss to the host school on Saturday.
Boston Area Teams Play in the First MIT Cricket Tournament
A group of students was passionate about their favorite sport; they got together and built a club around it. But unfortunately, the club died down. A few years later, another group, equally passionate about the sport, revived the club and took it far enough to organize a great tournament: this year, the MIT Cricket Club hosted the first ever cricket tournament at MIT from Aug. 29th to Sept. 14th.
Sarah Palin = Dolores Umbridge
This will be the first year in over a decade to not have a new Harry Potter book or movie released. If you’re suffering from Harry withdrawal, this election season has the perfect fix for you. You thought the magical world was the only one with a young hero who must save the world from an evil Dark Lord; a failed lame duck Minister of Magic; an old, grizzled Auror promising to make a clean break from said Minister; a pretty blonde reporter with a penchant for stretching the truth; and a Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) professor with a “personality like poisoned honey”? We muggles are not to be so easily outdone. Enter Sarah Palin who quite nicely completes this Harry Potter Election cycle.
Ramblings from Hell
Last Wednesday my poetry professor gave me an assignment: Keep a poetry journal, write a poem a day, or write poems at different times of the day. See what happens in the pages over seven days.
Talk Nerdy To Me
I never got the sex talk — my parents handed me a pamphlet, figuring that I’d learn what they considered my usual way; from literature and experts. Well, they were right, I did learn my usual way — the “hard” way. So, here’s some tips how to handle some common issues.
Ask SIPB
Welcome, especially to freshmen and new grad students! Ask SIPB is a column published semi-regularly by the Student Information Processing Board (SIPB), the volunteer student group concerned with computing at MIT, to help students like you learn more about the computing resources MIT provides, and how to make effective use of them. Look for more columns in the future, and feel free to stop by the SIPB office (W20-557) or e-mail <i>sipb@mit.edu</i> with any questions about computing at MIT.
