NEWS BRIEFS
Voters will choose next Tuesday, Nov. 5, the next mayor of Boston, who will either be Marty Walsh or John R. Connolly. Incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino is not running for reelection.
Undergraduate alumni survey results released
The Office of the Provost recently released the results of the 2013 Undergraduate Alumni survey on its website. The office administers the survey periodically to gather information about undergraduate alumni who have been out of college for at least five years. Previous surveys occurred in 2005 and 2009.
Grimson to lead future fundraising
After more than two and a half years serving as Chancellor of MIT, Eric Grimson PhD ’80 will step down to fill the new role of Chancellor of Academic Advancement. President L. Rafael Reif outlined the position as the head of a new fundraising campaign in the Oct. 22 announcement.
Troubled launch for site
WASHINGTON — Ten days before HealthCare.gov opened for business, Marilyn Tavenner, the relatively obscure federal bureaucrat whose agency oversaw the creation of the troubled online insurance marketplace, had a bad omen. It was a Sunday, and her mobile device was on the fritz, forcing her to go into the office.
Judge blocks major part of Texas abortion law
A federal judge in Texas on Monday blocked an important part of the state’s restrictive new abortion law, which would have required doctors performing the procedure to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
US at odds with Afghans on overtures to Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan — A bungled attempt by the Afghan government to cultivate a shadowy alliance with Islamist militants escalated into the latest flashpoint in the troubled relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, according to new accounts by officials from both countries.
Shorts (left)
Penn State has agreed to pay $59.7 million to 26 sexual abuse victims of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in exchange for an end to their claims against the university, Penn State announced Monday. Of the 26 settlements, 23 are fully signed and three are agreed to in principle, with final documentation expected within the next few weeks.
Shorts (right)
NEW DELHI — Investigators believe that Indian Mujahedeen, an outlawed Islamic group, was behind a series of explosions Sunday that killed at least six people and disrupted a huge political rally in Patna, a senior official said Monday.
Storm lashes northern Europe, stalling travel in parts of Britain
LONDON — One of the most powerful storms in Europe in years left at least 13 people dead, hundreds of thousands without power and many stranded Monday when trains, planes and ferries were canceled after high winds battered the northern part of the Continent.
Japanese autos lose ground in consumer reliability ratings
After results of Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability ratings were released Monday, there appeared to be a crack in the dominance of Japanese brands over automotive reliability. Two of America’s most popular cars, the V-6-equipped Honda Accord and the Nissan Altima, no longer have the consumer advocacy publication’s coveted “Recommended” rating, according to the report.
Chilly fall temperatures continue
It certainly felt more like fall this past weekend, with daily high temperatures in the mid 50s°F (10s°C) and winds gusting close to 30 mph, thanks to the jet stream over the eastern U.S.
The benefits of multilingual education
Language is a bridge between cultures as much as it is a tool for communication. The complex role of language has led to controversy over whether it is better to provide education in a minority language (a language spoken by the minority of a population) or simply educating students in the dominant language of a given region. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem: 20 percent of the population of the United States speak a language at home other than English, 56 percent of Europeans are bilingual, and it is believed that over half of the entire world’s population is bilingual.
Spurs expected to repeat as Southwest Champs
After falling to the Miami Heat in the 2013 NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs enter this upcoming season with much of the same team. Stalwarts Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili all return to try and win yet another title before their seemingly endless window of opportunity finally closes.
MIT falls to nationally ranked Mount Holyoke
Facing its second straight nationally-ranked opponent this week, the No. 19 MIT field hockey team fell to No. 18 Mount Holyoke College, 6-2, in a NEWMAC game on Saturday afternoon. Charlotte Wagner produced one goal and three assists as Diana Banmann registered a hat-trick for the Lyons (14-1, 6-1 NEWMAC). Madeline L. Wharton ’13 and Molly K. Duffy ’13 provided the scoring for the Engineers (12-4, 5-2 NEWMAC).
Events Oct. 29 – Nov. 04
Events Oct. 29 – Nov. 04 Tuesday (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Nanotechnology from Laboratory to Space, with speaker Brent Segal of Lockheed Martin (refreshments at 3:45 p.m.) — 34-101 Wednesday (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Soap Box: The Science of Remembering (and Forgetting) with speaker John Gabrieli, sponsored by the MIT Museum — N51 Thursday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Essay writing for graduate & professional school applications, sponsored by MIT Global Education & Career Development — 37-212 Friday (8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble presents Hamlet (tickets $12 online) — W20-202 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Affiliated Artist Concert: Heng Jin Park, piano; Gabriela Diaz, violin; and Jing Li, cello, sponsored by MIT Music and Theater Arts — 14W-111 (Killian Hall) Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Dean Obeidallah comedy show ($5 MIT student, $10 non-MIT student, $15 non-student), sponsored by Muslim Students’ Association— 6-120 Sunday (6:00 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.) Solar eclipse viewing (if weather permits), sponsored by observe@MIT and EAPS — 37 roof Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) “Do People Want to Know Their Lifespan?” with speaker Emily Oster, sponsored by the MIT Undergraduate Economics Association and the Economics department — E51-335 (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) The High-Frequency Trading Arms Race: Frequent Batch Auctions as a Market Design Response, with speaker Eric Budish, sponsored by the Applied Theory Workshop — E19-758 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
THE NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK: Cities at your feet
Ants are one of the underappreciated wonders that you can find in your own backyard. In many ways, they are like humans: They have complex societies, agriculture, and war, and are powerful enough to shape the environment around them. There are also a lot of them — about ten quadrillion in the world, making ants far more populous than all of mankind. Ants are deceptively diverse. Besides black, they come in vibrant colors, from red to green to glittering blue, and they vary in size so much that the smallest ant species could build its nest inside the head of the largest.
