MIT being sued for 2009 suicide
A wrongful death lawsuit filed against MIT by the family of the late Sloan doctoral student, Han Duy Nguyen, advanced toward a possible trial last month when a Middlesex Superior Court judge denied MIT’s request to dismiss the suit on the basis of a technicality. The claim, filed in 2011, alleged that Institute officials were negligent with regard to his mental health before his suicide in 2009.
Winter weather continues
It sure has been a snowy week — yesterday ended Boston’s snowiest seven-day period since records began in 1891! By 1 p.m. yesterday, Boston had received 34.2 inches of snow since Jan. 27, beating the old record of 34.1 inches set in the week leading up to January 8, 1996. Most of this snow came from last Tuesday’s powerful blizzard, which dropped 24.6 inches of snow at Boston Logan Airport. Yesterday’s storm also contributed 9.9 inches toward the record as of 1 p.m., with snow still falling into the evening hours.
MIT affiliates named AIAA Fellows
MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Professor David Miller ScD ’88 and Lincoln Laboratory Director Eric D. Evans have been appointed Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The AIAA, as stated on its website, is “the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession.”
8,000 take climate initiative survey
The MIT Climate Change Conversation Committee is seeking community engagement in the Conversation on Climate Change, an Institute initiative to discuss what committee chair Roman Stocker said has the potential to be the “biggest problem [MIT] has ever contributed to solving.”
A note to our readers
The Tech is heading in an exciting new direction in 2015. We’ve published a paper twice a week for over 50 years, and for 20 years our website has just been the online face of the print edition. Starting this year, we’re doing something different.
Tsarnaev trial jury selection staggers
Day 2. Seated at one end of the long wooden table, potential juror 40 recalls the events of April 2013 in a weary voice. Facing nine attorneys, the judge, and alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, she remarks:
The Charlie Hebdo shootings and Islamophobia
Since the attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, people of all ages and beliefs have stood together to condemn the terrorists’ actions in what has proved to be an unprecedented global response. The hashtag “#JeSuisCharlie” quickly erupted on Twitter, trending at a peak of 6,500 tweets per minute the day following the massacre. On the Sunday after, presidents, prime ministers, and an estimated one million individuals participated in a solidarity rally that spanned the streets of Paris, all in support of Charlie Hebdo.
Djokovic wins the Australian Open
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic clinched his fifth Australian Open title on Sunday, defeating Andy Murray 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-0. What looked destined for a close contest got lopsided from the third set on as Andy Murray lost the plot to lose his fourth final at the Australian Open.
New England Patriots clinch Super Bowl XLIX
Tom Brady threw for 328 yards including 4 touchdown passes to 4 different receivers to lead the Patriots to an epic 28-24 victory over the reigning champions, the Seattle Seahawks. While Brady was instrumental in helping the Pats overcome a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, the game-clinching play belonged to undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler.
Let’s fall in love
How hard is it to be in love with a complete stranger? According to Stony Brook University psychologist Arthur Aron, it’s as simple as a 90-minute, 36-question session. In his study, pairs of heterosexual strangers sat in the same room and asked each other a series of increasingly personal questions that fostered closeness. Several of the 33 pairs went on dates right after the experiment and one pair went to the altar six months later and invited the researchers to attend.
Cambridge blues
As the team captain of the Cambridge Blues Basketball Club pulled up to the rendezvous point in the heart of Cambridge, I and three other 2-meter gentlemen watched the cheeky fellow, grin in tow, pull up and declare: “All that was left boys. Hop in.” I was fortunate enough to play for the Cambridge Blues Basketball Club during my full year abroad at King’s College, Cambridge University, and the memory of that baby blue Fiat being pushed to its physical limits is something that I will cherish forever. The only thing missing from the car was a big red nose and a flower that squirted Lucozade (we had the comically large shoes, after all).
