Gov’t files for emergency stay in stem cell case
The United States Department of Justice filed an appeal and an emergency motion this afternoon for a stay in <i>Sherley v. Sibelius</i>, the stem cell case under which an injunction issued last week Monday. That injunction prevents the NIH and other federal agencies from funding or considering to fund stem cell research, and has derailed many grants that were in the pipeline for consideration.
Corrections
An article from August 4 about MIT’s connections to the military’s WikiLeaks probe gave the wrong year for Christian J. Ternus. He is a current MIT graduate student and was undergraduate class of 2010; he is not class of 2011.
Make no mistake: In China, state-run firms rule
During its decades of rapid growth, China thrived by allowing once-suppressed private entrepreneurs to prosper, often at the expense of the old, inefficient state sector of the economy.
FEATURE Kapoor’s sculpture shines in Stata Cloud Gate’ artist’s piece is MIT’s latest
What once was an empty lobby at the Vassar entrance of Stata — a large space, industrial white, washed with natural-light, but shrouded in concrete — is now filled with MIT’s newest addition to it’s public art collection. The new art piece, left untitled, is created by Anish Kapoor, a London-based artist who is most famous for his Chicago piece <i>Cloud Gate</i> (resembling a giant chrome kidney-bean). Filling the once-empty space his new oversized sculpture: a massive sheet of ultra-polish stainless steel, curved like a melted sheet of glass, diffracting light of the nearby skylight. Herds of tourists stop by each day, pausing in front of Kapoor’s piece to photograph their distorted reflections.
EZRide buses will get GPS tracking in early October
MIT is still working to get GPS tracking to work on the EZRide Shuttle, which has taken over the job of the now-cancelled Northwest Shuttle. Live tracking and stop prediction will not be implemented until the first week of October according to Jeff Bennett, the project manager for the Charles River Transportation Management Association (CRTMA), the company that runs the EZRide.
Tang may take class at BU
Last Friday, in the first step since Anna Tang’s trial came to an abrupt halt early this summer, the Middlesex Superior Court agreed to relax Tang’s house arrest so she can attend a class in “Mobile Application Development” at Boston University’s Metropolitan College on Monday evenings. The class covers the Google Android and Apple iPhone operating systems.
Court decision may be fatal for stem cell research
Stem cell research at MIT and throughout the country seems sure to be strongly impacted by a federal court ruling Monday prohibiting the use of federal funds to support human embryonic stem cell research.
NW30/W59 may get real railroad crossing
For students living in New Ashdown and Sidney-Pacific, a common (if risky) route to class takes them across the railroad tracks, popping out on Vassar Street parking lot near the West Garage and Steinbrenner Stadium. MIT has for years considered building a formal foot crossing there, and those plans may finally be solidifying.
Burst pipe floods parking lot
In a freak accident last night, the ground split open and the water started gushing out in the parking lot between Buildings 1, 3 and 5. The water flooded the lot as well as the only exit, trapping several cars and SUVs. Many labs and offices nearby were also flooded.
Aafia Siddiqui’s Afghanistan arrest confirmed by Wikileak’d report
The August 2008 arrest of Aafia Siddiqui ’95 in by the Afghanistan National Police in Ghazni, Afghanistan was confirmed in a U.S. Army intelligence report released by wikileaks.org.
Berenson’s parole revoked in Peru
CARACAS, Venezuela — A Peruvian court said Wednesday that it had struck down a decision granting parole to Lori Berenson, the former MIT student imprisoned in the 1990s on charges of collaborating with a Marxist revolutionary group. The court ordered her to be returned to prison to complete the five years left in her 20-year sentence.
New cameras at Z-Center Video surveillance setup upgraded this summer
Working out? Someone might be watching you.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the Campus Police between April 19 and May 31. The dates below reflect the dates the incidents occurred. This information is compiled from the Campus Police’s crime log. The report does not include alarms, general service calls, or incidents not reported to the dispatcher.</i>
Corrections
A review of the film <i>Inception </i>in the August 4 issue misspelled the name of the actress who plays Mal, Cob’s wife. She is Marion Cotillard, not Marie.
Why are stem cells important?
The Tech<i> asked Biology professor Richard A. Young to explain why stem cell research is important. In an e-mail, Young wrote:</i>
Anna Tang update today
The next update in the saga of Anna L. Tang, the Wellesley student who stabbed MIT student Wolfe B. Styke ’10 in October 2007, will come today at an administrative status conference before Justice Bruce R. Henry in Middlesex Superior Court.