Ig Nobel Winner Shows Knuckle Cracking Won’t Cause Arthritis
“Mother, I know you can hear me. Mother, you were wrong! And now that I have your attention, can I stop eating my broccoli, please?” Donald L. Unger raised his hands in mock rebellion. He had defied his mother’s words for three quarters of his life systematically cracking the knuckles on his left hand and leaving his right knuckles free for 60 years, demonstrating (if only anecdotally) that knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis. For this achievement, he won himself the Ig Nobel Award in Medicine, presented last night at the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony yesterday evening.
Same Answers at State of Institute
MIT President Susan J. Hockfield delivered a 20-minute overview of the Institute’s financial climate in front of several hundred staff and a few students at the State of the Institute forum on Wednesday. Hockfield noted an intent to finish MIT’s $150 million in budget cuts in two years, rather than the three years initially proposed by the administration in 2008. Following this speech, administrators answered both pre-submitted and impromptu questions from the audience (select questions, p.13).
EC Fire Ruled not Arson
The trash chute fire at East Campus on Sept. 8 has been ruled not arson by the Cambridge Fire Department (CFD), according to MIT spokesman Nathaniel W. Nickerson.
Media Lab Construction Is Scheduled To Finish in Nov., MIT Facilities Says
Construction of the new Media Lab is on track to finish in November, according to Arne Abramson, who is managing the project.
Proposed Minor Asks: How Does Technology Alter the Environment?
Eighty-nine faculty members from a variety of departments have banded together to propose a new sustainability minor, an “extension” of the energy minor introduced last year. The members make up FENS, the MIT Faculty Environmental Network for Sustainability, and their proposal would create an undergraduate minor and a graduate certificate program in environment and sustainability.
Libraries Complete $5 Million Renovations Over the Summer
Looking for a cool new place to study this semester? MIT recently renovated two of its largest libraries. Dewey Library boasts a $4.6 million facelift that includes expanded group study space and more environmentally responsible features. Barker Library gained a brighter reading room and inherited the orphaned collections of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Library, which was closed in June. The collections of the other closed library, Lindgren, have been relocated to Hayden.
MIT Graduate Student Runs for City Council, Hopes to Represent Students
On November 3, Cambridge voters will decide whether an MIT student is fit to serve on city council. Leland Cheung, a graduate student in the Sloan School of Business is running for a position on city council because he believes “[We] need a student voice representing our interest,” a “liaison” between the students and the city government.
Café Spice to Reopen; New Dining Locations Planned for Campus
Several new dining locations are expected to arrive on campus in the new Sloan School, the new Koch Institute building, and Pritchett Dining, during next 18 months.
A Nuclear Advisory Panel Now Focusing On Waste Recycling
With a federal plan to handle nuclear waste in deadlocked disarray, an advisory panel that has spent 20 years studying a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain turned Wednesday to discussing ways of reusing the fuel instead.
MIT’s Post Office May Be Closed; Final Decision Expected in October
The fate of the MIT post office will likely be determined next month, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS). The office, slated for closure along with eight other Boston-area university post offices, has been on the chopping block since a July 30 USPS announcement. If the MIT branch is closed, its users will have sixty days to adjust their operations and redirect mail to the Kendall Square post office before the MIT branch shuts its doors.
Most Cut Varsity Sports Have Returned As CSC Club Sports This Season
Six of the eight teams stripped of varsity status last spring have been reinstated as club sports under the Club Sports Council. Two teams did not receive CSC recognition: women’s ice hockey, for which there already exists a club sport, and wrestling, which is still trying to regain varsity status.
Friends, Family Remember Hostess at Legal’s
Dozens of friends and family gathered at the Kendall Square Legal Sea Foods on Wednesday in memory of Anna McAllister, a beloved hostess at the restaurant who died recently.
DMSE Lab Construction on the Infinite Should Finish by Dec.
Sometime soon, probably early next year, passersby in the Infinite Corridor will look through glass windows to see a scanning acoustic microscope and cryogenic probe station in the Department for Materials Science and Engineering’s new Laboratory for Advanced Materials (LAM), currently under construction at the intersection of Buildings 4 and 8.
MIT Endowment Decreased by 20 Percent Last Fiscal Year, Ending 7 Years of Growth
MIT’s endowment has suffered during the recession, declining 20.7 percent in value since last year to $8.0 billion from $10.1 billion and ending a seven year period of growth, the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo) recently announced.
Community Critiques Cost-Cutting Ideas in Front of Task Force
At community forums held on Thursday and Monday afternoon, students, faculty, and staff voiced concerns about MIT’s preliminary cost-cutting report. Many worried about the report’s recommendations, especially the proposals to increase undergraduate enrollment by 10 percent and to decrease the number of graduate students by 1,000. Staff were concerned about potential cuts to their retirement and health benefits.
Streamlined HASS Requirements May Make Debut for 2014 Frosh
Starting perhaps as early as next fall, MIT will introduce its new Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences requirements, which were simplified after a faculty vote last spring.
Juvenile Apprehended in Two Recent Non-Fatal Stabbings Close to Campus
A sixteen-year old black male was apprehended by the MIT and Cambridge police early in the morning on Monday, Aug. 31, after non-fatally stabbing a victim in association with a robbery at the corner of Brookline St. and Massachusetts Ave.