Nanotech lab top priority for MIT
Last April, President Susan J. Hockfield called the construction of the nano-Materials, Structures, and Systems (nMaSS) laboratory the Institute’s “highest academic priority” in a video outlining the MIT 2030 plan for campus development.
Megamimo wins Elevator Pitch Contest grand prize
The MIT $100K Elevator Pitch Contest wrapped up Wednesday at the finale event in the Stata Center’s Kirsch Auditorium. The Elevator Pitch Contest began with 285 contestants on Monday, and it is the first of a series of three contests sponsored annually by the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.
PhD movie screening draws over 800 attendees, overflows 26-100
Thursday night, a line of people that extended from Building 26 down the Infinite Corridor to Lobby 10 waited to watch the film adaptation of Jorge Cham’s PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper) comics. The majority of the attendees, perhaps unsurprisingly, were graduate students.
Cambridge City Council candidates, part II
Tuesday, Nov. 8 marks election day in Cambridge. On Tuesday we profiled eight candidates for Cambridge City Council, and today we follow up with nine more. The following information was compiled from interviews with the candidates, or, if they did not respond to Tech inquiries, information from http://vote.rwinters.com (many thanks to Robert Winters!).
Empty UA Senate seats filled by new elections or presidential appointments
The UA Senate has seen several empty seats lately, and not because of students sleeping in. Several seats were never filled because nobody ran in UA elections or there was no clear winner. Other seats were vacated after senators resigned.
2011–2012 IFC Executive Board elected
The 2011–2012 Interfraternity Council (IFC) Executive Board was elected on Tuesday by the Presidents’ Council, with Thomas A. Anderson ’13 elected as the IFC’s new president. Anderson, a brother of Zeta Psi, was previously IFC Judicial Committee secretary. The new executive board will assume their positions at the next Presidents’ Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Europe, US market anxiety grows over Italy
When Italy issued 3 billion euros in bonds last week at an interest rate of more than 6 percent, it was about 1.5 percentage points higher than it had to pay as recently as last summer — and the most expensive 10-year money it had borrowed since joining the euro a decade ago.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — One of the women who accused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment while working for him at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s said that the workplace turned hostile after she complained about advances he made toward her, several people familiar with her account at the time said in interviews.
Study finds big spike in poorest in the US
WASHINGTON — The number of people living in neighborhoods of extreme poverty grew substantially, by one third, over the past decade, according to a new report, erasing most of the gains from the 1990s when concentrated poverty declined. More than 10 percent of America’s poor now live in such neighborhoods, up from 9.1 percent in the beginning of the decade, an addition of more than 2 million people, according to the report by the Brookings Institution, an independent research group.
Shorts (right)
SAN FRANCISCO — Acknowledging that some searches were giving people stale results, Google revised its methods Thursday to make the answers timelier. It is one of the biggest tweaks ever to Google’s search algorithm, affecting about 35 percent of all searches.
Greek leader calls off referendum on bailout plan
ATHENS, Greece — In a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou on Thursday called off a referendum on Greece’s new debt deal with the eurozone after winning a measure of support from his opposition and managed to repair, at least for a day, a major rupture in relations with Europe.
FDA officials point to increased drug approvals
Federal drug officials Thursday claimed credit for an increase in the approval of new drugs and argued that the results demonstrated the need for legislation to continue financing the current drug approval system.
Palestinians’ UN bid moves closer to rejection
The Palestinian bid for membership at the United Nations, which was doomed from the start by the threat of a U.S. veto, moved another notch closer to rejection on Thursday at the Security Council, diplomats said.
Sunny weather may wake you from extra hour of sleep
Hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast remain without electricity after an early Nor’Easter dumped heavy snow that downed trees and power lines on Sept. 29. Thankfully, temperatures have increased and no further precipitation is expected for the next few days. This should help enable utility crews to restore power lines as well as keep people without emergency generators from suffering too much from cold.
From the desk of the 1 percent
I have been informed by one of my simpering, sycophantic servants that “the people,” as the serfs of this principality laughingly refer to themselves, have recently risen in protest. On every corner of New York City, it seems, one cannot so much as raise one’s head from the velvet embrace of a gilded palanquin without being accosted by the stench of these ne’er-do-wells and their grade-school Marxism, each clawing for a sip of the proverbial chocolate milk. Fie, I say, this is my milk, and no discount baseball card or pennywhistle shall convince me otherwise!
Did Fukushima kill the nuclear renaissance No, that renaissance died right here at home
In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan, many wondered what the event’s impact would be on the nuclear renaissance in the United States. Those who follow the nuclear industry didn’t need eight months of hindsight to give an answer: what nuclear renaissance?
THEATER REVIEW In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
The MIT Shakespeare Ensemble’s production of Macbeth summons such a strange intensity that the suspension of disbelief is hardly “willing”: we have no choice as the audience but to accept the truth of the tragedy taking place before us and partake viscerally in the trials of its characters.
Soccer defeats Wellesley, 1-0
Emily Kuo ’13 scored in the 23rd minute, and Meghan S. Wright ’13 made some key second-half saves as the MIT Women’s Soccer team scored a 1-0 victory over Wellesley College in a NEWMAC tournament quarterfinal at Roberts Field in Steinbrenner Stadium on Tuesday. With the win, MIT, the No. 3 seed, advances to a semifinal matchup with No. 2 seed Wheaton College on Saturday.
Women’s Volleyball beats WPI
In a hard-fought battle, No. 4 seeded MIT emerged with a 25-19, 18-25, 25-16, 25-22 victory over No. 5 WPI in a NEWMAC Women’s Volleyball Championship Tournament quarterfinal match on Tuesday night. MIT improved to 23-10 on the season and for the second year in a row, it will face host and top seed Springfield College on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1:00 p.m. Visiting WPI finished its campaign with a record of 19-10.
