A return to safety after manhunt ends, fallen MIT police officer remembered
Boston Police announced at 9:45 p.m. on Friday that the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, had been taken into custody after an intense manhunt that lasted nearly 24 hours, ending the threat to public safety.
Bombings near Marathon finish
The following story was completed prior to the events early this morning. At the time of publication, according to the Boston Globe, it appears that one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has been captured. The two suspects were chased to Watertown by police, and one suspect is still on the loose. It is unclear if these events are related to the shooting near the Stata Center. For more information, see our coverage in this issue.
What’s next for east campus and Kendall Square
At the faculty meeting on Wednesday, Provost Chris A. Kaiser PhD ’87 announced the appointment of a new group of administrators, faculty, staff, and graduate students to make specific plans for MIT’s east campus. In the next two or three months, the group will work on a “strategic vision” for a new gateway at the Kendall T stop that is hoped to be as iconic as MIT’s entrance at 77 Mass. Ave. The group is also tasked with finding ways to improve Kendall Square as an “innovation cluster” and draw more retail and foot traffic to the area.
After Marathon tragedy, outpour of support from MIT
Monday’s marathon bombings took a heavy emotional toll on MIT. While no students or faculty at MIT were physically injured at by the attack, the stories that have since emerged show that the bombings have still deeply hurt many in the MIT community. But through the tragedy, we’ve seen the Institute’s strength through stories of inspiration, hope, and community.
New officers to rebrand GSC
MIT’s graduate students will see new representation this coming year in the Graduate Student Council’s (GSC) officers-elect, who will take office in May: President Caleb Waugh, Vice President Alex Guo, Treasurer Parth Trivedi, and Secretary Chris Smith.
Afghan criticizes CIA airstrike
KABUL, Afghanistan — The spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that the CIA was responsible for calling in an airstrike on April 7 that left 17 Afghan civilians dead, 12 of them children, and that the secret Afghan militias that the agency controls behaved as if they were “responsible to no one.”
MIT OFFICER KILLED, MARATHON BOMBERS RESPONSIBLE
Yesterday evening, terrible events unfolded on and near MIT's campus. An MIT Police officer, who is still unnamed, was reported shot at 10:48 p.m. near the Stata Center, and was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Three alerts in wake of bombings
In the wake of the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, there have been several reports of suspicious packages found on campus. Vice President and Secretary of the Corporation Kirk D. Kolenbrander sent an email to all of MIT campus on Tuesday instructing people to not leave their belongings unattended in public places and to call the MIT Police immediately if they see something suspicious.
Biology department creates 6-7 MEng with EECS, new GIR classes
At the April faculty meeting on Wednesday afternoon, members of the faculty voted unanimously to introduce two new expansions to MIT’s biology program.
US indicts Guinea-Bissau’s military chief in drug case
DAKAR, Senegal — The head of Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces, Gen. Antonio Injai, has been indicted by federal prosecutors in New York on cocaine and weapons-trafficking charges, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said Thursday, part of an ambitious U.S. operation targeting some of the most powerful figures in a country long considered a major haven for drug smuggling.
Shorts (right)
SEOUL, South Korea — At least two agents from the South Korean National Intelligence Service illegally posted comments online criticizing the political opposition ahead of the December presidential election, the police said on Thursday in an interim report on an investigation into accusations of political meddling.
Shorts (left)
BEIJING — China is investigating four possible cases of human-to-human transmission of a deadly bird flu that has killed 17 people, but so far there has been “no sustained” evidence of transmission between people, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
Ruins searched for firefighters after blast
WEST, Texas — Rescue workers searched the rubble of a fertilizer plant Thursday, looking for missing firefighters and survivors of a huge explosion that tore through this small central Texas town Wednesday night, killing as many as 15 people and injuring more than 160 others, laying waste to buildings
After defeat, gun bill’s backers seek to keep issue alive
WASHINGTON — The last whimpers of the gun control debate in the Senate played out in anticlimactic fashion on Thursday as lawmakers began the process of formally moving on.
Israeli officials stress readiness for lone strike on Iran
JERUSALEM — With Chuck Hagel scheduled to begin his first visit to Israel as secretary of defense on Sunday, Israeli defense and military officials issued explicit warnings this week that Israel was prepared and had the capability to carry out a lone military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Warm and windy weather precedes overnight shower
The same frontal system that spawned several tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma on Wednesday and brought significant flooding to Chicago yesterday will be approaching our area from the west today. As the cold front draws closer, cloud cover will increase, and a tightening pressure gradient will result in strong southerly winds. These winds will advect warm air from the south, possibly causing the temperature to top the 70 degree mark for only the second time in 2013.
Lessons learned from Monday’s tragedy
Perfectly capturing the sentiment of so many people, the Boston Athletic Association said in their official statement Monday after the Boston Marathon explosions, “What was intended to be a day of joy and celebration quickly became a day in which running a marathon was of little importance.” My four friends and I were planning on celebrating completing the marathon together after only two weeks of training. Instead, we ended up celebrating our good fortune: no from our group or family was harmed.
MIT’s nomadic sculpture
Each week, for the past seven weeks, a sculpture titled “I am Mit, as I am in Mit, just like a lot of other people are” by Amalia Pica has been traveling to various places on campus, hosted by different members of the community. The 30-pound pink granite sculpture, hand-carved by Pica, is shaped like an Echevaria plant, which is known for its ability to thrive in nearly any condition.
Far Cry 3 is far from special
First person shooters have always been one of my favorite genres of video game. I grew up at a time when computing technology was just starting to meet the challenge of inexpensively rendering a shooter. As a kid, I was weaned on a generation of post-Doom titles, like Quake II, Counter Strike, and Team Fortress Classic, and for a time, the mere improvement of hardware was enough to keep the genre exciting. Each iteration of the first person shooter produced higher and higher graphical quality, and I didn’t spend much time lamenting that the gameplay and plot of Crysis was not many steps beyond that of Goldeneye 007.
iamamiwhoami
If this is the first time you hear the oddly concatenated name iamamiwhoami, then you have missed the fascinating beginnings of an enigmatic viral internet sensation that took over Youtube in 2009. Founded by the Swedish folk singer-songwriter Jonna Lee, her producer Claes Björklund and the film director Robin Kempe-Bergman, iamamiwhoami is an audiovisual musical project with many charming peculiarities that your regular wannabe-weirdo artists never manage to deliver.
Remember “Don’t Worry Be Happy”?
Bobby McFerrin is a virtuoso, and his instrument is his own windpipe and chest. He is not a powerful singer, but he is a beautiful singer. Although he practices many forms of music (directing classics, singing duets with Yo-Yo Ma’s cello, etc.), he truly excels at just a few of them. The same can be said about his most recent concert in Boston. As part of a multi-city tour for his upcoming album “spirityouall”, and through the felicitous auspices of the Celebrity Series of Boston, Bobby McFerrin paid a visit to Beantown last Sunday, and treated a full Symphony Hall to an afternoon of good music.
Post-apocalyptic escapades
Oblivion is the kind of movie that you would rather see without knowing anything about it. But why would you go see something unless you know it is good?
Sports Shorts
At its second home meet in the past two weeks, the MIT men’s outdoor track and field team finished in first place with 246.5 points. Bates College was close behind in second place with 229, the University of Southern Maine was third with 115.5 and Colby College was fourth with 85 points.
RYAN J. MADSON ‘13: Senior is MIT’s first four-time All-American wrestler
Ryan J. Madson ’13, co-captain of the MIT Wrestling team, made program history this season, becoming the first four-time All-American for MIT. He is currently ranked third overall in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association’s (NCWA) rankings, finishing seasons in fourth place as a freshman, second as a sophomore, third as a junior, and fourth in his final season.
Wrestling team wins Division II tournament
This past March the MIT Men’s Wrestling team finished off a historic season by winning the NCWA Division II Tournament. The title was the second in the history of the program after the team’s title in 2010.
Triathlon competes at Nationals
On Saturday, April 13, four MIT triathlon club athletes competed in the USAT Collegiate National Championship in Tempe, Arizona. The event was like none other — there were over 1000 athletes from 108 schools from around the country who were excited, nervous, and exhilarated all at the same time. For the MIT club, most races occur during the summer and fall against other northeast collegiate teams, so an early-season April race was a great way to kick off the local season.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME: Leaping into the unknown
“JUST DO IT!” rang the screeches from far off in the distance. As I teetered over the edge of the stone cliff and peered out at the water below, I could see the jagged outlines of the sharp rocks lurking below the surface. I wasn’t very keen on getting too friendly with those rocks, and their closeness did little to appease the nervous, bubbling feeling in my stomach.
Chasing salt
Gripping the desk as waves rock the ship back and forth, it is occasionally hard to sit upright at sea, let alone walk about the ship. I have strapped my chair to my desk with a bungee cord to keep me from sliding across the lab. A few minutes ago a large wave washed across the stern of the ship and sent salt water into the lab. Some of our equipment got wet, but nothing too bad.
Changing the face of the nuclear engineer
Students of nuclear science and technology learned from experts in the field, presented their unique research, and captured on video what it means to be a nuclear scientist or nuclear engineer last week at the 2013 American Nuclear Society Student Conference. The first ever “I’m a Nuke” videos will be featuring nuclear science and technology students from across the world who participated in the conference hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Student Section of the American Nuclear Society.
Why claim one religious authority?
Ask A-theist is a column by Aaron Scheinberg G, an atheist, and Stephanie Lam G, a Christian, which uses contrasting worldviews to explore questions and misconceptions about philosophy and religion. This week, Aaron chose the question. Send us the burning questions you have always wanted answered by an atheist or Christian (or both), and we’ll tackle them!
Events Apr 16- Apr 22
Events apr. 16 – apr. 22 Tuesday (4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MISTI Foreign Film Night: Jiro Dreams of Sushi — E25-111 (9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Video Game Tournament with Bubble Tea — Sidney-Pacific Wednesday (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) SSRC Seminar: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America — E25-111 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) What High School Science Should Have Been — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) The Future of Print in the Digital Age — 6-120 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) CMS Colloquium Series: Size Is Only Half the Story: Valuing the Dimensionality of BIG DATA — 4-231 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Non-Monosexuality: Beyond the Basics, dinner provided — 5-134 Friday (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Piano Recital by Alan Feinberg, Guest Pianist in Residence and American music specialist — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Wedding Singer, opening night — Kresge Little Theater Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Festival of Bad Ad-Hoc Hypotheses (BAH!), hosted by Zach Weinersmith of SMBC, the SMBC and xkcd publishers, and the LSC — 26-100 Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) MITHAS presents Leela Samson and Bragha Bessell, Bharatanatyam Dance — 14W-111 Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) A Tale of Three Laboratories: Rabies Vaccination and the Pasteurization of New York City, 1885-1920 — E51-095 (8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) For the Bible Tells Me So Screening — 4-145 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
