346 articles from WEDNESDAY 24.2.2021

Storm force

Scientists have known for decades that thunderstorms are often stronger where there are high concentrations of aerosols—airborne particles too small to see with the naked eye. Lightning flashes are more frequent along shipping routes, where freighters emit particulates into the air, than in the surrounding ocean. And the most intense thunderstorms in the tropics brew up over land, where aerosol...

“She saw something in me”

Listening to Angelika Amon teach my cancer biology class in the spring of 2001 felt like diving into the depths of a vivid novel, with dramatic moments and elaborate bursts of detail. She somehow brought each area of the cell to life, spinning the tale of its function into a compelling story. In this pivotal period in biology’s history, just before Eric Lander and colleagues published the...

Data-driven workplace design

Diane Hoskins ’79 grew up with plenty of exposure to “beautiful, incredible buildings,” both in Chicago’s famously photogenic downtown and in the pages of Architectural Record, where her mother worked. It was only natural that she should become an architect herself. For the past 15 years, she’s been co-CEO of Gensler, the world’s largest architecture and design firm, known for its...

Extraterrestrial engineering

In the fall of 1951, about 20 MIT engineering students received a missive from a planet more than 30 light-years from Earth. Confidential documents and memos, printed on letterhead dated 1,000 years in the future, detailed the discovery of intelligent life on a planet called Arcturus IV and outlined what humans knew about their alien brethren.  The Methanians, as this alien race would be...

Guarding the welfare of wild horses

Sarah Low ’03 studied architecture at MIT, but now she spends most days either in the operating room or outdoors as a veterinarian. Her area of interest is free-roaming horses, a population that is growing in the United States: the number of federally managed mustangs in the western states is projected to reach 2.8 million by 2040 if no action is taken. “They’re competing with other truly...

Retired rear admiral equips the pandemic’s frontline fighters

Last March, Osie V. Combs Jr., OE ’77, SM ’77, called a meeting with his colleagues at Pacific Engineering Inc. (PEI), a small Nebraska-based defense contractor. “We asked how we could use our knowledge and capabilities to help wage war against covid-19,” says Combs, the company’s president, who retired from the US Navy as a rear admiral. “Because this is a war. And you...

A citizen’s guide to viruses

The deluge of news about covid-19 can be overwhelming, but chemical engineering professor Arup Chakraborty has written a guide to help: Viruses, Pandemics, and Immunity (MIT Press, 2021, $19.95), coauthored with Genentech scientist Andrey Shaw. “People who read the book will now have a conceptual framework and facts to think about how viruses emerge to cause infectious diseases, how they...

Fighting fit cockroaches have 'hidden strength'

A new study has discovered that not all cockroaches are equal and 'super athletes' are more likely to win physical mating battles. The researchers scored aggressive interactions and carried out CT-scans. They found that dominant males have larger respiratory systems than submissive males of an identical size. The increased ability to deliver oxygen to their body tissue may enhance the fighting...

How did dogs get to the Americas? An ancient bone fragment holds clues

Researchers analyzed the dog's mitochondrial genome, and concluded that the animal belonged to a lineage of dogs whose evolutionary history diverged from that of Siberian dogs as early as 16,700 years ago. The timing of that split coincides with a period when humans may have been migrating into North America along a coastal route that included Southeast Alaska.

Game theory may be useful in explaining and combating viruses

A team of researchers concludes that a game-theory approach may offer new insights into both the spread and disruption of viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. Its work, described in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, applies a "signaling game" to an analysis of cellular processes in illuminating molecular behavior.