How anesthesia works + AI for materials + extreme heat + MIT and Apollo

[view in browser]( MIT Weekly [MIT Logo] July 20, 2024 Greetings! Here’s a roundup of the latest from the MIT community.  Want a daily dose of MIT in your inbox? [Subscribe to the MIT Daily](. How Anesthesia Works #[Illustration of four eyes, going from open to closed. Cartoon brains appear around them.]( MIT researchers have discovered that Propofol, a drug commonly used for general anesthesia, works by derailing the brain’s normal balance between stability and excitability. Their findings could enable better tools for monitoring patients as they undergo general anesthesia. [Full story via MIT News →]( Top Headlines AI method radically speeds predictions of materials’ thermal properties The approach could help engineers design more efficient energy-conversion systems and faster microelectronic devices, reducing waste heat. [Full story via MIT News →]( [News thumbnail]( What is language for? Drawing on evidence from neurobiology, cognitive science, and corpus linguistics, MIT researchers make the case that language is a tool for communication, not for thought. [Full story via MIT News →]( [News thumbnail]( Machine learning and the microscope PhD student Xinyi Zhang is developing computational tools for analyzing cells in the age of multimodal data. [Full story via MIT News →]( [News thumbnail]( Collaborative effort supports an MIT resilient to the impacts of extreme heat The increasing severity and duration of heat drives data collection and resiliency planning for the forthcoming Climate Resiliency and Adaptation Roadmap. [Full story via MIT News →]( [News thumbnail]( The impact of misleading headlines on Facebook New research finds an overlooked source that slowed vaccination rates in the U.S.: misleading headlines from mainstream news sources. [Full story via MIT Sloan→]( [News thumbnail]( Q&A: What past environmental success can teach us about solving the climate crisis In a new book, Professor Susan Solomon uses previous environmental successes as a source of hope and guidance for mitigating climate change. [Full story via MIT News →]( [News thumbnail]( #ThisisMIT #[The Cambridge cityscape and Charles River during sunset. Text via @‌mit: It’s going to be another hot July weekend in Cambridge! Goodnight, everyone.]( [Follow @mit on Instagram→]( In the Media MIT via community college? Transfer students find a new path to a degree. // Christian Science Monitor Reporter Ira Porter spotlights undergraduate Subin Kim, an Army veteran, and his experience transferring from community college to MIT through the Transfer Scholars Network, which aims to help community college students find a path to four-year universities. [Full story via Christian Science Monitor→]( From Las Cruces to MIT: 2014 Valedictorian uses PhD to start Boston business // Las Cruces Sun-News Ronald Davis III ’18, SM ’22, PhD ’24 discusses how his research at both MIT and a U.S. Army Department of Defense lab inspired his interest in applying AI technologies to improve wireless communications, work he is now using as the foundation of his startup VectorWave. [Full story via Las Cruces Sun-News→]( MIT exploring giant potential of nanotechnology // National Defense Magazine During a visit to MIT, National Defense Magazine reporter Sean Carberry met with Professor John Joannopoulos to learn how researchers at the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) “are conducting serious research on nanotechnology that could have a big impact on the battlefield.” [Full story via National Defense Magazine→]( New leader named at Lincoln Lab, MIT’s federally funded defense lab // Boston Business Journal Melissa Choi, who has served as assistant director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory since 2019 and has decades of experience working across the lab’s different technical areas, has been named the lab’s next director. [Full story via Boston Business Journal→]( MIT and Apollo #[Buzz Aldrin in space suit stands on the moon looking at a U.S. flag that sticks out of the ground. Bottom left, a box with various buttons. Bottom right, a marker noting the Apollo G and N System, with the NASA logo and part and serial numbers. It also says “Designed by MIT Instrumentation Lab” and “MFG by Raytheon Co.”]( Fifty-five years ago today, NASA landed the Apollo 11 mission, and the first humans, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin ScD ’63 (seen above), on the moon. The mission’s computer system was designed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab, now the independent Draper, and was later adapted for an F-8 fighter jet, pioneering fly-by-wire systems where computers, not cables, manage aircraft surfaces. Today, this approach is standard in aerospace. [Learn more via MIT News→]( Digit 30 Number of MIT student interns across Mexico this summer who are applying their skills at 16 different host organizations in Mexico City, Querétaro, Aguascalientes, and Monterrey [Learn more via MISTI→]( Puzzler If Allan Gottlieb created eight Puzzle Corner columns for Tech Engineering News and two for MIT Technology Review in 1966, then for MIT Technology Review went on to edit Puzzle Corner columns for nine issues a year for five years, eight issues a year for 26 years, six issues a year for 19 years, five issues a year for six years, and three issues a year for one year, how many total Puzzle Corner columns did he produce? [Answer and a farewell via MIT Technology Review →]( This edition of the MIT Weekly was brought to you by [a photographic ode to Cambridge and Boston](. 📷 Have feedback to share? Email mitdailyeditor@mit.edu. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! —MIT News [Forward This Email]( [Subscribe]( [MIT Logo] This email was sent to {EMAIL} because of your affiliation with MIT, or because you signed up for our newsletters. [subscribe]( [update preferences]( [unsubscribe]( [view in browser]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( MIT News Office · 77 Massachusetts Avenue · Cambridge, MA 02139 · USA