List
Who doesn't love a good list? They're useful for sorting and making sense of the world. For highlighting important information. And, the List Visual Arts Center is one of the coolest galleries in the Boston area. Read on for an enumeration of research, award winners, MIT artifacts, interesting blog posts you should read but probably haven't, and more.
List Arts Center
Henry Moore's Three-Piece Reclining Figure sculpture in Killian Court. Photo: Amy Marcott.
Patricia Fuller, public art curator at the MIT List Center, says exposure to a range of disciplines—including visual arts—is imperative to the development of a well-rounded person. Read on for a list of must-see pieces in the List's permanent collection. Visit the List online to browse the MIT public art collection database, view an interactive map of art on campus, or book a tour.
Recline by the reclining figure
Many of Henry Moore's pieces tend toward abstraction, including his 1976 Three-Piece Reclining Figure, which is stationed in Killian Court. The broad, rounded, cylindrical shapes reduce and simplify human anatomy and echo the landscape's contour.
Set sail on La Grande Voile
About Alexander Calder's La Grande Voile, the List writes, "[it] suggests primeval beings, giant insects or birds raised up on their legs and spreading their wings in an impressive array of spars, blades, bolts, and rivets." Look for the 1965 piece in McDermott Court.
See spatial sculpture in the chapel
The chapel altarpiece, created by Harry Bertoia in 1955, is composed of a cascading screen of slim metal rods that reflect and scatter light in the chapel.
Get lost in Loohooloo
Frank Stella's curving, undulating 1994 piece occupies a conference room in Building 7 that was specifically built for it. The piece's title, Loohooloo, refers to a fictitious locale in a Herman Melville novel where fishermen spear fish by torchlight.
View the U-Bahnstation Theaterplatz
German photographer Candida Hofer transitioned from documentary-style photography to architectural photography in the 1980s. Her 2000 piece, "U-Bahnstation Theaterplatz, Oslo III" offers a quiet, staid glimpse at two tunnels in a Norwegian subway station. Look for it in the lobby of Building 33.
Choice Slices
A list of editors' choice posts from the Slice of MIT blog you might have missed.
You won't believe what I just overheard
It's not uncommon to overhear ridiculous things at MIT, and someone ought to hear about it. Thank goodness for the MIT quote database.
What does a self-evident truth look like?
The 800 Million Tiny Images project from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) offers a mosaic visualization of all the nouns in the English language arranged by semantic meaning.
Coolstandings.com: Know where your team really stands!
Class of '93 buddies invented a Web site that simulates in real time the
playoff chances of your favorite baseball, football, basketball, and hockey
teams. And they have fantasy seasons too!
The President speaks
Professor Patrick Henry Winston '65, SM '67, PhD '70 compares the talk by
President Barack Obama, on campus in October, with MIT President Susan
Hockfield's inaugural message.
'Play to extinction': Research reveals gaming industry strategies
An MIT researcher describes how the gaming industry is using technology to
create machines and environments that entrance players into following loss with
more loss.
Alumni interview: Nerd lovers KISS and tell
Meet class of '04 alumni Margaret and Joseph Wong, who met during pre-frosh weekend in 1999, started dating in 8.01, got married, and today run a successful wedding planning Web site.
Geek art: Make a digital collage
Upload a photo and Collage, the creation of MIT undergrad Adam Schwartz, will analyze and pixelate it then replace the pixels with images from flickr.com's API service that are close in color.
Spirit of invention is alive and well at MIT
Christina Bognet '10 stops by Eurekafest and checks out some awesome student inventions.
Always moving forward
Professor Patrick Henry Winston '65, SM '67, PhD '70 comments on the last
football game of wildly successful running back DeRon Brown '10.
Alpha Phi hosts male beauty pageant
Watch video of three Nu Delta fraternity brothers performing a hilarious rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies"—all for a good cause, of course.
Mystery category answer: They all list (as in tilt, angle, lean) or concern objects that list.
What's Quick Take?
A bimonthly feature created by the MIT Alumni Association relating contemporary topics to personal life, work, and MIT culture. View the archive.
Subscribe for publication alerts.
Mystery Category
Can you guess what these all have in common? Answer at bottom of page.
DIY Segway
Why spend thousands of dollars when you can create one yourself?
OpenCourseWare: Aircraft Stability and Control
An aeronautics and astronautics course dealing with aircraft motion.
Stata Center and its biofiltration system
Learn how Stata's innovative storm-water control and treatment system works.
The planet HAT-P-7b
The planet, located outside the solar system, is drastically misaligned and could be orbiting its star backwards, a finding that may reveal how unique the relatively perfect alignment of the solar system is compared to other planetary systems.
MIT Press: SITELESS
By François Blanciak
A book offering 1001 building forms free from the constraints of site, program, and budget. Ideas include ball-bearing floors, radial facades, crawling frames, and other architectural ideas that may require construction techniques not yet developed and a relation to gravity not yet achieved.
Send comments and questions to:
quicktake@mit.edu
A listing of items nominated for the MIT Museum's MIT150 exhibition in 2011. Clockwise from top left: punch card, Tech Show program, differential analyzer model, slide rule, viral battery, MIT Assassins' Guild logo.
Tech Highlights
Voting is underway to select items to include in the MIT Museum's MIT150 exhibition celebrating the Institute's upcoming 150th anniversary (in 2011). Here are some underdogs, with few votes at publishing time. Nominations and voting will continue until January 1, 2010. See the full list.
The Mystery Hunt
Celebrating 30 years in January 2010!
Viral batteries
Created by genetically engineering viruses, these batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars and could also be used to power personal electronic devices.
Slide-rule engraving
When slide rules ruled, MITers would have theirs engraved by the Slide Rule Man, an itinerant craftsman who visited campus with an engraving machine.
The MIT Assassins' Guild
A live-action role-playing society that runs several real-time games every semester.
Differential Analyzer Model
A mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations by integration and using wheel-and-disc mechanisms to perform the integration.
MIT World
A public site that provides on-demand video of hundreds of significant events at MIT.
Punch cards and instant numbers
Punch cards were used in early computers. Instant numbers were the debris left over from punching holes in them.
Tech Show
A tradition for over a half century, it included performances by the Logarhythms and other students.
Research
A look at some MIT research en route to human clinical trials or public use.
Neuroscience advances aim to treat autism
MIT research has shown that knocking out a certain neurotransmitter receptor could reverse the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome, a disorder that can cause autism, mental retardation, and epilepsy. Four companies are now testing drugs based on the research. Clinical trials will soon start for drugs that could treat Rett syndrome, the most common form of autism in girls, after MIT researchers discovered a molecule that promotes brain development.
MIT-pioneered robotic therapy holds promise for cerebral palsy
Robotic therapy, which has been successfully used to help stroke patients control their arms and legs, is now being studied on children with brain injuries and cerebral palsy to help reduce impairment and stimulate neuro-development. Watch video of the therapy in action.
New tissue scaffold repairs joints
MIT engineers have built a tissue scaffold that can stimulate bone and cartilage growth when implanted into knees and other joints. The technology has been approved for clinical trials in Europe.
Alzheimer's treatment aims to restore memories
Phase I clinical trials are underway for an Alzheimer's treatment where an inhibitor blocks a specific enzyme involved in brain plasticity.
IDEAS competition funds altruistic inventions
Recent IDEAS winners created a water transportation device for women in rural Ghana and the portable Seeing Machine, which uses standard video sources such as consumer digital cameras and computers to enhance vision for those impaired. The device is near clinical trials. Winning teams have a year to implement their projects.
Awards
Here are five recent award winners worth noting.
President Hockfield named a top leader
MIT President Susan Hockfield was recently named among 21 of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report.
Alumnus wins economics Nobel
Oliver E. Williamson '55, an economist working on the role of corporations within free markets, recently shared the 2009 prize in economics.
Architecture professor's book garners Great Places Book Award
The Environmental Design Research Association awarded Anne Whiston Spirn's recent book Daring to Look (University of Chicago Press) the 2009 award for advancing critical understanding of place and helping foster the design of exceptional environments.
Biology professor wins biomedical award
Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute and professor of biology at MIT, is this year's recipient of the Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science from the New York Academy of Medicine.
Grad student triumphs in wheelchair tennis
Marcus Causton, a graduate student in MIT's engineering logistics program, took up wheelchair tennis after a rock-climbing accident left him paraplegic five years ago. In October, he won the men's open singles division at the National Collegiate Wheelchair Tennis Championships.
