The back of the Makey Makey board. Click to enlarge.

Bored with your conventional keyboard? Sick of joysticks? Tired of waiting for the bananas to ripen? Use Makey Makey and turn ordinary objects, even yourself, into touchpads and keyboard keys. No programming or software required. Makey Makey, dubbed “an invention kit for everyone,” is the brainchild of Jay Silver SM ’08 and Eric Rosenbaum SM ’09, both PhD students in the Media Lab. Silver works for Intel Labs’ Interaction Experience Research group, Rosenbaum for the Lifelong Kindergarten group.

At the most basic level, Makey Makey plugs into a computer via USB and lets users reassign the arrow keys, space bar, and left mouse click to objects by attaching alligator clips to the board and any material that can conduct at least a tiny bit of electricity. Turn Makey Makey over to access keyboard keys, the mouse, and more. Watch the video below for all sorts of inspired uses.

Makey Makey kits, which come with alligator clips and USB cable, are $35 (including shipping) and currently available on the Kickstarter website, though the cocreators have far surpassed their fundraising goals. Later this year, the kit will be available on Sparkfun’s website and other select retailers.

Professor Patrick Henry Winston ’65, SM ’67, PhD ’70

In the end, it wasn’t all that hard. As a member of the search committee, the hardest thing I had to do was attend meetings of various constituencies to seek out advice about the challenges facing the new president. That was hard because I had to shut up and listen.

President-elect L. Rafael Reif saved us a lot of trouble, because without him among the candidates, we would have had a difficult time deciding among the rest of the strong candidates.

We might have divided up into camps, fighting, but we did not. As far as I could tell, there was complete harmony and consensus among the twenty-two search committee members, ten from the faculty and twelve from the Corporation.

If you find yourself ever doing this sort of thing, you need to develop some deflection mechanisms because reporters may try to trick you into revealing something you should not. They might ask: “Is it true that x is on the short list?”

X is generally an implausible but not ridiculously implausible candidate, meant to get you talking. Jim Champy, our experienced chairmain, instructed us in how to answer all questions: “I can neither conform nor deny anything.”

With increasing frequency, your friends will stop you in the hall:

“Well, the search is pretty far along. What’s happening?”

Eventually, I settled on a stock answer:

“Oh, didn’t you hear? We gave up. Couldn’t find anyone.”

Then, after it was announced that there would be an announcement, but before the announcement, into my office they poured:

“Aw, come on. Is it Rafael?”

My response:

“Actually, I think you will be surprised; it’s a bold move on our part. Head of Disney. The search committee foresees entertainment and education coming together, so who could be better?”

One seemed to believe, so I finished with:

“Of course we will have to dump the beaver in favor of the other rodent…”

Coffee at the end of a meal, Le Grand Vefour, Paris (© Owen Franken).

Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his website.

Overproduction of food is a factor in nation-wide obesity, Chow says.

The New York Times recently featured new work on obesity by Carson Chow PhD ’92, an investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Chow argued in an American Association for the Advancement of Science presentation this spring that mathematics can unravel the mystery of why two-thirds of Americans are overweight.

Why use mathematics? The MIT-trained physicist and mathematician says it’s a lot faster than human trials that take years.

What are his findings? First, he challenges the conventional wisdom that 3,500 calories always creates a pound of fat on a human body. Sometimes that may be true, but bodies change as a person loses weight, he says.

“Interestingly, we also found that the fatter you get, the easier it is to gain weight. An extra 10 calories a day puts more weight onto an obese person than on a thinner one,” Chow told the Times.

He and his colleagues also found that slow weight loss is most likely to succeed: In fact, it takes about three years for a dieter to reach a new equilibrium.

And why are Americans fat? Chow says over U.S. overproduction of food is a major factor. Learn more in the New York Times interview.

What can you do with these new findings? To calculate your potential weight loss, use the NIDDK’s free, interactive Body Weight Simulator to see how much you need to adjust intake and activity.

Other MIT work on obesity:

• Diet, Disease, and Dollars, a (video) presentation by Robert Lustig ’77, M.D., a national expert on neuro-endocrinology, to the MIT Club of Northern California.
• On 60 Minutes, Alumnus Dishes Bitter Truth on Sugar, a Slice of MIT blog post about Lustig’s recent work.
• Addressing the Obesity Epidemic: A New Role for Urban Planners, an MIT Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) blog post.
• The Obesity Epidemic: Is the Metabolic Syndrome a Nutritional Deficiency Disease? A paper by a Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab senior research scientist on the role inadequate dietary fat plays in obesity.
• Fat Chance: the Biology of Obesity, a Whitehead Institute on Biological Research article that describes how better understanding of fat-cell hormones could help  attack the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

The Wild Chair. Image: MIT Media Lab

According to the MIT Media Lab, we’ve been sitting on chairs for 27,000 years. And some chairs are sick of being taken for granted.

The result: Rebellious Chairs, a collaboration between the Media Lab’s High-Low Tech group and France’s École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (National School of Decorative Arts) that seeks to “rethink the relationship between people and chairs” and design chairs with distinct, interactive personalities, ranging from warm and cuddly to dangerous and territorial.

The video below highlights The Wild Chair–a defensive beast with porcupine-like wooden quills–created by Paris designers J.C. Karich and Pauline Jamilloux.

• The Baptism Chair, a pew-like chair with a money slot for donation and pours “holy water” on the kneeler
• Cocooning, a chair-blanket hybrid that simulates the sounds, ambiance, and coziness of sitting by a fireplace
• DIKTATÖR, which dictates head movement according to the direction of sounds around it
• Lucien, a solar-loving chair that rotates and turns toward the light or sun
• Vincent, a verbally-interacting chair that communicates with humans through a language of real chair sounds

Cocooning chair. Image: MIT Media Lab

The five-day workshop–held in France earlier this year–was organized by Dana Gordon, a former design researcher for the Interrogative Design Group at MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and workshop advisors included High-Low Tech research assistants Jennifer Jacobs and Sam Jacoby.

For more information, check out a photo gallery of the research and design process and view photos and video from the final presentation.

For a few years, the now-famous 2.007 robot contest has included an optional electric vechicle section for students who favored crafting an experimental ride to a robot. But this year, EVs got an official final event all their own, with two parts: a 50-meter drag race and a hill climb up a four-story parking garage.

Chibikart, designed by grad student Charles Guan '11.

Charles Guan ’11, a grad student in mechanical engineering, taught this special 2.007 EV section, which students affectionately named 2.00gokart.

Guan has made a name for himself lately on the Interwebs for video of his own three-week CAD-to-completion project, Chibikart, an “ultra-small four-hub motor drive go-kart designed to test out the ability of the 100mm size hub motors to move a person without assistance,” according to Guan’s blog, Equals Zero. Chibikart exceeded his expectations in efficiency and power use at speed, even when climbing the parking-garage course. It’s also his first use of 80/20 slotted framing which is very popular for prototyping machines quickly. Read his entries about building the machine, and watch it in action in the video below.

As for the 2.007 section Guan taught, he details the semester and the student projects on his blog. A123Systems donated batteries. Here are the rules, as Charles posts on his website. Read through his post for his analysis of what he’d do differently next time:

“You had to use 1 to 3 of the A123 12V7 bricks in your design, or else if you do want a custom battery solution a charger must be included in the budget. You got one 8″ pneumatic tire for free, choice between one with a sprocket, one with a belt pulley, and a ‘front’ wheel i.e. no  attached drive parts. You didn’t have to use it—this was a last minute pre-term rule change, because I was about to make everyone use an 8″ drive wheel. This was to encourage some more diversity in design…and in the end, I’m glad it happened. There were just some seriously creative efforts that would have been hampered by a wheel requirement. Major components, including motor, controller, frame materials, power transmission components, and any other vital parts (such as the deck, for the only skateboard-style project) must be under $300 not including shipping costs. Hardware and some small incidental metal stock was [sic] not included.”

The drag race was held in a relatively smoothly paved back alley under the Brain & Cognitive Sciences complex. Securing a parking garage for the hill climb was more challenging. But Guan and others convinced campus officials they had taken appropriate safety precautions for the narrow turns at the ends of the garage—by setting up literal safety nets—and MIT Parking and MIT Police closed off an entire parking facility on a Sunday for the event.

Check out the highlight footage below. Scooters averaged 9 to 11 seconds, and Melonkart hit an 8.28 second run. Instructors also got in on the fun. Chibikart managed an 8.26 second run. “The cool part about it,” say Guan on his blog, “is now that there exists an official activity safety process for this kind of event, we could throw a go-kart race almost whenever.”

Jordan Marks ’14 discusses Next House history.

Around this time last year, a group of Next House residents decided that their dorm’s 30-year anniversary in 2012 would not go unnoticed. After nearly a year of planning and research, the group, which included Next House President Austin Brinson ’13, Jordan Marks ’14, and Dorian Burks ’14, culminated their work on April 29 with a daylong celebration of the Next House’s past, present, and future.

During the opening brunch, Marks unveiled a comprehensive 30-page Next House history, compiled with the collaboration of Next House residents from the past three decades.

Next House President Austin Brinson ’13

“We saw so many changes in the short time we’ve been here, and wanted to see how it’s changed over 30 years,” Marks says. “I sent an email to alumni and within a week, I had hundreds of emails in my inbox. People sent their old dorm room posters and pictures of old Next House t-shirts. It was so cool to get their side of the history.”

The Next House publication included history on the dorm’s name, hacks, and culture, plus alumni anecdotes and stories.

Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo

“The overwhelming feeling from alumni was that Next House really became their home. Alumni felt like the community was so close,” Marks says. “That’s still part of our culture today. It’s nice to know that community doesn’t end at graduation.”

Following Marks presentation, Brinson moderated a panel of alumni from various eras of Next House, whose stories illustrated the Next House’s always changing personality.

Nearly three decades of housemasters: (L-R) Bora and Liba Mikic, and Chris and Bette Colombo

Almost 75 former residents attended the ceremony, including all current and former Next Housemasters: Professor Bora Mikic ScD ’67 and his wife, Liba HM, who served for the dorm’s first 25 years; Muriel Medard ’89, ScD ’95 and her husband, John Simmons ’90, MBA ’97, who served from 2006 to 2008; and current housemasters Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo and his wife, Bette.

Next Act, a performance troupe founded by Next House students in early 1980s, highlighted the anniversary celebration. This year’s group performed “Curtains,” a murder mystery set in Boston’s theater district.

Click the image to learn more about the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory tackled a tough subject in its spring symposium: New Insights on Early Life Stress and Mental Health.

Picower scientists have moved beyond the understanding that children who experience neglect, abuse, and deprivation are prone to depression, anxiety, and addiction as adults. They are focusing basic research tools on understanding environmental, genetic, and developmental factors that can lead to potential interventions.

“Our society wounds children,” said Dr. Robert Anda, “it’s really sad and dark. When I got into this work, I had no idea how violent our culture is, how neglectful, and how systemic through all segments of society adversity is. If you look for it, you will find it.”

Dr. Anda described studies on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) that show how having a battered mother or incarcerated father, or experiencing sexual abuse or neglect leads to lifelong problems. According to the ACE study, about two-thirds of the population has at least one of these experiences. The greater number of ACEs, the more likely individuals will have disrupted relationships, become victims of domestic violence, abuse alcohol or drugs, or suffer from mental illnesses. “The good news is that these things are highly preventable,” he said.

“Genes load the gun, and environment pulls the trigger,” said Andrew Garner, a pediatrician who spoke on Translating Developmental Science into Healthy Lives. Increasing the number of chronic or traumatic stresses changes the biology of an individual. “The ecology becomes biology and together they drive development across the lifespan.”

Understanding the biological impact of ACEs can help researchers develop potential interventions, said Picower Associate Director Matt Wilson in opening remarks.

“When we think about stress and how it impacts society, we can also think about the intersection of these environment factors with developmental and genetic factors. Unfortunately those vectors point to a vulnerable population—children.” Wilson said. “We also see the impact of early intervention and how this can translate into lifelong benefits and changes not just to individuals but to society.”

Watch videos of the April 18, 2012, talks – just click the program topics.

Couples on the banks of the Seine, Île Saint-Louis, Paris (© Owen Franken).

Curious about Owen Franken? View more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his website.

Post-doc Stephen Steiner SM '06, PhD '12 dances his PhD thesis, “Carbon Nanotube Growth on Challenging Substrates: Applications for Carbon-Fiber Composites. Watch below.

How many times as a PhD student did you wish you could just bust a move and show people what your research was about instead of launching into some boring elevator pitch?

What? Never? Well, maybe you should try it. Enter the Dance Your PhD Contest, open to anyone who has ever completed a science-related PhD or who is a student pursuing a PhD.

The contest is the brainchild of John Bohannon, a writer and visiting scientist at Harvard who seeks to make science more accessible. Watch a TedxBrussels Talk…er…Tedx Dance by Bohannon called Dance vs. PowerPoint, a Modest Proposal, in which he (with help from performers from the Black Label Movement) practices what he preaches.

The 2012 contest just opened up a few weeks ago. Each category winner—physics, chemistry, biology, and social sciences—receives $500 and recognition by Science magazine. Grand prize is $1K and free travel and accommodation to attend TEDxBrussels in November. Entries are due Oct. 1, 2012.

Videos are judged by a group of scientists and artists on scientific merit, artistic merit, and creative combination of the science and art. Dances have to convey something essential about one’s PhD research so that the judges “get it.”

If you need inspiration, check out last year’s videos. Two of the record 53 entries were created by MITers. Though they did not win prizes, they both deserve huge props for heeding the contest website’s advice: “You’re a scientist. With your superpowers comes the responsibility to communicate the thrill of science to the public. Yes, sometimes in dance form. So dance like you mean it.” Oh, they mean it. Enjoy. Both entered in the chemistry category.

Post-doc Stephen Steiner SM ’06, PhD ’12 dances his PhD thesis, “Carbon Nanotube Growth on Challenging Substrates: Applications for Carbon-Fiber Composites.” Learn more about his research.

Current student Hoda Eydgahi SM ’08 dances her thesis, “Development and Application of an MCMC Algorithm for Obtaining the Joint Parameter Distribution in Biochemical Networks.” Learn more about her research.