MIT Open Aggregated Podcast Feed

In this episode of the MIT Learn Beyond Biology podcast, Dr. Summer Morrill, a high school biology teacher with deep roots in cancer genetics from her PhD work at MIT, unpacks the complex topic of cancer. Summer shares how her personal family history shaped her interest in the field, why cancer is not one disease, and how fundamental biology research helps explain everything from DNA repair to tumor suppression in humans.

This conversation is both scientifically rich and deeply human. This episode represents the reality that cancer research is not only about cells and mutations, but also about families, mentorship, resilience, and the ongoing search for answers. Learn more about biology and genetics at learn.mit.edu.

• 7.00x Introductory Biology course
• Video of this episode

• Why having the BRCA1 gene is usually a misunderstanding
• How inherited mutations can increase cancer risk
• Why cancer is not a single disease
• What the cell cycle is and how the process can go wrong
• The difference between oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and DNA repair genes
• How genetic testing and counseling can be empowering
• Why yeast is such a powerful model organism in cancer research
• What haploinsufficiency means and why it matters
• How curiosity, failure, and mentorship shape scientific discovery
• Why cancer research requires many different disciplines working together

Summer explains that cancer often develops through a combination of mutations, environmental exposure, and the body’s own normal processes of cell division and DNA repair. She also highlights why the idea of a simple cure is misleading: cancer involves many pathways, many tissues, and many biological checks and balances.A major theme of the conversation is balance. Too little activity in a gene can be harmful, but too much can also cause problems. Summer’s research on haploinsufficiency showed that the body’s systems are more delicate and interconnected than they first appear.The episode also emphasizes the value of curiosity and mentorship. From her professors to her advisor to her mentor Professor Angelika Amon, Summer’s path shows how the right people at the right time can shape a scientific career.

How can climate change cause both more intense droughts and more severe floods? With help from Prof. Mathew Barlow, we dive into the water cycle on a warming planet, and learn how the basic physics of water moving through the atmosphere can explain a lot of the strange weather we need to prepare for as the world heats up.

For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/e9-dry-spells-and-downpours

For more episodes of Ask MIT Climate, check out askmitclimate.org. Plus, find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for outtakes, bonus content, and more climate knowledge from MIT. As always, we love hearing from our listeners; email us at [email protected].

Dr. Haleh Rokni walks new and returning students through the simple first steps to access mental health support at MIT Health, and explains why reaching out early can make a big difference. Learn how to access counseling and find out what you can expect at your first appointment. For more information or to get connected call 617-253-2916, or visit health.mit.edu. 

Learn more about Haleh Rokni, MD 

Warehouse automation is often evaluated through an operational lens in terms of productivity gains, labor efficiency, and accuracy improvements. Yet the environmental impact of technologies like drone-based inventory systems remains poorly understood. In this episode, we explore how a capstone project conducted with Verity, a warehouse automation company, and graduate students in the MIT Supply Chain Management (SCM) program quantified the real sustainability benefits of replacing manual forklift-based inventory counting with drones.

Joining the discussion are Tommaso Portaluri, Sustainability Lead at Verity; Camilo Mora, Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL); and Elisa Ruiz, an MIT SCM alum who worked on the project. Together, they reveal a surprising finding: inventory write-offs and waste reduction account for nearly 40% of post-implementation emissions savings, far outweighing energy savings alone. Through their analysis, they demonstrate how information quality and operational efficiency are intertwined levers for decarbonization, and why inventory management deserves a place at the center of warehouse sustainability strategies. You can read the full findings of the capstone project here and learn more about MIT SCM capstone projects here.

In a world where clothing is constantly produced, purchased, and replaced, there is still a lot to learn about fabric. What may seem like an old, familiar industry turns out to be full of advanced physics, materials science, and engineering challenges. MIT Mechanical Engineering Principal Investigator Svetlana Boriskina develops new fabrics that can provide thermal comfort indoors and outdoors, resist dirt, and create color without dyes or pigments. She shares insights into exploring new areas of research outside her comfort zone, lessons from the textile industry, and what fabrics can teach us about nature itself.

Watch the video podcast for free: https://bit.ly/scienceofeverydaylife

Learn More at learn.mit.edu

Svetlana Boriskina: sites.mit.edu/sboriskina/

Svetlana Boriskina's Courses sites.mit.edu/sboriskina/courses/