Slice of MIT

On March 28, 2006, a group of young men, disguised as movers and armed with phony work orders, arrived on the Caltech’s Pasadena campus. Within a few hours, the crew departed with the college’s two-ton Fleming Canon in tow. Eight days later, the canon reappeared 3,000 miles away, on MIT campus, with a massive MIT class ring on its barrel.

The movers, it turns out, were MIT students who had just carried out perhaps the longest-distance MIT hack of all time.

So, How does one borrow a cannon, drive it cross-country, and place it in the middle of a crowded campus, completely undetected? In this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we’ll hear from the MIT hackers involved in heist, as we celebrate the prank’s 10-year anniversary. Read more: http://bit.ly/1WuVkQj.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gws64c

Music:

"Marty's Got a Plan"

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Since the publication of Clay Christensen's The Innovators' Dilemma nearly two decades ago, Michael Tushman PhD '76 and his colleague Charles O'Reilly III have studied successful firms, large and small, that didn't exactly fit the new norm of disrutpive innovation. The result of this study is Lead and Disrupt: How to Solve the Innovator's Dilemma.

In this interview, Tushman discusses his new book, a well-researched corrective for Christensen's formula for success in business. Read more: http://bit.ly/1pNnWHV

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uNh5WO

Robert Gordon PhD '67 calls his new book a revised version of his thesis for Professor Robert Solow, "47 years late." The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War upends the typical narrative about the wonders of twenty-first century American innovations.

In this interview, Gordon shares his thoughts on American growth and shares some memories of his MIT years. Read more: http://bit.ly/21bLmTd

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Je9zY4

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: bit.ly/20Q0TNF.

In this episode bonus clip, Megan Pasquina '08 tells the story of how she met her husband, Lincoln. The interview in this clip is part of the Reunions Access Memories Project.

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1DuL3

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: bit.ly/20Q0TNF.

In this episode bonus clip, Tim Chambers '84 tells the story of how he met his wife, Robin. The interview in this clip is part of the Reunions Access Memories Project.

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GuCDIR

On this episode of the Slice of MIT podcast, we bring you stories from alumni who found love at the Institute. Read more: http://bit.ly/20Q0TNF.

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2EdCuYv

The interviews in this episode are part of the Reunions Access Memories Project.

Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Costa Rica is home to ten percent of the world's known species of butterflies, more than 800 species of birds, and 200 volcanoes. Listen in on the journey of the MIT Alumni Travel Program as they witnessed sloths, howled with howler monkeys, and met with an American Quaker who left prison to start a Costa Rican town. Read more: http://bit.ly/1ZT98mf.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H6LLEV

Music Credits: "Cuban Sandwich," "Carnivale Intrigue," "Cumbia No Frills," and "Pennsylvania Rose," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

If you're a newly-manufactured or rebooted android, you'll want to pick up a copy of the latest book from Nic Kelman '94, How to Pass as Human: A Guide to Assimilation for Future Androids. The book, however, proves just as entertaining and informative for human readers.

In his fourth novel, Kelman gives a delightful glimpse of the human world through an android's eyes. Kelman discusses the novel with a fellow human being in this latest MIT Alumni Books Podcast. Read more: http://bit.ly/1NRgN0N

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2uHHogK

The MIT community is more diverse than any time in Institute history. And diverse communities require mindful leadership. So, how can leaders be more effective in creating a more inclusive environment? Assistant Professor Renée Richardson Gosline says start by being mindful: recognize the biases that affect us all, and question our own heuristics. Read more: http://bit.ly/goslinepodcast

Professor Gosline is the MIT Sloan Zenon Zannetos 1955 Career Development Assistant Professor of Marketing. Her research studies how we process information about products, information, and each other. And she believes cognitive association and heuristics—decision-making shortcuts provided by the subconscious—are often at the root of bias.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H7FMj4

Music:

"Babylon" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

MIT has a long history with food, from nutrition science to environmental costs, and today food innovation projects at MIT run the gamut. MIT’s newest food initiative, Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (JWAFS) is bringing together research across disciplines.

Episode transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1Fi6G.

Learn more about JWAFS and food projects at MIT in the Slice of MIT podcast, Food for Thought. This episode focuses on four things: an Institute-wide food and water security lab; a Media Lab Agriculture Initiative; a chemistry sensor project that can detect spoiling meat; and an alumnus chef that uses science to perfect his recipes. Read more: http://bit.ly/1R3UfMU

This podcast is being released a few days before Thanksgiving 2015, so of course, we needed to address the Thanksgiving meal. Kenji Lopez-Alt ’02, culinary director of Serious Eats—a renowned food blog, offers insight into cooking with science and weighs in on the persistent Thanksgiving turkey question, to brine or not to brine?

Renee Robins ’83, executive director for JWAFS, talks about the growth of food and water projects at MIT and the promising technologies that are coming from interdisciplinary collaborations.

One promising research project is the Open Agriculture Initiative, run by Caleb Harper March ’14 in the Media Lab. Harper discusses his research that uses alternative growing methods, like aeroponics and hydroponics, along with LED lights, and controlled climate—all harnessed by open-source technology. He hopes his work can become the foundation for a new method of agricultural production to help produce food that can be eaten closer to the point of growing and to grow anything, anywhere in the world with similar technology and the right climate recipe.

Jan Schnorr ’12 was working toward completing his PhD in Tim Swager’s lab in the chemistry department when he started C2Sense, a startup that is developing sensors that can detect food spoilage and therefore help reduce food waste. “We had a project around ethaline detection, which is very relevant for fruit freshness,” says Schorr. There are several types of low-cost sensors being developed to monitor fruit and meat ripeness, indicating if the food has gone bad. These sensors could help at all steps in the supply chain—in distribution and storage, in grocery stores, and at home in refrigerators.

Music: "Cover Affair" and "Jarvic 8"

All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0