Slice of MIT

As a young boy growing up in Prague, Michael Gruenbaum '53 witnessed firsthand the Nazi occupation of Prague before his family was sent to Terezin, a concentration camp. Seventy years after liberation, Gruenbaum penned a memoir of his life at Terezin. Published in 2015, Somewhere There Is Still a Sun recounts Gruenbaum's ordeals in Terezin, along with some of his life after the war.

"I suddenly feel some sort of strange obligation to live some sort of perfect life," Gruenbaum writes of his emergence from Terezin, "one packed with heroic acts, so incredible I can't even begin to imagine what they might be." Read more: http://bit.ly/1M530PS

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gvv5Kb

Some scientists say that human beings are more bacteria than human, with bacteria cells found in and on our body outnumbering human cells 10 to 1. Others claim that the bacteria found on each one of us could fill up a half-gallon jug. Others still are unsure how much bacteria we’re covered in, but it’s a lot, and probably more than the average person is comfortable thinking about.

Thankfully, Mark Smith PhD ’14 isn’t the average person. A microbiologist, Smith came to MIT to study this huge community of bacteria known as the microbiome, focusing specifically on the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Smith worked in the Alm Lab developing computational and experimental methods to engineer to microbiome. He explains some of his research, “We would find healthy patients and a disease cohort, take stools samples to sequence their microbiome and find signatures that distinguish between them. We find there are a lot of diseases that have distinct microbial compositions. The question is does disease cause the altered microbiome, or does the altered microbiome cause the disease?”

In this Slice of MIT podcast, you’ll learn how fecal transplants work, why they’re effective in combating C. Diff, and what the future of microbiome research looks like. Read more: http://bit.ly/1LCF9KI

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Gy4Pyw

Music: “Monster Promenade” “The Show Must Be Go” and “Life of Riley”

All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Robert Shiller SM '68, PhD '72 discusses his new book, Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, co-authored with George Akerlof PhD '66. Recorded live at an MIT Alumni Association event at Fidelity Investments in Boston, Shiller talks with Nanette Byrnes, senior editor of business reports at MIT Technology Review. Read more: http://bit.ly/1lriadn

Phishing for Phools, says Shiller, helps readers unpack the psychology of “phishing”--identifying what is at work when markets provide consumers what they don’t necessarily want--and what is at work when they willingly take the bait.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2GzT1ru

Hal Linder '58 paid $4,000 for his bachelor's degree in geology at MIT. In six decades following graduation, Linder got his money's worth, surveying and prospecting on all seven continents, eventually discovering a gold mine in California which produced over 1.2 million ounces.

Linder chronicles his adventures above and below the earth's crust in a new book, Wild Places: The Adventures of an Exploration Geologist. Read more: http://bit.ly/1MuJS2H

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

Good ideas never exist in a vacuum—they come from life experiences, world views, curiosity, hard work, and collective brain power. And when put to practice, the best ideas address real issues and solve real problems.

Learn how a hacking ethos is leading to breakthroughs in medicine; how embracing new technologies will shape the camera of the future; how rethinking microbes could change the way we treat disease; and how crowd-sourcing is helping protect Earth from asteroids. Read more: http://bit.ly/1RkCWW4

Episode Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Edv1Ze

Featuring:

Hans Peter Brøndmo ’87

Advisor, TrueNorth Venture Partners

Lina Colucci, doctoral candidate

Co-Director, MIT Hacking Medicine

Priya Garj ’15

Co-Director, MIT Hacking Medicine

Bernat Olle SM ’05, PhD ’07, MBA ’07

Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Biosciences

Jenn Gustetic SM ’07

Assistant Director for Open Innovation, Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy

Music: “On the Ground,” “Off to Osaka,” and “How it Begins”

All songs by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Originally recorded at the 2015 South by Southwest Interactive festival; produced to coincide with HUBweek (http://hubweek.org/) and MIT Solve (http://solve.mit.edu/).

The MIT Alumni Leadership Conference (ALC), Sept. 25‒26, is a time for alumni to reconnect and learn new skills while also recognizing the work of alumni volunteers. A spotlight event for ALC is the Leadership Awards Celebration honoring MIT’s most dedicated volunteers.

In this Slice of MIT podcast, you’ll hear personal stories from this year’s four alumni winners of the Bronze Beaver award, the Association’s highest honor. Read more: http://bit.ly/1KxEiHj

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H7BiZU

Music:

"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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

"Go Cart" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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

Well over 1,000 patent applications are filed each day by tinkerers and corporations, and patent suits among science and tech researchers and firms are reaching unprecedented settlement amounts in the courts.

In a new book, M. Henry Heines '67 explores the radical changes patent law in the U.S. underwent in 2013 and what today's scientist and engineer, whether tinkering in a garage or leading a startup, needs to know to protect one's intellectual property. Read more: http://bit.ly/1Ow9cWG

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2q1U5O8

AnnMarie Thomas '01 talks about Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation (Maker Media, 2014). Read more: http://bit.ly/1N4dZz5

The book features interviews and reflections from MIT alumni and current and former faculty about their formative years becoming makers.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2H6XV0j

Eran Egozy, one of the faces behind acclaimed video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero, shares why Rock Band rocks and his secrets to career success. Read more: http://bit.ly/1U9fzjS

Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Isk7ld

Jo Ivester '77 discusses her new book, The Outskirts of Hope, a memoir written in collaboration with her mother, about life in Mound Bayou, Mississippi in the 1960s. Read more: http://bit.ly/1MfFDaN

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