A team of MIT students and professors have completed the preliminary round in the Defense Advanced Recearch Projects Agency's Urban Challenge competition. Representatives from DARPA visited with the team and their vehicle to see if they would be one of the 30 teams of the current 53 who will compete in the semi-finals in October. From the Urban Challenge website: the Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated......

The intended hunger strike was announced at the end of the year last year, and executed in the early days of this month. It's over now. On February 16, 2007, professor James Sherley ended his hunger strike and protest outside of the offices of the MIT president and provost. According to the statement he issued I am ending this part of my struggle. Starting today, I will in fact break my fast, in celebration of......

You can't say the man doesn't deliver on a promise. MIT's Associate Professor of Biological Engineering James Sherley has started the hunger strike he announced before Christmas. He stated February 5 as the start date, and the Herald reports that he's begun his quest today. A hunger strike is an unhealthy way to take off some of the holiday pounds, soon we'll find out if it will be the fast way to tenure track at......

There's an unsettled feeling in Boston at the end of the semester. The undergrads start pouring out of the city when they turn in that last paper assignment or take the last test until they have to do it all again the next year. Professors and TA's are busy grading, trying to get their own work complete so they can find a break in the winter recess. Associate Professor of Biological Engineering James Sherley is......

More complicated sciency stuff is on the way from MIT. In February the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems looked to revolutionize the battery world with a microscopic (atomic even!) use of capacitors. They lined up nanotubes in a way to reduce the size of an ultracapacitor to a fraction of their current size – a size competitive with traditional batteries. This week another innovation in power supplies comes from MIT. MIT's Gas Turbine......

Headline of the day might be awarded to MIT’s news office today. “Students fold under pressure” adorned their announcement of the winning entries of the 2006 juried Student Origami Competition. This follows on the heels of their subtitle for the contest's annoucement: Will you join the fold? The winning entries, including a beaver (is everything coming up beaver these days?), are now on display in the Wiesner Student Art Gallery in the Stratton Student......