Pakistan blast kills at least 66
At least 66 people are killed and scores wounded following a mosque bombing in Pakistan.
Research Coordinator
The Second Law and Energy (Panel)
In this valedictory panel to the two-day symposium, 10 speakers offer brief takes on how the Second Law of Thermodynamics might prove useful in seeking answers to our current energy challenge.
Even before the oil embargo of 1973, Thomas Widmer recalls, Joe Keenan and his MIT colleagues wrote of an “entropy c
Developing the Hardware for Future Human Space Exploration
While Michael Griffin sees a wealth of reasons for space exploration in general and returning to the moon in particular, NASA must still manage on a tiny portion of “the national treasure.” This 7/10th of a percent of the national budget – the equivalent of each American paying 15 cents every day – “is not an expenditur
Three More For The Road
In a trio of mini-talks, Arnold Barnett applies statistical analysis to some of society’s most confounding challenges. He first takes up the minority achievement gap -- the apparent under-performance of black and Hispanic students on standardized tests in comparison to white and Asian students.
In his own work i
Two More Things to Worry About
In customary, loose-limbed form, Arnold Barnett reprises two of his favorite themes: improvements to the U.S. Electoral College, and aviation safety.
First up, Barnett’s suggested fix for national elections, which through the “fun-house mirror” of the Electoral College, permit winner-take-all results. His
History of Boston Transportation
1630-1990
Fred Salvucci ponders the role of contingency in history, and in the evolution of Boston and its transportation system. He starts from the time the glaciers pulled back from Boston, leaving a soggy near-island and a river for the first white settlers to contend with. “The reason the city is here because
An Evening with Vikram Chandra
In the tradition of his favorite childhood writers, Dickens, Thackeray and the “curiously forgotten James Hadley Chase,” Vikram Chandra explores the seamier sides of human relations. In Chandra’s latest, sprawling novel, Sacred Games, his backdrop is Bombay, a city steeped in corruption from head to toe. Reading three s
Prime Time in Transition
Fear not, fans of character-based TV fiction: reality shows will not obliterate tales featuring “transactions between human beings – the Jane Austen end of things,” as John Romano puts it. This veteran of some of TV’s finest cop dramas (including Hill Street Blues and Monk) sees wrenching changes in
Ann Stoler: Retracing the Imperial Modern
Professor Ann Stoler (Anthropology, New School, NY), 'Retracing the Imperial Modern: The Carceral Archipelago of Empire'. Lecture delivered at CRASSH conference, 'The Political Life of Documents: Archives, Memory and Contested Knowledge' (15-16 January, 2010).
The Medium Religion
Noted philosopher, critic and essayist Boris Groys, who has previously delved into the Soviet post-modernist and Russian avant-garde art scene, turns his attention now to the recent and dangerous marriage of religion and digital media. In a talk based on his paper, Religion in the Age of Digital Reproduction, Groys
Global Media
Just as digital technology has expanded the means of producing media, so has it increased the geographic range new media may travel. Locally generated content can zip around the world in a heartbeat. But, says moderator Henry Jenkins, “as a society we’re in a contradictory state in terms of having greater access to glob
Introduction to macroeconomics
This is a module framework. It can be viewed online or downloaded as a zip file. As taught in Spring Semester 2010. This module provides an introduction to modern macroeconomic analysis. Macroeconomics is concerned with some of the most pressing and fundamental questions economists can ask, such as: What determines economic growth? Why do economies exhibit expansions ('booms') and contractions ('busts') in output? What drives employment and wages, saving and investment? What causes inflation and
A Few Things Learned from Craigslist
In his unassuming way, Craig Newmark believes his eponymous website might just help nudge people toward greater civic engagement. While Craigslist.org “is a simple platform where people help each other out,” focusing on everyday needs like getting a job or an apartment, it is also a profoundly collaborative venture, with p
Next Generation Solar Cells: Lowering Costs, Improving Performance and Scale
According to Tonio Buonassisi, we’re “on the cusp” of achieving a competitive technology for capturing the limitless energy of the sun. Buonassisi, in conversation with an MIT Museum audience, describes how, with the work of MIT and other researchers, photovoltaics may finally be coming into its own.
Buona
Egyptian economy and non-royal women: their status in public life
The online version of a lecture given 21 June, 1995, at Brown University, by William A. Ward deals with the status of women in ancient Egypt society. Although pharaonic Egypt was in most respects a male society, with men holding positions in public life while women dominated the private life, Ward points to the fact that there is plenty of evidence that women, throughout ancient Egyptian civilisation could own, bequeath and inherit land. Furthermore women seem to have been able to hold positions
Estudios de dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí (EDNA)
The academic journal for 'North African and Andalusian Dialectological Studies' (EDNA) is a publication from the Spanish 'Institute of Islamic and Near Eastern Studies'. The journal is devoted to the study of the Arabic language in the Western regions of Maghreb and Alandalús, thus combining studies on contemporary and historical issues of Arabic dialects in these regions. Available on the site is the full-text content for all issues published between 1996 and 2004. Although Spanish is the main
La trobe journal
The 'La Trobe Journal' is a scholarly journal published by the State Library of Victoria Foundation, in Australia, since 1968. It contains articles written by scholars who use the resources and collections of the State Library. Over 80 issues are freely available online in full-text form, dating from 1968 until 2006. Some issues are themed. Example article titles from the most recent issues include: 'Australian Children's Literature: an Overview'; 'The ABC of Horn-Books'; 'Helmut Newton's Austr
Program in Aegean scripts and prehistory
The Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP) website presents the work of a research centre at the University of Texas. There are news presented in the form of a blog; reports of activities; editorials and articles by staff members; the Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect (SMID) online database; The PASP database for the use of scripts on Cyprus; the Alice Kober, Michael Ventris and Emmett L. Bennett, Jr. archive (finding aids only available online, but a full digitisation progr
Classics technology center
The Classics Technology Center is a website which provides a wealth of free electronic resources for the teaching and learning of Classics-based subjects. These range from school to university level and cover Greek and Latin languages, ancient history, archaeology and literature, as well as more general material and teaching tools to help with the use of web-based Classics resources. Also featured are pedagogical guidelines for teachers of Latin and Greek, and advice from classicists relating to
