Columbus Day: Ten Minutes with Nicolás Wey Gómez
October 14, 2013
For Columbus Day, we thought we’d ask Nicolás Wey Gómez, author of The Tropics of Empire: Why Columbus Sailed South to the Indies, to share with us some thoughts on “the Discoverer.”
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Classic Reissue: Learnability and Cognition by Steven Pinker
October 11, 2013
The Classic Reissue series highlights new editions of four long-time MIT Press classics and will run each Friday over the next month.
Janet Yellen: Federal Reserve Chair Nominee
October 9, 2013
Earlier today, President Obama announced his nomination of Janet L. Yellen to be the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, succeeding Ben Bernanke. If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Yellen would become the first woman to lead the central banking system of the United States.
Centennial Reflections on the American Assembly Line
October 7, 2013
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the American assembly line. And by this day in 1913, 140 workers were placed along a 150-foot chassis line at Highland Park, a Ford Motor Co. plant located just north of Detroit that became the first automobile production facility to implement the assembly line. David Nye, author of America’s Assembly Line, shares these thoughts and reflections on the centenary and the continuing evolution of the assembly line:
The IPCC Report: Climate Change and the Moral Economy of Inaction
September 26, 2013
On the eve of the release of a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we thought we should ask Jörg Friedrichs, the author of The Future Is Not What It Used to Be: Climate Change and Energy Scarcity, about the panel’s importance, and about what people can and should do with the information in what is expected to be an alarming new report. He sent these thoughts:
In memoriam: Daniel L. Schodek
September 10, 2013
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our author Daniel L. Schodek who passed away on August 27 at the age of 72.
Turkey and Brazil: A New Age of Protest?
September 3, 2013
Last month, protestors in Turkey and Brazil organized major demonstrations using social media. Katrina Kimport and Jennifer Earl, authors of Digitally Enabled Social Change weigh in on the implications of using information and communication technologies for activism.
Moving Innovation
August 13, 2013
Need a break from seeing the latest comic book hero movie, or found-footage horror flick? Learn a little about the behind the scenes efforts of a diverse crowd that help make these movies. Last week for our summer blockbusters series, we featured an excerpt from Lab Coats in Hollywood which explores the relationship between science and the film industry. For our second post we have a Q & A with Moving Innovation author, Tom Sito, a legend in the CGI world.
National Singapore Day
August 9, 2013
Every year on August 9th, Singapore celebrates its independence from Malaysia. Below are a few choice quotes from Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World regarding Singapore by the Grand Master himself, Lee Kuan Yew.
Inappropriate Technology? Using Radios in Remote Areas of Africa for Conflict Early Warning
August 7, 2013
Joseph Bock, author of the just-published book The Technology of Nonviolence: Social Media and Violence Prevention, devotes a chapter of the book to the use of radios as an early-warning technique to guard against violent crime. At a recent World Bank workshop, he heard a report on their use that got him thinking about the appropriateness of technologies in different areas.