When a child cannonballs into a pool, a simple series of waves radiate outward from the point where they plunged in. But if two children jump in at once, they create a more intricate waterscape. Where the two sets of waves meet, they interfere with each other. In some spots, the peak of one wave meets the valley of another, and they cancel each other out. The waves in that location disappear. Full Article »
Eben Bein
Why Light Is a Wave…Sometimes: A Mini-History of the Photoelectric Effect
by Eben Beinposted March 7, 2016 at 11:21 am
Why You Always Know Where Your Nose Is
by Eben Beinposted December 16, 2015 at 12:45 pm
Here’s a challenge: Close your eyes and then try touching your nose with your finger. Did you do it? Even without using any of the five famous senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell—you most likely found your nose without any trouble. How does this happen? Find out in Eben Bein’s story in the Atlantic.
El Niño Is Hanging Coral Out to Dry
by Eben Beinposted November 6, 2015 at 9:09 am
El Niño Is Hanging Coral Out to Dry
by Eben Bein, for Hakai Magazine.
How does the top of an entire reef end up dead and covered in algae? Read about how periodic El Niño winds strengthened by climate change are leaving corals in the western Pacific stranded above the waterline.
Photo credit: Douglas Fenner
Community Seeking Fossil Fuel Divestment Finds Welcoming Tone from MIT President
by Eben Beinposted November 2, 2015 at 9:48 pm
One hundred MIT students, faculty, and alumni marched across campus on October 2 in the name of fossil fuel divestment on behalf of 3,500 MIT petition signatories. Their destination? The Media Lab, where Reif was holding his annual meeting with MIT Corporation members, including David Koch, a multibillionaire in the fossil fuel industry. Read more in the Cambridge Day.
MIT's Killian Court. Photo by Andrew Hitchcock/Flickr.
Leaky Blood Vessels Could Help Prevent Alzheimer’s
by Eben Beinposted November 2, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Researchers have discovered a new way to remove the chemical that causes Alzheimer’s from the brain. Dr. James Keaney of Trinity College in Dublin has successfully made the blood vessels in the brains of mice more leaky, thus letting out the neurotoxic amyloid-beta. They have also confirmed that our own brains employ a similar mechanism in regions where amyloid-beta is abundant. This discovery may be the first step in a new line of treatment for this tragic disease. Read more at NOVA Next.
An illustration of how amyloid beta may escape through gaps in the brain's blood vessels.
Community seeking fossil fuel divestment finds welcoming tone from MIT president
by Eben Beinposted October 30, 2015 at 9:32 am
Community seeking fossil fuel divestment finds welcoming tone from MIT president
Cambridge Day, October 9, 2015
http://www.cambridgeday.com/2015/10/09/community-seeking-fossil-fuel-divestment-finds-welcoming-tone-from-mit-president/
Local and Global Voices Call for MIT to Divest
by Eben Beinposted October 29, 2015 at 10:39 am
High profile climate leaders and Mayor Curtatone join forces with Fossil Free MIT to call for a climate action plan at the university. In an open letter on September 16, 33 of these leaders called MIT President Reif to heed the proposals made on campus in order to combat the broader political stagnation on climate change. Read more at the Somerville Times.
