To mark the opening of the rebuilt Kendall/MIT station in 1987, the MBTA installed a three-piece musical sculpture by Groton artist Paul Matisse between the outbound and inbound platforms, where it provided entertainment for tens of thousands of passengers who could activate it by moving wall-mounted handles. But years of heavy use and the sculpture's intricate mechanics eventually rendered each piece silent, despite Matisse's painstaking efforts to keep his creation working. read more...

By Karen Klinger

Long before celebrities such as actor Alan Alda and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson became hosts of science programs on public television, there was John Fitch.

From 1963 through 1966, the understated, deep-voiced Fitch provided introductions and interviews for one of the world's first televised programs devoted to exploring science and technology, a co-production of MIT and WGBH called MIT Science Reporter. In over 100 programs produced on a relative shoestring, he interviewed some of the most prominent figures in their fields of the mid-20th Century for the now little-remembered National Educational Television (NET), the forerunner of PBS. read more...

By Karen Klinger

He was a fervent orator and abolitionist, civil rights visionary, best friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, victim of a notorious near-fatal beating on the floor of the U.S. Senate by a fellow member of Congress and a man historians call one of the foremost champions of African Americans before, during and after the American Civil War. When he died in 1874, thousands attended his funeral and walked alongside his casket from King's Chapel in Boston to his gravesite in Cambridge's Mount Auburn Cemetery. read more...

By Karen Klinger

A brightly-colored inflatable sculpture on the Charles River spelling out "MIT," glowing orb-shaped seats along the riverbank and a devilishly clever "mood meter" that reflects the mindsets of passersby, as well as stars floating above the university's Great Dome, were just some of the attractions May 7 in a spectacular culmination of MIT's months-long arts celebration coinciding with the last two days of the Cambridge Science Festival. read more...

By Karen Klinger

Owlchemy Labs cofounder Yilmaz Kiymaz swears he never anticipated the media storm unleashed by the recent release of his company's first video game, Smuggle Truck, which requires players to act as drivers of a virtual truck carrying illegal immigrants to go over, under, through and past obstacles including tunnels, hills and explosives, any of which could result in the occupants being tossed to their deaths. read more...

By Karen Klinger

Want to have lunch with a Nobel Prize winner? How about operating a robot with a design inspired by insects? Or taking part in a science trivia contest, learning about the "science of the perfect steak," peering through telescopes outside of Cambridge City Hall, chatting up science enthusiasts at a "Nerdnite Nerdtacular" or watching a light show on the Charles River? You can do all of that and much more during the nine days of the 5th annual Cambridge Science Festival set to run from April 30 through May 8. read more...

As a centerpiece of MIT's ongoing celebration of its 150th anniversary, the university will throw its doors open April 30 with a day-long, campus-wide event featuring hundreds of activities for visitors of all ages who will be able to do everything from operating small space satellites to taking part in scavenger hunts, watching a scientist make a room glow with pickles, understanding the mathematics of origami, touring research laboratories, listening to hi-tech show and tell presentations, getting their golf swings analyzed with high-speed video and enjoying student performances ranging from folk dancing to gospel music. read more...