MIT Alumni Association

Memories and advice from MIT alumni.

Tech Day explored what we know about the emergence of life, the Earth, its systems, and the stresses that are inherent as well as imposed by human activity. The questions this program investigated are: How does what we have learned about the past help us to predict where we are going and how to lay the groundwork for a sustainable future?

Six times a year, the Faculty Forum Online presents compelling interviews with faculty on timely and relevant topics. Viewers watch and participate in live 30-minute interviews via interactive chat. These are the archives of those chats.

As part of the festivities associated with the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics 100th Anniversary, the Alumni Association chatted with alumni astronauts.

Throughout the long course of evolution, Homo sapiens have come to dominate the planet and reshaped it in countless ways. At the very core of this incredible story is the human brain. It is an instrument of seemingly limitless power that is continually working and sifting through the mountains of data streaming through it while simultaneously keeping alive the physical body that supports it. Indeed, the entire history of our species is the creation of the brain. But what do we know of the workings of this powerful organ?