Ten minutes for your mind@2:50 every day at 2:50 pm in multiple time zones:Europa@2:50, EET, Athens, Helsinki (UTC+2) (7:50 am EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88298032734Atlantica@2:50, EST, New York, Toronto (UTC-4) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85349851047Pacifica@2:50, PST, Los Angeles, Vancouver (UTC=7) (5:50 pm EST) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85743543699Almost everything works better again if you unplug it for a bit, including your mind. Stop by and unplug. Get the benefits of mindfulness without the fuss.@2:50 meets at the same time every single day for ten minutes of quiet together.No pre-requisite, no registration needed.Visit the website to view all @2:50 time zones each day.at250.org or at250.mit.edu

A robot has never stolen a worker’s job! This claim may seem far-fetched, however, no technology—yes, not even an artificially intelligent robot—has socioeconomic agency or autonomy: What technologies such as AI and robotics can and cannot do, and what their a/effects and meanings are, is an all human rather than mechanical affair. This talk will introduce my research on the history and political economy of automation in the United States, and demonstrate that whatever impact automation had, has, or will have, must be investigated and understood in terms of not what automation does, but in terms of the individual, institutional, and structural forces that shape who can do what with automation, when, where, why, and how.Presented by:SALEM ELZWAY Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southern California Society of Fellows in the Humanities

Speaker: Lucas Mason-Brown (University of Texas, Austin)Title: The FPP Conjecture for Real Reductive GroupsAbstract: The FPP Conjecture of Barbasch and Adams-van Leeuwen-Miller-Vogan proposes a strong upper bound on the unitary dual of a real reductive group. In this talk, I will review what is known about the structure and shape of the unitary dual and then sketch a short proof of the FPP conjecture. This is based on recent joint work with Dougal Davis.

Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2025 Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)Speaker: Robert C. Froemke, PhD Affiliation: Skirball Professor of Genetics, Neuroscience Institute and Department of Otolaryngology, NYU Grossman School of MedicineHosts: Dr. Mriganka Sur, Dr. Rawan AlSubaieTalk title: Love, Death, and Oxytocin: The Challenges of Mouse MaternityAbstract: The neuropeptide oxytocin is important for maternal physiology and social behavior. I will discuss new and unpublished data from our lab on when, where, and how oxytocin is released from hypothalamic neurons to enable maternal behavior in new mother mice. I will focus on maternal responses to infant distress calls, and how oxytocin enables rapid neurobehavioral changes for dams and alloparents to recognize the meaning of these calls. We have built a new system combining 24/7 continuous video monitoring with neural recordings from the auditory cortex and oxytocin neurons of the hypothalamus in vivo. With this documentary approach, we have identified behaviors of experienced and naïve adults learning to co-parent together which also activate oxytocin neurons. I will discuss circuits routing sensory information to oxytocin neurons leading to oxytocin release in target areas important for maternal motivation, and new results on how oxytocin controls gestation and parturition. Finally, I will discuss longer-term behavioral monitoring over months, examining how single mothers build nests to help ensure pup survival or how this sometimes goes awry.

Want to get exercise towards the end of the day but don’t want to go outside? Join the tunnel walk for a 30-minute walk led by a volunteer through MIT’s famous tunnel system. This walk may include stairs/inclines. Wear comfortable shoes. Free.Location details: Meet in the lobby with the big mirror, right inside the Collier Memorial entrance to Stata. Location photo below.Tunnel Walk Leaders will have a white flag they will raise at the meeting spot for you to find them.Prize Drawing: Attend a walk and scan a QR code from the walk leaders to be entered into a drawing for a getfit tote bag at the end of the getfit challenge. The more walks you attend, the more entries you get. Winner will be drawn and notified at the end of April. Winner does not need to be a getfit participant.Disclaimer: Tunnel walks are led by volunteers. In the rare occasion when a volunteer isn’t able to make it, we will do our best to notify participants. In the event we are unable to notify participants and a walk leader does not show up, we encourage you to walk as much as you feel comfortable doing so. We recommend checking this calendar just before you head out!Getfit is a 12-week fitness challenge for the entire MIT community. These tunnel walks are open to the entire MIT community and you do not need to be a current getfit participant to join.