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MIT Researchers Use Legos To Solve Real-Life Problems CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – From the blockbuster movie, to the new Legoland Discovery Center opening in Somerville at the end of the month, the old school children’s toy is a modern day hit. Across the river in Cambridge, there is evidence that Legos are also a hit with researchers. It turns out, the brainiest of the brainiacs at MIT are also Legomaniacs. Ira Winder is a researcher and project manager of CityScience at the MIT Media Lab. He’s using Legos to study the “walkability” of a city. MIT’s Lego version of Kendall Square in Cambridge. “The Legos help me express the ideas I’m really passionate about,” he said. He builds Lego models of cities, then projects computer data onto the Legos so researchers can test how changes to infrastructure will affect real life. Winder is currently helping city planners in Australia increase the walkability score of a proposed new city. It’s not just in Ira’s office. Legos litter the landscape here. One of the many creations in the MIT Media Lab.

Screen Shot 2014 08 18 at 2 06 27 PM ‘This is a new sport’ - 35th America's Cup It was one year ago today when ORACLE TEAM USA and Emirates Team New Zealand lined up, improbably, for the start of Race 19 of the America’s Cup Finals. We say ‘improbably’ because the score was 8-8. Just one week earlier, ORACLE TEAM USA had trailed in the series, 8-1. The winner of this final race would win what had turned out to be a marathon America’s Cup. Watch a replay of the final race here It was the closest America’s Cup in history. “These are sights and sounds that nobody in sailing ever dreamt we would see,” was the way television commentator and former America’s Cup skipper Ken Read described the racing. Two wing-sailed catamarans flying above the water - upwind and downwind - at times less than a boat length apart, and traveling at speeds in excess of 40 knots. The sailors transformed into world-class athletes operating at maximum physical exertion for 30 minutes at a time as they battled the elements and each other for every inch of advantage.

Burling, Tuke, Spithill get nod for Sailor of the Year - 35th America's Cup ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill, along with Emirates Team New Zealand young guns Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are among the nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year award for 2014. In a release announcing the nominations, the achievements were spelled out clearly. James Spithill (AUS): “On the brink of defeat at the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco, USA, James Spithill led his team to one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history. ORACLE TEAM USA trailed Emirates Team New Zealand 8-1 in a first to nine quest for the Auld Mug, but even though ORACLE were down, they weren't out. Skipper James Spithill masterminded a comeback of epic proportions. Levelling the score at 8 apiece and in a winner take all final race, the Australian maintained his crew's focus right until the very end to take victory and with it, his second America's Cup win.” Burling and Tuke were also members of the Kiwi team that won the inaugural Red Bull Youth America’s Cup.