Space

Professor Alan Guth has been awarded the prestigious Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, reports Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe. Guth received the award for his work on the theory of cosmic inflation.

MIT will name an asteroid after 16-year-old Jonah Butler for his work transforming byproducts of agricultural waste into renewable energy, reports FOX 25 reporter Paul Blume. 

Wired reporter Katie Collins writes that researchers from MIT and NASA have demonstrated the potential of wireless broadband to reach the Moon. “The two organisations have demonstrated for the first time that data communication technology is capable of providing those in space with the same kind of connectivity we enjoy on Earth,” Collins writes. 

Amir Alexander of The New York Times reviews Professor Max Tegmark’s new book “Our Mathematical Universe,” in which Tegmark explores the possibility of the existence of multiple universes.

Reporting for Scientific American, Seth Fletcher writes about a new effort, led by MIT’s Shep Doeleman, to coordinate radio telescopes around the world to create a telescope powerful enough to get a picture of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

In an article published in Nature, Clara Moskowitz reports on Professor Anna Frebel’s discovery of a tiny galaxy circling the Milky Way, which researchers believe may be a fossil left over from the early universe.

Space.com’s Katia Moskvitch writes that a team led by MIT Professor Jeffrey Hoffman has suggested new, cost-efficient techniques for establishing gas stations in space. The stations would be used to fuel future missions to the Moon.