A Princeton-led team of astrophysicists has shown that the exoplanet WASP-12b, located 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga, is spiraling in toward its host star, heading toward certain destruction in about 3 million years. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/07/planet-wasp-12b-death-spiral-say-scientists

Understanding the human psyche is complex, for ordinary people and scientists alike. Now, researchers at Princeton University have created a new tool for social scientists to study human psychology through a series of fun, thought-provoking activities. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/07/no-laboratory-needed-person-project-mines-social-science-data-secure-online

A new system that uses artificial intelligence to track animal movements is poised to aid a wide range of studies, from exploring new drugs that affect behavior to ecological research. The approach, developed by Princeton researchers, can be used with laboratory animals such as fruit flies and mice as well as larger animals. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/08/ai-based-motion-capture-system-animals-has-applications-drug-development-ecology

Irvin Glassman, a leading authority on combustion and propulsion who served on the Princeton faculty for 49 years, died Dec. 14, 2019, at his home in Princeton. He was 96. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/02/irvin-glassman-grand-old-man-combustion-dies-96

Building on his lab’s expertise in human liver pathogens, Princeton’s Alexander Ploss and his team have pioneered new screening platforms and new methods to evaluate therapeutic candidates against hepatitis B and E viruses, which cause life-threatening infections. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/31/identifying-new-drugs-cure-hepatitis-b-and-e-virus-infection

This past summer, six Princeton students from different academic backgrounds embarked on the inaugural year of the language immersion program in Pisa, Italy. For four weeks, students explored various themes, ultimately improving their Italian language proficiency while simultaneously gaining a deeper understanding of the country’s rich and diverse cultural heritage. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/23/immersive-italy-princeton-launches-summer-program-pisa

To explore issues of social stratification and poverty and their connection to identity formation, students in the “Identity in the Hispanic World” course traveled to Guatemala over fall break to participate in a service-learning program at a nonprofit organization that addresses education, health care and housing in towns near Antigua. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/23/students-explore-identity-hispanic-world

Artist Maya Lin was recently on campus to celebrate the completion of two major public art commissions for the University. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/01/06/maya-lin-connecting-art-and-environment

On Jan. 2, 2020, a collection of 1,131 letters from Nobel laureate and renowned writer Thomas Stearns Eliot, better known as T.S. Eliot, to his lifelong friend Emily Hale opened for research at Princeton University Library. Dating from 1930 to 1957, the letters are the largest single series of Eliot’s correspondence and among the best-known sealed literary archives in the world. Media coverage from The New York Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, BBC, CNN and Slate.

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/30/ts-eliot-letters-among-best-known-sealed-literary-archives-open-princeton-after-60

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/02/ts-eliot-hidden-love-letters-reveal-intense-heartbreaking-affair-emily-hale

The halls of many colleges and universities display paintings of school presidents, donors and famous alumni. But at Princeton University, a gallery of portraits presents campus workers in a whole new light. Howard Sutphin in Campus Dining, who is featured in one of the portraits of campus workers by visiting art fellow Mario Moore, said: “That’s going to be here after I retire, cause the school has purchased it. … All the years, I gave love. I got it back in that.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/princeton-university-portraits-give-campus-workers-the-spotlight-2019-12-30/

Related:

• Princeton University News: ‘A Fellow at Work’: Artist Mario Moore’s work presents black campus workers in new light
• Princeton University News: Four new portraits serve as ‘visible expression of Princeton’ today
• CNN: Princeton University is hanging a series of portraits that honor its blue-collar campus workers
• BBC: Canteen workers honoured alongside US presidents
• Diverse: Issues in Higher Education: Princeton University to Display Portraits of Campus Workers
• Observer: Princeton University Acquires Portrait Series Honoring Its Campus Workers

Princeton researchers, led by electrical engineering professor Niraj Jha, developed a technique that produces advanced artificial intelligence programs for wearable devices like a smart watch. By mimicking the brain’s developmental arc, the new approach leads to benchmark accuracy using a fraction of the energy of other systems. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/20/grow-and-prune-ai-mimics-brain-development-slashes-energy-use

Princeton researchers have uncovered new rules governing how objects absorb and emit light, fine-tuning scientists’ control over light and boosting research into next-generation solar and optical devices. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/23/new-rules-illuminate-how-objects-absorb-and-emit-light

Researchers at Princeton University have made an important step forward in the quest to build a quantum computer using silicon components, which are prized for their low cost and versatility compared to the hardware in today’s quantum computers.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/30/leap-quantum-computing-silicon-quantum-bits-establish-long-distance-relationship

Minjie Chen, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, and his team are building a family of devices to dramatically reduce power consumption at the gigantic data centers that serve as the backbone of internet services and cloud computing. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/19/new-technology-boosts-energy-efficiency-data-centers

Irvin Glassman, a leading authority on combustion and propulsion who served on the Princeton faculty for 49 years, died Dec. 14, 2019, at his home in Princeton. He was 96.

Princeton computer science professors Michael Freedman and Mona Singh have been named fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery in recognition of their significant contribution to computing and information technology. This year, the association named 58 new fellows from research centers, companies and universities around the world. https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/12/18/freedman-singh-named-fellows-association-computing-machinery

Beginning Friday, Dec. 20, the vehicle gates at the Nassau Street entrance to campus will remain closed 24 hours a day, and there will be no vehicle access to campus from Nassau Street. The gates will continue to open for vehicles leaving campus. All vehicles should enter campus on Elm Drive via Faculty Road. The South Guard Booth will continue to be open and staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.