Massachusetts Institute Of Technology

Hanging around in Cambridge has its drawbacks. You may stub your toe or splinter a heel on the uneven sidewalks. You may discover that John Harvard smells funny. You may be arrested for obstreperousness inside your own lodging (see Gates, Henry Louis Jr.). And if you spend enough time among these big, old buildings and bright, young students, you may begin to feel old, or undereducated, or both. But spend the time anyway. Whether or not you have a prospective freshman in your family, this country's first college town is full of far more American history, smart shops, cool museums, inviting restaurants and all-around entertainment than your average city of 95,000.

On the spot where Henry David Thoreau once gathered strawberries, President Clinton on Friday invoked the spirit of the 19th century naturalist who helped inspire the environmental movement of the late 20th century. With overtones of Woodstock and presidential references to the soulful benefits of walking in the woods, the dedication of the new Thoreau Institute here was at once dignified and a happening worthy of graying baby boomers, including the 51-year-old Clinton.

Quaker Oats Co. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have agreed to pay $1.85 million to settle a lawsuit over an experiment in which radioactive oatmeal was fed to more than a 100 students in the 1940s and '50s. Boys at the Fernald School in Waltham were given the cereal containing radioactive iron and calcium as part of an experiment to prove that nutrients in Quaker oatmeal travel throughout the body.

A Suffolk County grand jury indicted a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternity Thursday for the 1997 binge drinking death of a freshman. Phi Gamma Delta was charged with one count each of manslaughter and hazing. No charges were brought against individual members, Dist. Atty. Ralph Martin said. Scott Krueger, 18, who had recently arrived at MIT from Orchard Park, N.Y., died Sept. 29 after drinking at the fraternity house, which was later closed.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will guarantee financial aid packages to its ROTC students whose military funding is cut because of their sexual orientation, the school stated. "There are two principles at MIT that we hold dear," said Sarah Gallop, an assistant to MIT President Charles Vest. "One is our long-standing and deep commitment to national service . . . an equally important principle for us is to promote an environment of nondiscrimination."

Marilee Jones, a prominent crusader against the pressure on students to build their resumes for elite colleges, resigned Thursday as dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after acknowledging she had misrepresented her academic credentials. Jones has been a popular speaker on the college admissions circuit, where she urged parents not to press their kids too hard and told students there were more important things than getting into the most prestigious colleges.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is suing architect Frank Gehry, alleging there are serious design flaws in the Stata Center, a building celebrated for its unconventional walls and radical angles. The Boston school alleges that the center, completed in spring 2004, has persistent leaks, drainage problems and mold growing on its brick exterior.

In the ongoing battle of the nerds between Caltech and MIT, the latest volley has been fired from a 130-year-old cannon. Actually, the latest volley \o7is \f7a cannon. Massachusetts pranksters, posing as professional movers, stole the beloved Fleming Cannon -- traditionally fired at each year's commencement -- from the Pasadena campus last week.

Cannon retrieval may not be rocket science, but a group of intrepid, cross-country-trekking Caltech students has learned it isn't much easier. On Monday, two dozen of the Pasadena-based scholars used more brawn than brains here to recover a 111-year-old cannon that Massachusetts Institute of Technology pranksters had swiped from Caltech last month. Shortly after 7 a.m.

California inventor Elwood "Woody" Norris has been named to receive the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize this year to honor technology he developed to focus sound over long distances. Norris, founder and chairman of American Technology Corp. in San Diego, holds 47 patents, including one covering his invention of hypersonic sound technology. The largest cash award for U.S.