N. Anthony Coles, who recently returned to head up a biotech startup (based on work at MIT, natch), writes about the area's emergence as the world's leading innovation center in the field:
It has become an almost utopian community, where intellect knows no bounds, and science always trumps difficult disease treatment problems, cracking code after code to derive new state-of-the-art therapies with space-age technologies.
The Boston Business Journal reports on Councilor Leland Cheung's idea to let a developer put a 1,000-foot tower on the land now occupied by the comparatively puny Volpe transportation building.
Xconomy reports that Spero Therapeutics today announces a $30-million round of investments for its search to find new drugs to fight bacteria that have gained resistance to current antibiotics.
Cambridge Day reports the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority was intrigued by the idea to turn a lot at Binney and Third streets in Kendall Square into a collection of Japanese-style vending machines, but ultimately decided to try to figure out how to turn the space into a food-truck corral.
Jackie Geilfuss looked down from her Kendall Square office around 11 a.m. to see a car turned turtle on Broadway.
Cambridge Police report: Read more.
Cambridge Police say there won't be anything to be alarmed about on Saturday when you see large clouds of steam erupting out of the Veolia power plant in Kendall Square on Saturday.
Veolia Energy will be conducting a procedure known as steam blowing Saturday, May 30, between 8:00am-6:00pm. ... This operation involves flowing steam through a pipe for the purpose of pipe cleaning. The cleaning will result in large clouds of steam, which may cause curiosity and/or phone calls from the general public.
State officials report contractors will begin prepping the Longfellow Bridge on Saturday to remove the two remaining towers as part of the overall bridge reconstruction project.
Don't worry, seasoning fans: The state says, as with the other two towers - and unlike that decorative railing a few years back - the towers will be put into storage so they can be replaced once the bulk of the repairs to the bridge and the realignment of the traffic/bicycle/pedestrian lanes is finished.
Cambridge Day reports on comments by the guy who came up with the name of the now removed drink.
JB Parrett captured the shadows at sunset at 101 Main St. in Kendall Square today.
JB Parrett enjoyed the sunset over the Longfellow, the Charles and Kendall Square this evening.
Note the marina dock savers on the left.
Chelsie Ouellette shows us the water-main break on Portland Street at Harvard Street in Cambridge, which she reports has been gushing since 7 a.m.
Bridgette Hylton wonders when it will be frozen enough for a skating party.
Firefighters at Mass. Ave. and Brookline Street. Photo by Justin Fyles.
Two separate natural-gas incidents sent Cambridge firefighters scrambling along Mass. Ave., from Albany Street to Brookline Street.
Around 11:30 p.m., a gas main began leaking at Albany Street, possibly because a construction crew hit it. Then, around the same time, firefighters had to evacuate 8 Brookline St., several blocks away, due to high gas readings.
Cambridge Day reports what it knows about possible reuse of the 14-acre Volpe Transportation Center parcel in Kendall Square, which could include zoning for buildings up to 300 feet high. But both the federal government, which owns the land, and city planners, have turned very shy.
Cambridge Police report seven break-ins at two Kendall Square garages - one on Broadway, one at Cambridge Center - since Oct. 29.
In four of the break-ins, the thief or thieves made off with laptops or tablets. In six of the cases, car windows were smashed in.
The break-ins are happening on Wednesdays and Thursday, typically between 4 and 8 p.m. Police released a photo of the suspect in the Broadway break-ins.
Police say people should never leave valuables in their cars.
This is not an architect's rendering of some new development. JB Parrett reports:
Kendall Square at lunch. Beautiful but everyone is inside.
Outbound Red Line train offloaded at Park. Photo by Chuck Giroux.
So there's a defunct train at Charles/MGH. Or maybe it's the train that was offloaded at Kendall. Whatevs, the Red Line is a hot rush-hour mess this evening.
UPDATE: By 6:12, trains were slowly running again, but the problem was they were running so full that people on platforms couldn't get in, given that we don't have any of those Tokyo pushers around here, as Stephanie B. and "A very grateful pedestrian" show us:
Saul Blum captured the rainbow in Kendall Square around 4:40 p.m. No word if he found the leprechaun with gold at the end.
Red Line riders abandoning all hope. Photo by David Weininger.
A Red Line train heading towards Alewife took note of the time and decided rush hour was as good as any to up and die.
With nothing else to do, Jeremy Newman composed an Ode to the MBTA:
Crowded, stuffy, rates-a-hikin;
Bodies crammed; often late.
Sweat-a-drippin, whats that smell?
Cruel twist of public fate.
Kris Kream was more prosaic:
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