Supercollider

by Mike Selinker, Greg Lohman, and Graham Wright
Answer: ULTRAVIOLET RAYS

The F.R.A.M.E.s suggest frames of a video showing the Infinite Corridor, and sure enough one exists on the MIT Virtual Tour. The video, a high-speed run down the corridor, can be set in QuickTime or some other player to show its frame-by-frame numbers.

Each clue describes something found in the corridor at the location of a frame in the movie. You can index into the answer to each clue based on which numbered answer shows the frame number.

A. BATHS (in an illustration of a sign reading "57 rooms, 365 baths"): 3) 293 = T
B. HEAD: 1) 266 = H
C. INSPECTOR (pipes that have undergone an inspector's test): 5) 155 = E
D. YELLOW (flowers): 1) 129 = Y
E. CANNON: 1) 241 = C
F. NORMAN: 5) 48 = A
G. BULLET (over a candle): 2) 161 = U
H. MINSK (in the book The Chicken from Minsk): 4) 337 = S
I. LOWELL: 4) 23 = E
J. AEROPLANE: 5) 304 = P
K. KINGS: 2) 113 = I
L. SMOKING: 6) 314 - N
M. TRUMBULL: 5) 39 = B
N. VERITAS (Harvard's slogan): 6) 116 = A
O. MILES (in a tire ad): 3) 286 = L
P. COLOMBO (Columbo): 3) 254 = L
Q. UP: 2) 232 = P
R. STARS (on the American flag): 4) 295 = R
S. FOX: 2) 321 = O
T. HEART (on the defibrillator): 5) 80 = T
U. TROUBLE (on the fire system panel): 3) 220 = O
V. GIBSON: 6) 311 = N
W. CASHIER (the site of the mural of the dollar bill, shown in the video): 3) 208 = S

These indexed letters in question order spell THEY CAUSE PINBALL PROTONS, which according to articles like this are caused primarily by ULTRAVIOLET RAYS.