David L. Chandler It’s tricky to predict precisely what the impacts of climate change will be, given the many variables involved. To predict the impacts of a warmer world on plant life, some researchers look at urban “heat islands,” where, because of the …
Lee Selwyn PhD '69 speaks with WVCB reporter Ben Simmoneau about how gas companies in Massachusetts promised consumers discounts on their March and April bills, following soaring energy costs this winter.
Kara Miller: From the MIT Energy Initiative, this is What if it works?—a podcast looking at the energy solutions for climate change. I’m Kara Miller. Robert Stoner: And I’m Rob Stoner. KM: On today’s show, a glimpse into the future, the future of nuclear …
David L. Chandler Reducing the amount of agricultural sprays used by farmers — including fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides — could cut down the amount of polluting runoff that ends up in the environment while at the same time reducing farmers’ costs …
By Mark Dwortzan | MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy Study shows how ‘optimized’ diets could reduce malnutrition and environmental degradation “You are what you eat.” When it comes to the Earth and humanity, that phrase might well be …
LHF: Hello, I’m Laur Hesse Fisher, and welcome back to MIT’s climate change podcast, Today I Learned: Climate. When a natural disaster hits a community, the first priority is to get people safe and to save what we can. But after the initial danger passes, …
This course examines and experiments with pathways to decarbonization at the million-person scale. Our field site is Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia—the coldest capital on Earth and one of the world’s most polluted cities, largely as a result of coal combustion. We …
New Yorker reporter Brent Crane spotlights Quaise Energy, an MIT geothermal energy startup founded by Carlos Araque BS '01, MS '02. Crane explains that central to Quaise’s system is the gyrotron, a tubular device that “works like a very, very …
LHF: Hello, I’m Laur Hesse Fisher, and you’re listening to Today I Learned: Climate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re standing on a massive sheet of ice that spans from the high Arctic, all the way into the …
A new MIT-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing, as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Scientists including the MIT team have observed signs of ozone recovery in the past. But the new study is the …
David L. Chandler High-temperature superconducting magnets made from REBCO, an acronym for rare earth barium copper oxide, make it possible to create an intense magnetic field that can confine the extremely hot plasma needed for fusion reactions, which …
Kara Miller: From the MIT Energy Initiative, this is What if it works?—a podcast looking at the energy solutions for climate change. I’m Kara Miller. Robert Stoner: And I’m Rob Stoner. KM: And this is What if it works? We’re going to talk in a few minutes …
Researchers at MIT have developed a new chip-based system capable of improving “how terahertz (THz) waves pass through silicon chips,” reports Rupendra Brahambhatt for Interesting Engineering. The researchers “applied a principle called matching, which …
There’s a lot of untapped potential in our homes and vehicles that could be harnessed to reinforce local power grids and make them more resilient to unforeseen outages, a new study shows. In response to a cyber attack or natural disaster, a backup network …
LHF: Hello, and welcome to Today I Learned: Climate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I’m Laur Hesse Fisher. If you’re like many of our listeners, you might be wondering: okay, so the CO2 from burning fossil fuels is warming the planet, right …
As part of a multi-pronged approach toward curbing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists seek to better understand the impact of rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on terrestrial ecosystems, particularly tropical forests. To that end, climate …
Modeling improvements needed to provide more reliable guidance to decision-makers, finds MIT-led study Mark Dwortzan | MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy Amplified by climate change, January’s wildfires in Los Angeles destroyed more than …
The use of terahertz waves, which have shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies than radio waves, could enable faster data transmission, more precise medical imaging, and higher-resolution radar. But effectively generating terahertz waves using a …
Iselle Barrios’s passion for the environment deepened when she took two intensive classes at the MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering, and Science semester program during high school. “I wanted to apply to MIT because of that experience,” she says. …
By Kris Willcox The pursuit of knowledge and insight can take MIT investigators to some unusual places. Field research has brought Moala Bannavti, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, to locations ranging from …
