Earth and atmospheric sciences

Robert van der Hilst named head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

Succeeds Maria Zuber, who led department for the last eight years.

December 12, 2011

Four from MIT named AAAS fellows

December 9, 2011

Marilyn Wolfson named 2012 fellow of the American Meteorological Society

Recognized for longtime contributions to atmospheric, oceanic sciences.

December 6, 2011

Grant Stokes, head of the Aerospace Division at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, left; J. Scott Stuart, technical staff member in the Space Control Systems Group.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers receive NASA award

Honored for their role in the Near Earth Object Observation Program

December 6, 2011

MIT researchers have found hundreds of tiny fossils of the first known ciliates. The ciliates, named tintinnids, resided in hard, flask-shaped shells with bubbled exteriors that likely help them float.

The first hairy microbes

New fossils reveal oldest known ciliates.

November 16, 2011

Blooming ocean fronts

Study finds fronts are hot spots for phytoplankton blooms.

November 4, 2011

A Rosetta mission image of the asteroid 21 Lutetia.

Battered asteroid may have warm core

New analysis of Lutetia finds evidence for molten interior.

October 28, 2011

Trish Gregg and Subra Suresh pictured at the White House. Another MIT alum, Kate Huntington PhD '06, was among the 14 outstanding early career scientists invited to the event.

Young scientists and babies: White House policy begins with alumna request

A new White House initiative to provide workplace flexibility to young scientists — starting with the National Science Foundation — has MIT fingerprints all over it.

September 30, 2011

An artist's rendering of the twin GRAIL spacecraft orbiting the moon. The project uses two spacecraft flying in formation with known altitude amd separation distance to investigate the moon's gravity field in unprecedented detail.

To the moon

MIT-led GRAIL mission to map the lunar gravitational field.

September 8, 2011

Taken from the Canadian Research Icebreaker CCGS Amundsen, in the Beaufort Sea in September 2009.

On thin ice

The most recent global climate report fails to capture the reality of the changing Arctic seascape, according to MIT researchers.

August 10, 2011

A view looking southeast along the surface trace of the San Andreas fault in the Carrizo Plain. In this image, a road has been cut going through the fault (from left to right).

Putting the pieces together

MIT researchers reconstruct Baja California’s 2010 ‘Easter Earthquake.’

August 8, 2011

The tallest tree in the land

New model predicts maximum tree height across the United States; gives information about forest density, carbon storage.

July 18, 2011

3 Questions: Richard Binzel on near-Earth asteroids

'2011 MD,' found by a Lincoln Lab team, will pass close to the planet on Monday.

June 27, 2011

An image of the microfossil Characodictyon taken with a scanning electron microscope. This fossil was extracted using very weak acid from a carbonate rock. It's about 20 microns long - one-fifth the width of a human hair.

Ancient armor

Fossils from the Yukon reveal protective plates for microscopic organisms.

June 7, 2011

Carl-Gustaf Rossby, center, with a radiosonde in 1934.

Wind, war and weathermen

How a Swedish bon vivant let MIT introduce modern meteorology to America — just in time to help the Allies win World War II.