Capturing an underwater world
Visiting artist Keith Ellenbogen collaborates with MIT faculty and staff to create a unique underwater photography course.
To capture a wave
Themistoklis Sapsis seeks to understand, predict, and optimize complex engineering and environmental systems under extreme uncertainty.
Artificial whisker reveals source of harbor seal’s uncanny prey-sensing ability
Study finds a whisker’s “slaloming” motion helps seals track and chase prey.
Fertilize the ocean, cool the planet?
MIT researchers find unintended consequences of an idea to stimulate ocean phytoplankton growth in order to geoengineer a cooler atmosphere.
“Grey swan” cyclones predicted to be more frequent and intense
Study finds some coastal regions may face a risk of unprecedented storm surge in the next century.
Unveiling a maritime legacy
New MIT Museum exhibit to explore life and career of influential ship designer and alumnus Nathaniel Greene Herreshoff.
Better estimates of worldwide mercury pollution
New findings show Asia produces twice as much mercury emissions as previously thought.
Predicting the shape of river deltas
New method may help engineers determine coastal impact of dams and levees.
Ocean acidification may cause dramatic changes to phytoplankton
Study finds many species may die out and others may migrate significantly as ocean acidification intensifies.
A new look for nuclear power
A nuclear power plant that will float eight or more miles out to sea promises to be safer, cheaper, and easier to deploy than today’s land-based plants.
Bubbling with passion for environmental engineering
A witness to “a montage of environmental changes” in her native China, grad student Ruby Fu now studies the fate of methane bubbles in the ocean.
Predicting sediment flow in coastal vegetation
Model could help engineers design erosion-prevention strategies in marshes, wetlands, aquatic forests.
Study: Ocean source of a greenhouse gas has been underestimated
Cycling of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, is more intense than thought, and emissions are increasing.
A check on runaway lake drainage
Draining lakes are unlikely to increase the Greenland ice sheet’s contribution to sea-level rise.
Uncovering diversity in an invisible ocean world
New research indicates marine plankton are not only more diverse than previously thought, but also profoundly affected by their environment.