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Biology major Rachel Shen sees what most of us can’t: the impurities in our water, the matrices of plant cells, and the invisible processes that cycle nutrients in the oceans.

Testing the waters

MIT sophomore Rachel Shen looks for microscopic solutions to big environmental challenges.

January 28, 2020

Currently, 90 percent of the world’s solar panels are made from crystalline silicon, and the industry continues to grow at a rate of about 30 percent per year.

For cheaper solar cells, thinner really is better

Solar panel costs have dropped lately, but slimming down silicon wafers could lead to even lower costs and faster industry expansion.

January 26, 2020

Finding solutions amidst fractal uncertainty and quantum chaos

Math professor Semyon Dyatlov explores the relationship between classical and quantum physics.

January 25, 2020

An award-winning startup founded by Maria Hahn (second from right) got its start at an MIT Technology and Innovation Bootcamp.

Health care innovators strive to make a difference

A week of learning with MIT Bootcamps sparked ideas that Jal Panchal and Maria Hahn are taking forward to solve problems in health care.

January 23, 2020

MIT Associate Professor Noelle Eckley Selin (left) and former graduate student Emil Dimanchev SM ’18 used a new method to analyze the impacts of current and proposed state-level renewable energy and carbon pricing policies. Their study yielded some unexpected outcomes on the health benefits of the policies they examined.

Study: State-level adoption of renewable energy standards saves money and lives

MIT researchers review renewable energy and carbon pricing policies as states consider repealing or relaxing renewable portfolio standards.

January 22, 2020

Hacking life inside and outside the laboratory

Managing her own synthetic biology project helped graduate student Jesse Tordoff overcome imposter syndrome and hit her stride.

January 21, 2020

Julie Newman, director of sustainability at MIT, says the final project for course 2.S999 “uses the campus as a test bed for engaging and exposing students to the complexity of solving [for] global issues in their own backyard.”

Students propose plans for a carbon-neutral campus

Students in class 2.S999 (Solving for Carbon Neutrality at MIT) are charged with developing plans to make MIT’s campus carbon neutral by 2060.

January 17, 2020

Available on the edX platform, the MITx MicroMasters Program in Finance offers recent graduates, early- to mid-stage professionals, and others interested in or already pursuing a career in finance an opportunity to enhance their financial skill set or to fast-track a master’s degree in finance from MIT Sloan.

MIT Sloan launches MITx MicroMasters Program in Finance

Taught by faculty in the MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT’s fifth MicroMasters program offers learners an opportunity to enhance their financial skill set.

January 15, 2020

“In courses like Nuclear Technology and Society, which covered the benefits and risks of nuclear energy, I saw that some people believed the solution for climate change was definitely nuclear, while others said it was wind or solar,” says doctoral student Nestor Sepulveda. “I began wondering how to determine the value of different technologies.”

Zeroing in on decarbonization

Wielding complex algorithms, nuclear science and engineering doctoral candidate Nestor Sepulveda spins out scenarios for combating climate change.

January 15, 2020

"Lately I have been trying to think of African history from the perspective of goodness and basic human decency," says Kenda Mutongi, an MIT professor of history. "Of course, conflicts exist, and do a great deal of damage in our lives, and we must confront them — but we must also allow ourselves to appreciate basic goodness and kindness when we see it."

3 Questions: Professor Kenda Mutongi on Africa, women, power — and human decency

Mutongi discusses the connection between Kenyan widows and the #MeToo movement, myths of African entrepreneurship, and the wider implications of her research.

January 14, 2020