Coping with catastrophe
Japan incorporates more disaster planning into its buildings and public spaces than any other nation. Miho Mazereeuw’s new book explains how they do it.
Teaching robots to map large environments
A new approach developed at MIT could help a search-and-rescue robot navigate an unpredictable environment by rapidly generating an accurate map of its surroundings.
Understanding shocks to welfare systems
Angie Jo’s doctoral studies find that when a collective crisis strikes, nations with shallow social safety nets, like the US, respond with massive spending.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory is a workhorse for national security
The US Air Force and MIT renew contract for operating the federally funded R&D center, a long-standing asset for defense innovation and prototyping.
Hundred-year storm tides will occur every few decades in Bangladesh, scientists report
With projected global warming, the frequency of extreme storms will ramp up by the end of the century, according to a new study.
A flexible robot can help emergency responders search through rubble
SPROUT, developed by Lincoln Laboratory and University of Notre Dame researchers, is a vine robot capable of navigating under collapsed structures.
A software platform streamlines emergency response
First responders worldwide adopt Lincoln Laboratory's Next-Generation Incident Command System for enhanced situational awareness and coordination during emergencies.
Rebuilding Ukraine
A collaboration between MIT professors of urban studies and planning and the Association of Ukrainian Cities aims to empower Ukraine’s municipal leaders to drive recovery after the war.
Rooftop panels, EV chargers, and smart thermostats could chip in to boost power grid resilience
MIT engineers propose a new “local electricity market” to tap into the power potential of homeowners’ grid-edge devices.
New AI tool generates realistic satellite images of future flooding
The method could help communities visualize and prepare for approaching storms.
Jarrod Goentzel receives 2024 Humanitarian Logistics Award
Director of the MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab, within the Center for Transportation and Logistics, honored for “leading the way ... to help disaster survivors in their own backyards and around the world.”
Helping robots zero in on the objects that matter
A new method called Clio enables robots to quickly map a scene and identify the items they need to complete a given set of tasks.
An AI dataset carves new paths to tornado detection
TorNet, a public artificial intelligence dataset, could help models reveal when and why tornadoes form, improving forecasters' ability to issue warnings.
MIT-derived algorithm helps forecast the frequency of extreme weather
The new approach “nudges” existing climate simulations closer to future reality.
Artificial reef designed by MIT engineers could protect marine life, reduce storm damage
The sustainable and cost-saving structure could dissipate more than 95 percent of incoming wave energy using a small fraction of the material normally needed.