Scientists have found that the Antarctica ozone hole is showing signs of healing and is forming at a slower rate, writes Megan Daley for The Los Angeles Times. Prof. Susan Solomon explains that the findings show that the Montreal Protocol, which banned the use of ozone-destroying chloroflourocarbons, “produced the positive result that we hoped for.”
Scientists have found evidence that the ozone hole over Antarctica is getting smaller and forming later in the year, reports Seth Bornstein for the Associated Press. Prof. Susan Solomon, lead author of the study, says the findings are a "tremendous cause for hope" for fixing other environmental problems.
USA Today reporter Doyle Rice reports that a team of researchers led by MIT Prof. Susan Solomon has found that the Antarctica ozone heal is beginning to heal. “The discovery shows global attempts to improve Earth's environment can work, providing a template for how humanity could tackle the exponentially larger issue of climate change,” Doyle writes.
New York Times reporter Henry Fountain writes that researchers have found evidence that the ozone hole over Antarctica is getting smaller. “We are seeing the planet respond as expected to the actions of people,” says Prof. Susan Solomon. “It’s really a story of the public getting engaged, policy makers taking action, and business getting engaged.”
Researchers from MIT and other institutions have found that the Antarctic ozone hole has begun to heal, reports Chris Mooney for The Washington Post. “If you use the medical analogy, first the patient was getting worse and worse, and then the patient is stabilized, and now, “explains Prof. Susan Solomon, “the patient is really starting to get better.”
MIT researchers have developed a device that enables solar cells to convert the sun’s heat into usable energy, reports Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. Griggs explains that “this new method could double the amount of power produced by a given area of solar panels.”
MIT researchers have found that two types of turbulence within plasma could explain the heat loss that takes place in fusion reactors, reports Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. “With the mystery solved, researchers can now better understand how the plasma reacts and then in turn start working on fundamental ways to combat it.”
Researchers at MIT have developed an incandescent light bulb that vastly improves the device’s energy efficiency, The Economist reports. The modified bulb “maintains the technology’s advantages while vastly improving its energy credentials, giving it the potential to trounce CFLs and LEDs.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers are developing a more efficient incandescent light bulb. Griggs explains that the prototype “is already as energy efficient as some LEDs and fluorescent bulbs currently on the market.”
MIT researchers have developed a technique to increase the efficiency of incandescent light bulbs, reports Matt McGrath for BBC News. "We have this huge challenge that the world is facing right now, global warming and energy efficiency and this gives you one more tool," says Prof. Marin Soljačić.
Prof. Jessika Trancik writes for The Christian Science Monitor that cutting greenhouse gas emissions can lower the cost of further cuts. Trancik explains that Paris climate talk pledges, “will support the development of cheaper low-carbon technologies, allowing industrialized nations to increase their commitments.”
In an article for the Financial Times, Martin Sandbu argues that renewable energy should be seen as an opportunity for investment, highlighting an MIT report on renewable energy costs. The report documents the “extraordinary fall in renewable electricity generation costs and the good reason to expect them to continue to fall.”
Writing for Popular Science, Lindsey Kratochwill reports that MIT researchers have discovered that the hundreds of eyes on a chiton's shell can see. Kratochwill explains that the researchers hope that by “understanding how these eyes work and the materials that make them up could lead to manmade materials that are both protective and perceptive of their environments.”
Atlantic reporter Ed Yong writes that MIT researchers have found that chitons, a type of mollusk, have a suit of armor dotted with hundreds of eyes that can perceive objects. The researchers found that chitons could “detect the shape of a 20-centimeter fish from a few meters away.”
Scientific American reporter David Biello writes about the growth of clean energy technologies, highlighting a new MIT report that finds that commitments from the U.S., Europe and China to cut greenhouse gas emissions could drive cost reductions in wine and solar technologies.