Lava oceans may not explain the brightness of some hot super-Earths
By making their own lava and cooled glass, scientists find these materials likely aren’t responsible for the unexpected glow of some exoplanets.
MindHandHeart announces a record 24 Community Innovation Fund projects
Fund has launched a special summer round to spearhead projects addressing mental health, well-being, and racial justice at MIT.
Study: A plunge in incoming sunlight may have triggered “Snowball Earths”
Findings also suggest exoplanets lying within habitable zones may be susceptible to ice ages.
Study sheds light on the evolution of the earliest dinosaurs
Geological evidence suggests the known dinosaur groups diverged early on, supporting the traditional dinosaur family tree.
With Perseverance and a little MOXIE, MIT is going to Mars
Led by MIT researchers, one of the experiments aboard the next mission to the Red Planet aims to generate oxygen from Martian air.
An origin story for a family of oddball meteorites
Study suggests the rare objects likely came from an early planetesimal with a magnetic core.
TESS mission discovers massive ice giant
Neptune-sized planet may be remnant core of a much larger planet.
Twelve MIT faculty honored as “Committed to Caring” for 2020-2021
Honor recognizes faculty mentors who devote true attention to students’ well-being.
MIT Energy Initiative awards eight seed fund grants for early-stage MIT energy research
Annual MITEI awards support research on battery storage, smart grids, and carbon emissions reduction.
Ice, ice, maybe
EAPS graduate student Meghana Ranganathan zooms into the microstructure of ice streams to better understand the impacts of climate change.
Tiny sand grains trigger massive glacial surges
New model answers longstanding question of how these sudden flows happen; may expand understanding of Antarctic ice sheets.
QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2020-21
Ranked at the top for the ninth straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 subject areas.
Study: Reflecting sunlight to cool the planet will cause other global changes
Solar geoengineering proposals will weaken extratropical storm tracks in both hemispheres, scientists find.
Machine learning helps map global ocean communities
An MIT-developed technique could aid in tracking the ocean’s health and productivity.
Towable sensor free-falls to measure vertical slices of ocean conditions
Instrument may help scientists assess the ocean’s response to climate change.