Research Scientist Giovanni Lavezzi speaks to Scientific American’s Jonathan O’Callaghan about managing the number of satellites in Earth’s orbit. “So far [the amount] seems manageable” through active coordination, says Lavezzi. “The problem is how much can we push.”
A study by MIT researchers has found evidence that the first signs of ozone depletion appeared in 1957 in the upper tropical stratosphere, driven by carbon tetrachloride, an industrial chemical introduced in the 1930s and widely used as a dry-cleaning and degreasing agent, writes Gizmodo reporter Ellyn Lapointe. “This finding underscores the importance of long-term atmospheric monitoring so that we can fully understand how it responds to chemical pollution,” Lapointe notes.
A study by MIT scientists uncovered the culprit in the deep-sea mystery of what was reducing the ocean’s carbon-trapping capacity: dense microbe ‘cities’ living inside marine snow (slowly sinking particles of fish poop and other debris), reports Scientific American reporter Damien Pine. “Ultimately everything that’s happening at these microscales—that’s really what’s terraforming our planet,” explains Prof. Andrew Babbin.
Researchers from MIT have created a new model that can predict wave behavior on different planets, reports Kristen French for Nautilus. “On Earth, waves form as wind drags across bodies of water, pushing unevenly on their surfaces. As the waves lengthen, and the distance between crests grows, the waves are increasingly driven by the force of gravity rather than by surface tension,” French writes. “On faraway planets, the size of the waves would depend not only on the strength of gravity and the speed and direction of the wind, but the density of the atmosphere, the viscosity of the liquid in the oceans and lakes, as well as the depth of the bed. All these factors were fed into the PlanetWaves model.”
MIT scientists have developed a new model, dubbed "PlanetWaves," that predicts wave behavior on different planets, showing that the "smallest gust of wind on Titan could generate huge, roiling waves across seas of hydrocarbons," reports Andrew Paul for Popular Science. “PlanetWaves is far more than a novel simulator,” writes Paul. “Calculating fluid behaviors on distant planets and moons could help inform engineers building new spacecraft and probes.”
Prof. Richard Binzel speaks with CBS Boston about the success of the Artemis II mission and the future of space exploration. "It's exciting we have humans back in space again," Binzel shared. "It's a real test of a spaceflight system. Surviving reentry and landing safely. That's the real accomplishment here. Showing we can go to the moon but also come back safely."
Using new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from MIT determined that asteroid 2024 YR4 will not collide with the moon, reports Hannah Devlin for The Guardian. “[Asteroid] 2024 YR4 is exceedingly faint right now, reflecting about as much light as an almond at the distance of the moon,” explain Prof. Julien de Wit and Andy Rivkin PhD '91, who co-led the observations. “Webb is the only observatory that could hope to make these measurements, as it is the only one with the required sensitivity and stability combined with precise moving-target tracking needed to follow and study objects like this.”
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from MIT and other institutions have determined that asteroid 2024 YR4 will not collide with the moon, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN. “Every time we observe an asteroid, we reduce the range of possible trajectories,” explains Prof. Julien de Wit. “In this case, the JWST observations both provided very precise positional measurements and significantly extended the time span over which the asteroid has been observed.”
Prof. Richard Teague speaks with CNN reporter Asuka Koda about how an international team of astronomers have “captured the most complete, high-resolution map of the cold gas at the center of the Milky Way, which contains the raw material from which stars and planets are made” using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA. “I think astronomy on this scale is really no longer about small individual people pushing in their labs, but about huge international collaborations,” says Teague. “And I think that’s what’s particularly impressive about this piece of work, just the scale of that collaboration that you need to make it happen.”
Research scientist Judah Cohen served as a panelist for the Boston Globe’s “The Reshaping of New England’s Seasons: What’s Happening to Our Weather?” event, reports Ken Mahan for The Boston Globe. Cohen and his fellow panelists discussed New England weather, sharing insights and answering questions from community members.
USA Today reporter Dinah Voyles Pulver spotlights Research Scientist Judah Cohen’s research studying how weather systems and climate patterns are related to the increase in Arctic blasts and deep freezes this winter.
Research Scientist Judah Cohen speaks with New York Times reporter Eric Niiler about his research studying “how global warming might also be causing colder winters in the eastern United States.” Cohen says “It’s weird what’s going on now in the stratosphere. These stretching events happen every winter, but just how the pattern is stuck is really remarkable.”
Postdoctoral Associate Fatima Husain speaks with National Geographic reporter Theo Nicitopoulos about the various theories used to explain how living creatures survived the Cryogenian era. “These surface settings could have enabled a diverse assemblage of life to persist and continue to evolve throughout the glaciations,” says Husain. “We keep learning more about how extreme the Cryogenian was… and that makes life persisting and diversifying dramatically after that, all the more amazing.”
Writing for The Conversation, Research Scientist Judah Cohen and Mathew Barlow of UMass Lowell examine how the polar vortex and moisture from a warm Gulf of Mexico created a monster winter storm that brought freezing rain, sleet and snow to large parts of the U.S. “Some research suggests that even in a warming environment, cold events, while occurring less frequently, may still remain relatively severe in some locations. One factor may be increasing disruptions to the stratospheric polar vortex, which appear to be linked to the rapid warming of the Arctic with climate change,” they write. “A warmer environment also increases the likelihood that precipitation that would have fallen as snow in previous winters may now be more likely to fall as sleet and freezing rain.”
Prof. Emeritus Kerry Emanuel speaks with Washington Post reporters Ben Noll and Ruby Mellen about the 2025 hurricane season. “The thing that really powers the hurricane is how fast you can transfer heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. The bigger the temperature difference, the faster you can transfer heat. The faster you can transfer heat, the more powerful the hurricane can be,” says Emanuel. “This past summer, the sea surface temperatures across much of the tropical Atlantic were warmer than normal, which is part of what led people to predict that there would be a very busy season.”