Plants can sense the sound of rain, a new study finds
Experiments by MIT engineers show rice seeds sprout faster to the sound of rain.
Two MIT alumnae named 2026 Gates Cambridge Scholars
Mitali Chowdhury ’24 and Christina Kim ’24 will pursue graduate studies at Cambridge University in the UK.
A regulatory loophole could delay ozone recovery by years
Scientists say an exception in the Montreal Protocol for the use of ozone-depleting feedstocks could set the ozone recovery back seven years.
Carbon removal project supports Maine’s blue economy, broader marine health
A chemical-free approach to balancing ocean acidity protects marine life and could dramatically impact the global aquaculture market.
Desirée Plata appointed associate dean of engineering
Faculty member in civil and environmental engineering will advance research and entrepreneurial initiatives across the School of Engineering.
Urban planning students engage with communities through the Freedom Summer Fellowship
“You can’t teach planning today without grappling with how policy actually unfolds within communities,” says Professor Phillip Thompson.
Climate change may produce “fast-food” phytoplankton
With warmer ocean temperatures, the composition of marine plankton could shift from protein-rich to carb-heavy, a new study suggests.
Augmenting citizen science with computer vision for fish monitoring
MIT Sea Grant works with the Woodwell Climate Research Center and other collaborators to demonstrate a deep learning-based system for fish monitoring.
A complicated future for a methane-cleansing molecule
A new model shows how levels of the “atmosphere’s detergent” may rise and fall in response to climate change.
Investigating Antarctic ice shelf melting with global navigation satellite systems
Observations suggest a major melting event at the Ross Ice Shelf was connected to atmospheric turbulence.
3 Questions: Communicating about climate, in audio and beyond
Madison Goldberg, the new host of the Ask MIT Climate podcast, talks about her career as a science communicator as well as ideas she thinks it’s important for climate communicators to convey.
Ocean bacteria team up to break down biodegradable plastic
MIT researchers uncovered the roles of bacterial species from the environment as they consume biodegradable plastic.
How Joseph Paradiso’s sensing innovations bridge the arts, medicine, and ecology
From early motion-sensing platforms to environmental monitoring, the professor and head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences has turned decades of cross-disciplinary research into real-world impact.
Understanding how “marine snow” acts as a carbon sink
A new study finds hitchhiking bacteria dissolve essential ballast in ubiquitous “snow” particles, which could counteract the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon.
X-raying rocks reveals their carbon-storing capacity
New research by MIT geophysicists could assist efforts to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it underground.