Gizmodo reporter Gayoung Lee writes that MIT researchers created “lab quakes” or miniature versions of earthquakes in a controlled setting and found that “anywhere between 68 and 98% of the energy goes into generating heat around a quake’s epicenter.” The findings “could help inform the creation of a physical model for earthquake dynamics or seismologists’ efforts to pick out regions most vulnerable to earthquakes.”
Boston Globe reporter Jon Chesto spotlights the kickoff event for the new MIT-GE Vernova Energy and Climate Alliance, which will “fund research initiatives, fellowships, and other programs with an eye toward improving energy technologies and decarbonization.” GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik emphasized that he has been impressed with the passion and talent for clean-tech among the students at MIT and other universities. “I started these discussions with the objective that we should inspire future leaders to come into our industry and ideally come to our company,” Strazik said. “They’ve probably inspired us more than we’ve inspired them.”
Writing for Nature, Prof. Danielle Wood makes the case that both public and commercial satellite missions are needed to understand and protect the environment. “Although commercial companies have much to offer, the public sector must still lead the design, operation and management of satellites, and remain committed to tracking changes on Earth comprehensively, openly and transparently,” Wood writes.
Writing for the Financial Times, Prof. Carlo Ratti makes the case that “in a hotter world, trees should be considered more than decoration. This ancient infrastructure can cool not just our buildings but the cities themselves. And with AI, we can now plant better, with precision urban forestry. In a warming world, the smartest climate tech may be rooted in the ground — and it doesn’t strain the power grid.”
Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks with WBUR reporter Miriam Wasser about the decision to build a new natural gas pipeline in New England. "A new pipeline would allow more natural gas to reach us in periods when we really need it," says Knittel. "So that's where the big savings would be."
Researchers at MIT have found that “tropical forests populated with a diversity of seed-dispersing animals can accumulate carbon up to four times as fast as fragmented forests where these animals are absent or their movement is restricted,” reports James Dinneen for New Scientist. “This shows a linkage between animal biodiversity loss and a process that exacerbates climate change,” says research scientist Evan Fricke. “We’re losing the regrowth potential of tropical forests.”
Researchers at MIT have developed an “AI-powered tool that scans scientific literature and over 1 million rock samples to identify materials that can partially replace cement in concrete,” reports Samanatha Hindman for Yahoo! News. The new system could “change how we build cities forever,” says Hindman. “The system sorts materials based on their physical and chemical properties, narrowing them down by how well they hold concrete together when mixed with water (hydraulic reactivity) and how they strengthen it over time (pozzolanicity).”
Prof. Xuanhe Zhao and his colleagues have developed an atmospheric water harvester to produce safe drinking water, reports Robert F. Service for Science. “The team sandwiched the hydrogel, which contains lithium-chloride salt, between two glass sheets,” explains Service. “At night, water vapor enters the gel and is trapped by the salts. During the day, sunlight heats the gel, evaporating the water. The vapor condenses on the glass panels, forming droplets that trickle down and are captured.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new atmospheric water harvester that eventually could be used to supply safe drinking water worldwide, reports Sarah Bregel for Fast Company. The device is “about the size of a standard window” and made from “hydrogel, a material that absorbs water, and lithium salts that can store water molecules,” explains Bregel.
A study by researchers at MIT and elsewhere has proposed an alternative scenario to how life survived “Snowball Earth,” a “super ice age that froze the entire planet from poles to the equator” during the Cryogenian period, reports David Bressan for Forbes. “The scientists found that lifeforms could have survived the global freeze by thriving in watery oases on the surface,” explains Bressan.
MIT researchers have developed a new “window-sized device that can convert vapor from air into safe drinking water using hydrogel,” reports Matthew Burgos for designboom. “With the invention, the MIT engineers want to make it easier for people to produce clean drinking water in places where there’s no river, lake, or well,” Burgos explains, “and where the only source accessible to them that can be converted into water is air.”
Architect reporter Blaine Brownell spotlights Prof. Caitlin Mueller’s work repurposing “discarded tree forks from urban forestry projects [and] repurposing the nodes as structural joints in hybrid reclaimed-engineered wood constructions.” Mueller and her team have “developed computer programs to catalog 3D scans of the tree forks as well as determine the appropriate cuts for their intended structural applications,” explains Brownell. “An algorithm matches prepared tree forks to three-dimensional intersections in the intended structural framework, streamlining the design process.”
MIT researchers have developed a power-free, water-collecting device that extracted a glass of clean water from the air in Death Valley, California, suggesting that “the device could provide the vital resource to arid regions,” reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist.“Because the design of this device is quite a compact structure, we believe that an even larger area of the device can supply the drinking water for a household for daily consumption,” explains Prof. Xuanhe Zhao.
Senior Research Scientist C. Adam Schlosser speaks with Boston Globe reporter Lindsay Crudele about how tending to personal gardens can be an effective tool in combating climate change. “We obviously have a lot of technologies that are trying to remove carbon from the air,” Schlosser explains, but “the best way of doing that, in terms of nature, is to plant new vegetation.”
Prof. Amos Winter speaks with WBUR reporter Grace Griffin about his work developing a desalination system that relies on solar power. “The majority of water you find in the ground around the world is salty,” says Winter. “The reason we use solar power is that most people around the world are going to be resource-constrained. They may have lower income levels or not have access to grid electricity. So, our technology makes desalination much more accessible in all areas around the world.”