In an article for The Huffington Post, Prof. Nicholas Ashford writes about the importance of considering alternatives to toxic chemicals early in the regulatory process. “An early and serious examination of alternatives to suspect chemicals would not only accelerate the regulation of potentially harmful chemicals, it would also stimulate innovation in products and processes,” Ashford notes.
MIT researchers have found that countries in Asia may face water shortages by 2050, the Press Trust of India reports. The researchers found that “the median amounts of projected growth and climate change in the next 35 years in Asia would lead to about 1 billion more people becoming ‘water-stressed’ compared to today.”
Voice of America reporter Kevin Enochs writes that a new study by MIT researchers has found that large portions of Asia could face a high risk of severe water stress by 2050. Enochs writes that the researchers found that, “global climate mitigation efforts can result in a measurable decrease in the risk of water stress.”
MIT researchers have found that population and economic growth could lead to severe water stress across Asia by 2050, reports Robert Ferris for CNBC. "We simply cannot ignore the fact that growth in population and the economies can play just as or more important a role in risk," explains Dr. Adam Schlosser.
In this video, The Economist explores how MIT researchers have developed a new algorithm that can predict where and when rogue waves might strike. The algorithm “identifies groups of waves most likely to form a rogue wave. The MIT algorithm is so thrifty that a ship’s skipper can run it on a laptop.”
In an interview with Eduardo Porter of The New York Times, Prof. Christopher Knittel speaks about whether a carbon tax could be effective in the U.S. According to Porter, Knittel explains that “a properly calibrated carbon price in the United States could effectively replace all the climate-related regulations businesses hate so much.”
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm capable of predicting the onset of rogue waves, writes Jason Thomson for The Christian Science Monitor. The algorithm, “hunts through data collected about surrounding waves, sifting for signs of clusters that could coalesce and crest into one of these behemoths.”
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that can predict rogue waves, reports Matt Burgess for Wired. Burgess explains that the algorithm uses “statistical data, collected from buoys in the ocean, to quantify the range of possible waves for any body of water.”
Popular Science reporter Mary Beth Griggs writes that MIT researchers have developed a new tool that could provide advanced warning of rogue waves. The tool should allow crews “to detect rogue wave minutes before they form, giving them enough time to adjust course, or at least hang on.”
Engadget’s Timpthy Seppala reports that MIT researchers have developed a model for estimating gas and electricity for every building in Boston. Seppla explains that, “the idea here is to use the model as a way of making Beantown more energy efficient across the board.”
A new study by MIT researchers suggests that sea sponges may have been the first animal on Earth, CBS Boston reports. “Based on new genetic tests, researchers can say with confidence that molecules produced by sea sponges have been found in 640 million-year-old rocks.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, David Abel writes about MIT’s efforts to combat climate change. Abel notes that, “MIT is embarking on an unprecedented program to accelerate progress on low-carbon energy technologies.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Jo Craven McGinty highlights a study by researchers from MIT and Harvard that calculated the damage caused by Volkwagen cheating on emissions standards tests. “We estimated the vehicles affected were driven 40.5 billion kilometers from 2008,” explains Prof. Steven Barrett.
In a letter to The Boston Globe, a number of MIT faculty members argue that much more is known about climate change than a skeptic admitted in a recent opinion piece for the Globe. The authors write that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “presents strong evidence that more than half of the climate change seen in recent decades is human-driven.”
Bryanna Cappadona reports for Boston.com that Matt Damon will be MIT’s 2016 commencement speaker. “Damon joins a long list of notable MIT commencement speakers, including U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith in 2015, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman in 2014, and Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston in 2013,” writes Cappadona.