A key part of drilling and tapping new oil wells is the use of specialized cements to line the borehole and prevent collapse and leakage of the hole. To keep these cements from hardening too quickly before they penetrate to the deepest levels of the well, they are mixed with chemicals called retarders that slow […] More
An MIT white paper released today outlines a series of recommendations on how companies, particularly those in the oil and gas industry, can use scenario analysis to effectively disclose risks and opportunities they face as a result of global climate change. The report, “Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Disclosures: The Use of Scenarios,” was organized by the […] More
As a master’s student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Technology and Policy Program at MIT, Brandon Leshchinskiy’s ultimate goal is to “build AI tools to adapt to climate change and the educational tools to stop it.” As part of his graduate thesis, in collaboration with MIT Portugal and EarthDNA, both led […] More
An autonomous robotic system invented by researchers at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) efficiently sniffs out the most scientifically interesting — but hard-to-find — sampling spots in vast, unexplored waters. Environmental scientists are often interested in gathering samples at the most interesting locations, or “maxima,” in an environment. One example could be a […] More
In the second of six symposia on climate change to be held this academic year, seven experts from around the country tackled the topic of “challenges of climate policy.” The Oct. 29 event included three panel discussions held at MIT’s Wong Auditorium. Moderated by Richard Schmalensee, the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Management and professor […] More
Early this August, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued yet another in a series of grave and disquieting reports outlining the extreme challenges placed on the Earth’s systems by the climate crisis. Most IPCC reports and accompanying media coverage tend to emphasize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy and transportation sectors, along with […] More
According to Craig Martin, deciphering Earth’s geologic past is like an ant climbing over a car crash. “You’ve got to work out how the car crash happened, how fast the cars were going, at what angle they impacted,” explains Martin, a graduate student at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “You’re just […] More
A new way of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of air could provide a significant tool in the battle against climate change. The new system can work on the gas at virtually any concentration level, even down to the roughly 400 parts per million currently found in the atmosphere. Most methods of removing carbon […] More
