In the early 20th century, just as electric grids were starting to transform daily life, an unlikely advocate for renewable energy voiced his concerns about burning fossil fuels. Thomas Edison expressed dismay over using combustion instead of renewable resources in a 1910 interview for Elbert Hubbard’s anthology, “Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great.” […] More
Anoushka Bose arrived at MIT in 2016 intent on pursuing problems related to climate change and energy. But two years later, she found herself discussing arms control and international security with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov during a policy forum connecting American and Russian students. “It was eye-opening for me,” says Bose, a double major […] More
A new MIT study examines the opposing roles of natural gas in the battle against climate change — as a bridge toward a lower-emissions future, but also a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas, which is mostly methane, is viewed as a significant “bridge fuel” to help the world move away from the greenhouse […] More
During the third weekend in November, students from MIT and colleges across the globe convened on MIT’s campus to hack real-world challenges in the energy industry at the 2019 MIT EnergyHack. Hackers arrived at the Stata Center that Friday evening and had 36 hours to come up with a solution to the challenge they were […] More
MIT researchers have devised a novel circuit design that enables precise control of computing with magnetic waves — with no electricity needed. The advance takes a step toward practical magnetic-based devices, which have the potential to compute far more efficiently than electronics. Classical computers rely on massive amounts of electricity for computing and data storage, […] More
In our daily lives, we all make choices about how we travel and what type of vehicle we own or use. We consider these choices within the constraints of our current transportation system and weigh concerns including costs, convenience, and — increasingly — carbon emissions. “Insights into Future Mobility,” a multidisciplinary report released today by […] More
Within the electromagnetic middle ground between microwaves and visible light lies terahertz radiation, and the promise of “T-ray vision.” Terahertz waves have frequencies higher than microwaves and lower than infrared and visible light. Where optical light is blocked by most materials, terahertz waves can pass straight through, similar to microwaves. If they were fashioned into […] More
History can help us face hard truths. The places Kate Brown studies are particularly full of them. Brown, a historian in MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society, has made a career out of studying what she calls “modernist wastelands” — areas suffering after years of warfare, social conflict, and even radioactive fallout from […] More
