Environment

In 2016, scientists at MIT and elsewhere observed the first signs of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer. This environmental milestone was the result of decades of concerted effort by nearly every country in the world, which collectively signed on to the Montreal Protocol. These countries pledged to protect the ozone layer by phasing out […] More

Over millions of years, Hawaiian volcanoes have formed a chain of volcanic islands stretching across the Northern Pacific, where ocean waves from every direction, stirred up by distant storms or carried in on tradewinds, have battered and shaped the islands’ coastlines to varying degrees. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found that, in Hawaii, […] More

Over the last century, scientists have developed methods to map the structures within the Earth’s crust, in order to identify resources such as oil reserves, geothermal sources, and, more recently, reservoirs where excess carbon dioxide could potentially be sequestered. They do so by tracking seismic waves that are produced naturally by earthquakes or artificially via […] More

How can the world cut its greenhouse gas emissions in time to avert the most catastrophic impacts of global climate change? It won’t be easy, but there are reasons to be optimistic that the problems can still be solved if the right kind of significant actions are taken within the next few years, according to […] More

On Feb. 25, MIT Solve launched its 2020 Global Challenges: Good Jobs and Inclusive Entrepreneurship, Learning for Girls and Women, Maternal and Newborn Health, and Sustainable Food Systems, with over $1 million in prize funding available across the challenges. Solve seeks tech-based solutions from social entrepreneurs around the world that address these four challenges. Anyone, anywhere can […] More

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation unveiled that a proactive climate resilience system co-developed by MIT and BRAC, a leading development organization, was one of the highest-scoring proposals, designated as the Top 100, in its 100&Change competition in 2020 for a single $100 million grant to help solve one of the world’s most […] More

Lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals are increasingly present in water systems around the world due to human activities, such as pesticide use and, more recently, the inadequate disposal of electronic waste. Chronic exposure to even trace levels of these contaminants, at concentrations of parts per billion, can cause debilitating health conditions in pregnant women, […] More

Planetary scientists believe that Mars was once warmer, had a significant atmosphere, and maintained abundant flowing water that carved out river channels and pooled in lakes. These conditions would, at least theoretically, support life. But following a July 2020 launch, a 34 million mile journey, and an elaborately choreographed descent though the scant Martian atmosphere, […] More