Subterms
If you’ve ever turned down a city street only to be blasted with air, you’ve stepped into what is known as an urban canyon. Much like their geological counterparts, urban canyons are gaps between two tall surfaces — in this case, buildings. The gusts they channel, however, have real implications. They can magnify a hurricane’s […] More
When deciding on a major, one thing was clear for Michelle Kornberg — she didn’t want to be stuck inside for four years. “I like the environment of working on something in the lab, but I grew up in a very outdoorsy family,” she says. “I definitely knew I didn’t want to be inside all […] More
Imagine a massive mug of cold, dense cream with hot coffee poured on top. Now place it on a rotating table. Over time, the fluids will slowly mix into each other, and heat from the coffee will eventually reach the bottom of the mug. But as most of us impatient coffee drinkers know, stirring the […] More
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
