News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

“I discovered this world of academia, and so I was really excited when I learned about it,” Gage Coon says. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, constant learning. That is exactly what I want to do forever.’”

MIT News Office

August 28, 2026

Gage Coon: An Earth scientist exploring the power of microbes

The PhD student’s research on how microorganisms digest compounds in their environment could enable advances in wastewater treatment.

A spawning aggregation of longfin squid approaches a mop of eggs.

MIT News Office

August 25, 2026

The secret love life of the longfin squid

MIT Sea Grant resident artist and acclaimed underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen captures an intimate look at courtship and communication in a hidden spawning spectacle off Cape Cod.

MIT engineers have developed a tool that generates realistic extreme events and worst-case scenarios. Their method does not need to know about previous extreme events in order to generate realistic, future extreme events.

MIT News Office

August 24, 2026

Generating scenarios for extreme events, without extreme data

A new algorithm learns to anticipate the unprecedented scenarios that critical infrastructure and global supply chains are least prepared for.

Today, most ammonia is produced using the Haber-Bosch process, a century-old method that relies on fossil fuels, in facilities like the one pictured. MIT researchers are developing computational approaches to identify materials that could enable a more sustainable alternative.

MIT News Office

August 20, 2026

Paving the way for greener ammonia production

New MIT research could lead to better materials for a fossil-fuel-free process for making the chemical that's essential to fertilizer and other products.

“What’s exciting to me is that this material could become the industry standard without requiring companies to change how they operate,” says Dmat co-founder Admir Masic.

MIT News Office

August 19, 2026

Startup brings ancient Roman concrete technology to modern construction

Dmat is commercializing findings from the lab of Associate Professor Admir Masic to make concrete longer-lasting and more sustainable.

“It’s challenging to reduce complex scientific and engineering requirements to economic consequences,” Professor Andrew Lo says. “But if we don’t do that, we’re not going to get the funding we need, to achieve the impact we want.”

MIT News Office

August 10, 2026

MIT researchers tackle the economic realities of fusion power

Their new study aims to give budding industry a framework for understanding how fusion can be profitable.

Nicholas de Monchaux is Weber-Shaughness Professor of Architecture at MIT, as well as professor of urban studies and planning and affiliated faculty with the Program in Science, Technology, and Society.

MIT News Office

August 4, 2026

Reframing leadership as a design problem

Nicholas de Monchaux reflects on guiding the MIT Department of Architecture through a period of dramatic change for the profession.

MIT News Office

July 31, 2026

Building energy security through more sustainable batteries

PhD student Hugh Smith works to develop sodium-ion batteries, whose components are more abundant and accessible than those of conventional lithium-ion technology.

In the new process, resin pellets are melted and then extruded to make stretchy, hair-thin fibers that can be recycled. “You just melt it in a barrel with a heater, and then you extrude and spin it into fibers,” SeongHyeon Kim says. “It’s like a spaghetti machine.”

MIT News Office

July 27, 2026

MIT engineers design recyclable elastic yarn

Melt it, spin it, use it again. This new recyclable yarn is as strong and stretchy as spandex-based yarns.