News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

As a scientist and a musician, Perrin Davidson notes, “I’m constantly learning how to do things.” He and his PhD advisor, Daniel Rothman, play music together most weeks.

MIT News Office

June 24, 2026

Characterizing Earth’s damping mechanisms

Fourth-year PhD candidate Perrin Davidson studies the carbon cycle to understand how the planet responds to global disturbances.

Crinoid fossils from the Permian Period. A new model suggests that the end-Permian and other mass extinctions on Earth may occur when environmental change outpaces the ability of species to adapt.

MIT News Office

June 24, 2026

What happens when environmental change outpaces life’s ability to adapt?

A new model links Earth’s mass extinctions to mismatches between rates of environmental change and biological adaptation.

On top left is the Lockport truss bridge passing over the Erie Canal near Buffalo, New York. Researchers mimicked this structure, highlighted in teal blue, and created multiple timber-only designs (top left), steel-only designs (bottom left), and timber-steel designs.

MIT News Office

June 24, 2026

Computer model could enable bridges and buildings that use less material

MIT researchers developed an approach for generating more buildable structures, bridging the gap between optimized design and real-world construction.

Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Professor of Environmental Studies at MIT, has been named the 2026 Tang Prize in Sustainable Development laureate, in recognition of her research and leadership in atmospheric and climate sciences that has helped shaped global policy.

MIT News Office

June 17, 2026

Susan Solomon named 2026 Tang Prize laureate

The MIT professor’s groundbreaking work on atmospheric chemistry helped lay steps towards recovery of the ozone layer and demonstrated the lasting impacts of carbon emissions on Earth’s climate.

MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism fellow Nora Hertel attended an agricultural conference and fair in Minnesota to learn how farmers and foresters are exploring carbon credit markets and climate-smart practices. Hertel is the government and investigations reporter for the St. Cloud Times in central Minnesota.

MIT News Office

June 17, 2026

Expanding and deepening climate reporting through local messengers

A new impact report shows how the MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellowship has brought community-centered climate coverage to nearly 3 million readers and listeners.

A confocal Raman microscope (left) tracks the chemical evolution of CO₂-injected cement paste samples over 24 hours; the custom stage's quartz window enables the laser to scan from below. Cement paste is the basis for fresh concrete, as pictured at right; CO₂-injected concrete is gaining commercial traction as a material that permanently stores carbon dioxide.

MIT News Office

June 11, 2026

A shot of carbon dioxide rewires how cement sets

New research reveals the chemical sequence triggered by CO₂ injection in cement paste, capturing a fleeting intermediate reaction for the first time using real-time Raman spectroscopy.