News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

Iron is an essential nutrient for phytoplankton growth, but a new study finds that artificially pumping vast amounts of iron into the oceans won’t bump up the microbes’ populations, or their capacity to sequester carbon dioxide.

MIT News Office

February 17, 2020

Seeding oceans with iron may not impact climate change

Study finds Earth’s oceans contain just the right amount of iron; adding more may not improve their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

New MIT study finds more than half of all air-quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of cross-state pollution, or emissions originating outside of the state in which those deaths occur.Image: Chelsea Turner, MIT

MIT News Office

February 12, 2020

Half of U.S. deaths related to air pollution are linked to out-of-state emissions

Study tracks pollution from state to state in the 48 contiguous United States.

Several dozen students participated in the Green AI Hackathon, co-sponsored by the MIT Research Computing Project and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. Photo panel: Samantha Smiley

MIT News Office

February 11, 2020

Brainstorming energy-saving hacks on Satori, MIT’s new supercomputer

Three-day hackathon explores methods for making artificial intelligence faster and more sustainable.

Perovskites, a family of materials defined by a particular kind of molecular structure as illustrated here, have great potential for new kinds of solar cells. A new study from MIT shows how these materials could gain a foothold in the sola...

MIT News Office

February 6, 2020

Researchers develop a roadmap for growth of new solar cells

Starting with higher-value niche markets and then expanding could help perovskite-based solar panels become competitive with silicon.

CSHub researchers are modeling the future of pavements to help departments of transportation maintain their pavement networks while lowering costs. Photo: Luo Chris/Pexels

MIT News Office

February 5, 2020

Improving pavement networks by predicting the future

CSHub researchers have developed a pavement maintenance model that considers future uncertainties to improve performance and lower cost.

Assistant Professor Karthish Manthiram (center), postdoc Kyoungsuk Jin (right), graduate student Joseph Maalouf (left), and their colleagues are working to help decarbonize the chemical industry by finding ways to drive critical chemical reaction...

MIT News Office

February 5, 2020

Decarbonizing the making of consumer products

Researchers are devising new methods of synthesizing chemicals used in goods from clothing, detergents, and antifreeze to pharmaceuticals and plastics.

Fikile Brushett is the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering.Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of Engineering

MIT News Office

January 29, 2020

Powering the planet

Fikile Brushett and his team are designing electrochemical technology to secure the planet’s energy future.

Patterns of suspended 1-micrometer polystyrene particles in channel shapes are given by a new AI platform (interior boundary highlighted in white). An applied surface acoustic wave propagates from left to right.

MIT News Office

January 29, 2020

Gift will allow MIT researchers to use artificial intelligence in a biomedical device

Device developed within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has the potential to replace damaged organs with lab-grown ones.

Designed by Wilson HGA and completed in 2018, the 216,000 square-foot MIT.nano building, located in the heart of MIT’s campus, is a shared resource for MIT faculty, students, and researchers, as well as external academic and industry users.Photo...

MIT News Office

January 28, 2020

MIT.nano receives international sustainability award

“Go Beyond” Award celebrates commitment to excellence in efficiency and sustainability.