3-questions:-addressing-the-world’s-most-pressing-challenges

The Center for International Studies (CIS) empowers students, faculty, and scholars to bring MIT’s interdisciplinary style of research and scholarship to address complex global challenges.  In this Q&A, Mihaela Papa , the center’s director of research and a principal research scientist at MIT, describes her role and her founding ofContinue Reading

a-400-million-year-old-plant-creates-water-so-weird-it-looks-alien

Researchers discovered that living horsetails act like natural distillation towers, producing bizarre oxygen isotope signatures more extreme than anything previously recorded on Earth—sometimes resembling meteorite water. By tracing these isotopic shifts from the plant base to its tip, scientists unlocked a new way to decode ancient humidity and climate, usingContinue Reading

hubble’s-night-sky-challenge-november

Explore Hubble … Explore the Night Sky Hubble’s Night Sky… Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact onContinue Reading

concrete-“battery”-developed-at-mit-now-packs-10-times-the-power

Concrete already builds our world, and now it’s one step closer to powering it, too. Made by combining cement, water, ultra-fine carbon black (with nanoscale particles), and electrolytes, electron-conducting carbon concrete (ec3, pronounced “e-c-cubed”) creates a conductive “nanonetwork” inside concrete that could enable everyday structures like walls, sidewalks, and bridgesContinue Reading

mit-senior-turns-waste-from-the-fishing-industry-into-biodegradable-plastic

Sometimes the answers to seemingly intractable environmental problems are found in nature itself. Take the growing challenge of plastic waste. Jacqueline Prawira, an MIT senior in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE), has developed biodegradable, plastic-like materials from fish offal, as featured in a recent segment on the CBSContinue Reading

engineering-next-generation-fertilizers

Born in Palermo, Sicily, Giorgio Rizzo spent his childhood curious about the natural world. “I have always been fascinated by nature and how plants and animals can adapt and survive in extreme environments,” he says. “Their highly tuned biochemistry, and their incredible ability to create ones of the most complexContinue Reading