How To Avoid Eating the World: From Degrowth to a Sustainable Food System Transformation
“Just shrinking the size of our current food system won’t cut emissions much. Instead, we need to transform the very nature of that global food…
Sustainability
4,100 Feet Underground, Scientists Test a Unique Geothermal Energy System
Team collaborates on assembling and testing “rock star” system 4,100 feet underground A team of scientists has assembled a first-of-its-kind system to help them understand…
Identifying Global Poverty From Space – Estimating Worldwide Economic Wellbeing
Despite successes in reducing poverty globally in the last two decades, almost one billion people still live without access to reliable and affordable electricity, which…
Urban vs. Suburban Ways of Thinking: Urbanization Linked to Poor Ecological Knowledge, Less Environmental Action
A new study that highlights a sharp contrast between urban and suburban ways of thinking about coastal ecosystems has been completed by researchers at the…
Importing Canadian Energy To Drastically Reduce Carbon Emissions
Power flowing both ways across the Canada–U.S. border offers a pathway to clean electricity in 2050. The urgent need to cut carbon emissions has prompted…
Varroa-Resistant Honey Bees Are More Than Twice As Likely To Survive the Winter
An USDA Agricultural Research Service-developed line of bees that naturally has low levels of Varroa mites is more than twice as likely to survive the…
Designing Catalysts for Sustainable Fuels Using Electrochemistry
Yogesh Surendranath and his team are bringing powerful techniques of electrochemistry to bear on the problem of designing catalysts for sustainable fuels. One challenge in…
Satellites and Drones Are Being Used To Study Glacial Physics and Predict Sea Level Rise
Brent Minchew leads two proposals to better understand glacial physics and predict sea-level rise as part of MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges competition. When we think…
New Breed of Honey Bees a Major Advance in Global Fight Against Parasitic Varroa Mite
Selective breeding sustainably protects honey bees from Varroa mite. A new breed of honey bees provides a major advance in the global fight against the…
A New Way To Make Carbon Fiber: Could We Make Cars Out of Petroleum Residue?
A new way to make carbon fiber could turn refinery byproducts into high-value, ultralight structural materials for cars, aircraft, and spacecraft. As the world struggles…
Scientists Warn: Nutritious Fish Stocks Are Being Squandered by Salmon Farming
Eating wild-caught fish instead of using it as feed in salmon farming would allow nearly four million tonnes of fish to be left in the…
Plant Ecologist: We Should Be Eating More Insects and Using Their Waste To Grow Crops
Marcel Dicke already knew that insects are an excellent source of protein for humans, but he didn’t expect to learn that they have such a…
Safi Organics: A Life-Changing Fertilizer for Rural Farmers in Kenya
MIT spinout Safi Organics uses farmers’ crop residue to make an organic fertilizer that can increase yields and improve soil health. Most commercial fertilizer travels…
Turning Trash Into Treasure: Chemists’ Radical Way To Make It Easier, More Profitable To Recycle Plastic
By modifying carbon-hydrogen bonds, chemists at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill transform plastic trash into tougher, stronger material. The United States generates more…
Breakthrough in Cathode Chemistry Clears Path for More-Sustainable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Drexel researchers develop stable sulfur cathode that functions for thousands of cycles in the carbonate electrolyte used in commercial Li-ion batteries, paving the way for…
MIT’s New Plant-Derived Material Is Tough As Bone and Hard As Aluminum
The material could pave the way for sustainable plastics. The strongest part of a tree lies not in its trunk or its sprawling roots, but…
“Living Walls” Can Reduce Heat Lost From Buildings by Over 30%
Retrofitting an existing masonry cavity walled building with a green or living wall can reduce the amount of heat lost through its structure by more…
Sustainable Materials: Creating Valuable Plastics and Chemicals From Waste
University of Delaware researchers report low-pressure method to convert industrially processed biomass into plastics, chemicals. It’s no secret that we need more sustainable materials if…
