Q&A: More-sustainable concrete with machine learning

MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab researchers aim to design concrete mixtures that use AI to shrink environmental footprint and cost, while recycling byproducts and increasing performance.

Lauren Hinkel | MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab • mit
Dec. 7, 2021 ~14 min

Mutant microbe produces carbon-neutral biofuel

Researchers have modified a microbe so it can make a biofuel using only three ingredients: carbon dioxide, solar panel-generated electricity, and light.

Talia Ogliore-WUSTL • futurity
Nov. 4, 2021 ~6 min


The science everyone needs to know about climate change, in 6 charts

Take a closer look at what’s driving climate change and how scientists know CO2 is involved, in a series of charts examining the evidence in different ways.

Betsy Weatherhead, Senior Scientist, University of Colorado Boulder • conversation
Nov. 1, 2021 ~9 min

What Big Oil knew about climate change, in its own words

Transcripts and internal documents show how the industry shifted from leading research into fossil fuels’ effect on the climate to sowing doubt about science. Now, CEOs are testifying before Congress.

Benjamin Franta, Ph.D. Candidate in History, Stanford University • conversation
Oct. 28, 2021 ~11 min

Mars-made rocket fuel could get astronauts back to Earth

A new way to make rocket fuel on Mars to launch astronauts back to Earth uses three simple ingredients: carbon dioxide, sunlight, and frozen water.

Jason Maderer-Georgia Tech • futurity
Oct. 27, 2021 ~7 min

Climate change is muting fall colors, but it's just the latest way that humans have altered US forests

Warm autumn weather has produced dull leaf colors across the eastern US this year, but climate change isn’t the only way that humans have altered trees’ fall displays.

Marc Abrams, Professor of Forest Ecology and Physiology, Penn State • conversation
Oct. 27, 2021 ~8 min

Food production generates more than a third of manmade greenhouse gas emissions – a new framework tells us how much comes from crops, countries and regions

A new study provides a detailed way to calculate the climate impact of food production, which could lead to more sustainable farming policies and methods.

Atul Jain, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • conversation
Sept. 13, 2021 ~8 min

Food production generates more than 1/3 of manmade greenhouse gas emissions – a new framework tells us how much comes from crops, countries and regions

A new study provides a detailed way to calculate the climate impact of food production, which could lead to more sustainable farming policies and methods.

Atul Jain, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • conversation
Sept. 13, 2021 ~8 min


African tropical mountain forests store far more carbon than previously thought – new research

Towering trees in African tropical mountain forests are a vital, overlooked carbon store threatened by deforestation.

Phil Platts, Research Fellow, University of York • conversation
Sept. 6, 2021 ~7 min

How would planting 8 billion trees every year for 20 years affect Earth's climate?

Planting a massive number of trees can help slow climate change, but it is only part of the solution.

Karen D. Holl, Professor of Restoration Ecology, University of California, Santa Cruz • conversation
Aug. 23, 2021 ~6 min

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