New facility to accelerate materials solutions for fusion energy

MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center to establish the Schmidt Laboratory for Materials in Nuclear Technologies.

Julianna Mullen | Plasma Science and Fusion Center • mit
June 9, 2025 ~8 min

Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase

MIT study finds an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia.

David Orenstein | The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory • mit
June 5, 2025 ~6 min


How Trump’s ‘gold standard’ politicizes federal science

The first Trump administration also used words like ‘transparency,’ ‘reproducibility’ and ‘uncertainty’ − to try to block regulators from using important health studies when writing pollution rules.

H. Christopher Frey, Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University • conversation
June 5, 2025 ~10 min

A new observatory is assembling the most complete time-lapse record of the night sky ever

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will capture enough detail to see a golf ball from 25km away.

Noelia Noël, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey • conversation
June 5, 2025 ~6 min

How your electric bill may be paying for big data centers’ energy use

If state regulators allow utilities to follow the standard approach of splitting the costs of new infrastructure among all consumers, the public will end up paying for data centers’ power.

Eliza Martin, Legal Fellow, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard University • conversation
June 5, 2025 ~8 min

Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time

The magnetic state offers a new route to “spintronic” memory devices that would be faster and more efficient than their electronic counterparts.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
June 5, 2025 ~10 min

Study helps pinpoint areas where microplastics will accumulate

Biofilms deposited by living organisms reduce the accumulation of small particles, while areas of bare sand can be microplastics hotspots.

David L. Chandler | MIT News • mit
June 4, 2025 ~6 min

Supreme Court changes the game on federal environmental reviews

For lawyers, industry, advocates and the courts, environmental review after the Eagle County decision is not just a new ballgame. It is a new sport.

J.B. Ruhl, Professor of Law, Director, Program on Law and Innovation, and Co-director, Energy, Environment and Land Use Program, Vanderbilt University • conversation
June 3, 2025 ~11 min


Study shows making hydrogen with soda cans and seawater is scalable and sustainable

The method’s overall carbon emissions are on par with those of other green hydrogen technologies.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
June 3, 2025 ~8 min

Robots run out of energy long before they run out of work to do − feeding them could change that

Even the best batteries fall far short of animal metabolism for energy storage. Fueling robots with ‘food’ could narrow the gap.

James Pikul, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison • conversation
June 2, 2025 ~9 min

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