In cities, dangerous heat exposure has tripled since the 1980s, with the poor most at risk

Hot, humid population centers are becoming epicenters of heat risk as climate changes worsens. It’s calling into question the conventional wisdom that urbanization uniformly reduces poverty.

Kathryn Grace, Associate Professor of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota • conversation
Oct. 4, 2021 ~9 min

A major federal response to occupational extreme heat is here at last

Excessive heat puts your body at risk for organ damage. When workers don’t have a chance to cool off at home between shifts, that harm can accumulate.

Katharine Mach, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Miami • conversation
Oct. 1, 2021 ~9 min


A major new workplace safety initiative targets dangerous heat on the job, but what about chronic heat exposure?

Excessive heat puts your body at risk for organ damage. When workers don’t have a chance to cool off at home between shifts, that harm can accumulate.

Katharine Mach, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Miami • conversation
Oct. 1, 2021 ~9 min

Heat pumps: UK to install 600,000 a year by 2028 but electrical grid will need massive investment to cope

A shift to heating our homes by heat pumps would put massive pressure on the electricity grid.

Ali Ehsan, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Future Energy Networks, University of Manchester • conversation
Sept. 30, 2021 ~7 min

Gas prices: how to ensure consumers don't pay for the next energy crisis

The government’s failure to insulate housing stock has meant that households aren’t insulated from record energy prices.

Jonathan Clarke, Senior Teaching Fellow in Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick • conversation
Sept. 29, 2021 ~9 min

Five numbers that lay bare the mammoth effort needed to insulate Britain's homes

Insulate Britain, a new environmental campaign group, is right to highlight the need for action on home insulation.

Ran Boydell, Visiting Lecturer in Sustainable Development, Heriot-Watt University • conversation
Sept. 14, 2021 ~7 min

Is climate change to blame for extreme weather events? Attribution science says yes, for some – here's how it works

A new attribution study finds human-caused climate change made Europe’s July floods more likely. What about Tennessee’s flooding? An atmospheric scientist explains how scientists make the connection.

Xubin Zeng, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the Climate Dynamics and Hydrometeorolgy Center, University of Arizona • conversation
Aug. 25, 2021 ~7 min

Countering climate change with cool pavements

Researchers affiliated with the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub find that paving material selection could mitigate extreme heat and greenhouse gas emissions.

Andrew Logan | MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub • mit
Aug. 22, 2021 ~10 min


A peculiar state of matter in layers of semiconductors

In a study that could benefit quantum computing, researchers show a superlattice embedded with nanodots may be immune from dissipating energy to the environment.

Matthew Hutson | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering • mit
Aug. 19, 2021 ~6 min

When hotter and drier means more – but eventually less – wildfire

Not all forests respond to hotter and drier conditions in the same way.

Jeremy Littell, Research Ecologist - Climate Impacts, US Geological Survey • conversation
Aug. 19, 2021 ~9 min

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