We dropped over 8,000 pieces of litter into a fake river to fight plastic pollution

Understanding how plastic pollution moves in rivers is key to effective cleanup strategies.

Daniel Valero, Senior Lecturer in Fluid Mechanics, Imperial College London • conversation
May 23, 2024 • ~5 min

The joy of birdwatching: research shows it can improve mental health and foster a sense of wellbeing

Twitching can help promote feelings of positivity, improve mood and foster an affinity with nature

Jolanta Burke, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Positive Health Sciences, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences • conversation
May 17, 2024 • ~6 min

Using ideas from game theory to improve the reliability of language models

A new “consensus game,” developed by MIT CSAIL researchers, elevates AI’s text comprehension and generation skills.

Rachel Gordon | MIT CSAIL • mit
May 14, 2024 • ~8 min

A new campaign wants to redefine the word ‘nature’ to include humans – here’s why this linguistic argument matters

The meaning of nature has shifted since the word was first used in the 15th century. But is changing the dictionary definition a good idea?

Tom Oliver, Professor of Applied Ecology, University of Reading • conversation
May 10, 2024 • ~8 min

Study: Heavy snowfall and rain may contribute to some earthquakes

The results suggest that climate may influence seismic activity.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News • mit
May 8, 2024 • ~8 min

Birdwatching may boost student well-being and lower stress

Birdwatching can lower stress and improve well-being for college students, even more than other nature-based activities like walks.

NC State • futurity
May 6, 2024 • ~5 min

Power outages linked to heat and storms are rising, and low-income communities are most at risk – NYC maps show the impact

Practices such as redlining left marginalized groups in more disaster-prone areas with poorer quality infrastructure − and more likely to experience prolonged power outages.

Joan A. Casey, Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington • conversation
May 1, 2024 • ~10 min

Natural language boosts LLM performance in coding, planning, and robotics

Three neurosymbolic methods help language models find better abstractions within natural language, then use those representations to execute complex tasks.

Alex Shipps | MIT CSAIL • mit
May 1, 2024 • ~13 min

Power outages linked to heat and storms are rising, and low-income communities are most at risk, as a new NYC study shows

Practices such as redlining left marginalized groups in more disaster-prone areas with poorer quality infrastructure − and more likely to experience prolonged power outages.

Joan A. Casey, Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington • conversation
May 1, 2024 • ~10 min

Why diversity in nature could be the key to mental wellbeing

Protect wildlife to promote better mental health.

Andrea Mechelli, Professor of Early Intervention in Mental Health, King's College London • conversation
April 30, 2024 • ~5 min

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