“Robot, make me a chair”
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Computer-aided design (CAD) systems are tried-and-true tools used to design many of the physical objects we use each day. But CAD software requires extensive expertise to master, and many tools incorporate such a high level of detail they don’t lend themselves to brainstorming or rapid prototyping. In an effort to make design faster and more […]
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3 Questions: Using computation to study the world’s best single-celled chemists
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Today, out of an estimated 1 trillion species on Earth, 99.999 percent are considered microbial — bacteria, archaea, viruses, and single-celled eukaryotes. For much of our planet’s history, microbes ruled the Earth, able to live and thrive in the most extreme of environments. Researchers have only just begun in the last few decades to contend […]
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Working to eliminate barriers to adopting nuclear energy
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What if there were a way to solve one of the most significant obstacles to the use of nuclear energy — the disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW)? Dauren Sarsenbayev, a third-year doctoral student at the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is addressing the challenge as part of his research. Sarsenbayev focuses on […]
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Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2025
Greenland is closing in on three decades of continuous annual ice loss, with 1995-96 being the last year in which the giant ice sheet grew in size. With another melt season over, Greenland lost 105bn tonnes of ice in 2024-25. The past year has seen some notable events, including ongoing ice melt into the month […]
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Guest post: Why cities need more than just air conditioning for extreme heat
Cities around the world are facing more frequent and intense bouts of extreme heat, leading to an increasing focus on the use of air conditioning to keep urban areas cool. With the UK having experienced its hottest summer on record in 2025, for example, there was a wave of media attention on air conditioning use. […]
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‘Growing focus on resilience across the built environment’, finds UKGBC report
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The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) published its Trends Report 2025 on 9 December, detailing major shifts that shaped the built environment this year along with key themes to look out for in 2026. Drawing on insights from sustainability and innovation experts across industry as well as UKGBC topic leads, the third edition of the […]
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Dundee-based greywater recycling startup secures £350k
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A 3d render of Cascade’s greywater recycling system installed in a modern bathroom. Dundee-based water technology firm Cascade Water Products, has secured angel investment of up to £350,000 towards helping commercialise its innovative micro-greywater recycling system. Cascade says the investment, from a group of European and American investors, will enable it to accelerate production and […]
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Using bacteria to create valuable materials from sludge: New funding announced in the Netherlands
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Signatories from The Haskoning Innovation & Education Fund and TU Delft. Half a million euros has been donated to assist a research project at the University of Delft (TU Delft), exploring how microbes can be harnessed to break down PFAS, pesticides and microplastics in heavily contaminated sludge, and recover valuable reusable resources. The Haskoning Innovation […]
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Deep-learning model predicts how fruit flies form, cell by cell
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During early development, tissues and organs begin to bloom through the shifting, splitting, and growing of many thousands of cells. A team of MIT engineers has now developed a way to predict, minute by minute, how individual cells will fold, divide, and rearrange during a fruit fly’s earliest stage of growth. The new method may […]
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Trade body welcomes Green Gas Support Scheme Extension plans
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Lord Alan Whitehead addresses the ADBA National Conference on 10 December. The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) welcomed (on 12 December) a UK Government announcement of their plans to extend the Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) by two years to 31 March 2030. The news was officially delivered by Lord Alan Whitehead, Minister of […]
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New advice booklet for councils offers “practical, science-led guide to greener, healthier and fairer towns”
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Trees in St Andrews Park, Bristol. Local authorities hold the power to help communities tackle air pollution, flooding, heatwaves and biodiversity loss – they just need the right support, say the authors of a new ‘How To’ guide for councils. The newly published Urban Greening ‘How-To’ Toolkit offers clear, science-based guidance developed through the UK […]
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Big Data Analytics Enhances Renewable Energy sector
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The sun doesn’t send bills, but energy companies using renewable energy do. And to keep those bills lower for everyone, green energy had to harness not just wind and sun, but data too. Renewable energy used to operate almost blindly. Wind blows when it wants, the sun hides behind clouds without warning, and energy companies […]
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Enabling small language models to solve complex reasoning tasks
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As language models (LMs) improve at tasks like image generation, trivia questions, and simple math, you might think that human-like reasoning is around the corner. In reality, they still trail us by a wide margin on complex tasks. Try playing Sudoku with one, for instance, where you fill in numbers one through nine in such […]
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New MIT program to train military leaders for the AI age
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Artificial intelligence can enhance decision-making and enable action with reduced risk and greater precision, making it a critical tool for national security. A new program offered jointly by the MIT departments of Mechanical Engineering (Course 2, MechE) and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Course 6, EECS) will provide breadth and depth in technical studies for […]
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Decommissioning Offshore Oil and Gas: A Conversation with Former Regulators
A 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that over 2,500 wells and 500 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were overdue for decommissioning (i.e., the process whereby wells are permanently plugged and associated infrastructure removed). Others have estimated that over 32,000 offshore wells in U.S. waters are either abandoned or idle, and […]
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The Energy Justice Resistance: How States Can Counteract Federal Attacks on Community Benefits Plans
The Biden Administration tied historic federal clean energy funding in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Law (IIJA) and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to a local benefits framework through the Department of Energy’s Community Benefits Plan (CBP) requirements. The Trump Administration’s rapid rescission of CBP requirements, however, has removed the primary […]
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DeBriefed 12 December: EU under ‘pressure’; ‘Unusual warmth’ explained; Rise of climate boardgames
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week EU sets 2040 goal CUT CRUNCHED: The EU agreed on a legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% from 1990 levels by 2040, reported the EU Observer. The publication said that this agreement is […]
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‘Cali Fund’ aiming to raise billions for nature receives first donation – of just $1,000
A major biodiversity fund – which could, in theory, generate billions of dollars annually for conservation – received its first donation of just $1,000 in November. The Cali Fund was created under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the COP16 nature negotiations in Cali, Colombia, last year. On 19 November, nine months after […]