News + Impact - MIT EAPS

Roadway buckled by earthquake damage.

New study unveils the mechanism behind “boomerang” earthquakes

February 18, 2026

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research, Students + Postdocs

Images from experiments and graphs demonstrating simultaneous optical, mechanical, and acoustic measurements revealing brittle microcracking and crystal-plastic twinning in calcite generate distinguishable acoustic signals.

Eos: Visualizing and hearing the brittle–plastic transition

February 3, 2026

Categories: In the Media, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research

Overheated person with fan.

New research may help scientists predict when a humid heat wave will break

January 5, 2026

Categories: Climate, Natural Hazards, Research, Students + Postdocs

A figure can be seen standing near a marge crack in the ground caused by the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake.

Eos: The Ridgecrest Earthquake Left Enduring Damage in Earth’s Deep Crust

November 15, 2025

Categories: In the Media, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research

Tom Herring stands in front of a large dam.

Geology Bites: Tom Herring talks High-Precision Geodesy

October 20, 2025

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, In the Media, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards

A Mobile Laser Scanning truck parked near a surface rupture in the California desert.

Earthquake damage at deeper depths occurs long after initial activity

October 6, 2025

Categories: Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research, Students + Postdocs

Scanning electron photomicrograph highlights a region of rock that slipped during a laboratory-induced earthquake.

MIT geologists discover where energy goes during an earthquake

September 16, 2025

Categories: Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research

The pursuit of reliable earthquake forecasting – Camilla Cattania for Physics Today

August 11, 2025

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, In the Media, Natural Hazards

Woman and children walk over sandbag embankment in Bangladesh.

Hundred-year storm tides will occur every few decades in Bangladesh, scientists report

April 11, 2025

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards, Research

Julien de Wit is talking with Artem Burdanov while he types at a computer.

Julien De Wit and Artem Burdanov talk planetary defense on WCVB’s Chronicle

April 2, 2025

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, In the Media, Natural Hazards, Planets

Asteroids and the outer planets: Richard Binzel hangs out with Star Talk Radio

April 1, 2025

Categories: In the Media, Natural Hazards, Planets

Brent Minchew on Curiosity Unbounded, episode 14: Putting a glacier in its place

February 25, 2025

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards

On the left, an image of fiber optic cables plugged into a data center rack. On the right, a photo of Hilary Chang and John Morgante posing by a computer set up in a room filled with wires

How telecommunications cables can image the ground beneath us

February 4, 2025

Categories: Natural Hazards, Research, Students + Postdocs

On left, a rural setting with grass and greenery. On right, brown flood water shows excessive flooding.

New AI tool generates realistic satellite images of future flooding

November 25, 2024

Categories: Climate, Natural Hazards, Research, Students + Postdocs

Ask MIT Climate: How much can a large volcanic eruption affect the climate?

November 5, 2024

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards, Research

Ask MIT Climate: What are the best- and worst-case scenarios for sea level rise?

June 12, 2024

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards, Research

Two graphs side by side showing model predictions of extreme rainfall near Denver, Colorado. The one on the left shows square, poor resolution data. The one on the right is higher resolution.

Making climate models relevant for local decision makers

June 10, 2024

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards, Research

Study: Heavy snowfall and rain may contribute to some earthquakes

May 8, 2024

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research

In darkness, thumbs hold two small spherical and one small cube objects that light up in vivid yellow, red, and green.

With a new experimental technique, MIT engineers probe the mechanisms of landslides and earthquakes

March 25, 2024

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, Landscapes + Planetary Interiors, Natural Hazards, Research

New tool predicts flood risk from hurricanes in a warming climate

January 24, 2024

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Natural Hazards, Research