News + Impact - MIT EAPS

Map of a cyclone track.

Eos: Slow atmospheric circulations shape storm tracks and wave-breaking patterns

March 11, 2026

Categories: Climate, In the Media, Research

Ocean flood with floating dust.

Understanding how “marine snow” acts as a carbon sink

March 9, 2026

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, Life + Environments, Research, Students + Postdocs

X-ray view of carbonate minerals deposited within a basalt core.

X-raying rocks reveals their carbon-storing capacity

March 6, 2026

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

Three photos show: gigantic plume rising from ground; a vast valley on fire; and a satellite view of a giant plume arising from the ocean.

Study reveals climatic fingerprints of wildfires and volcanic eruptions

February 23, 2026

Categories: Climate, Research, Students + Postdocs

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

How the search for extraterrestrial life helps sustainability on Earth

February 11, 2026

Categories: Life + Environments, Planets, Research, Students + Postdocs

A minimalist evolutionary tree in front of stylized cyanobacteria.

Some early life forms may have breathed oxygen well before it filled the atmosphere

February 06, 2026

Categories: Life + Environments, 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

Jupiter’s North Pole showing multiple vortexes.

Polar weather on Jupiter and Saturn hints at the planets’ interior details

January 19, 2026

Categories: Planets, Research, Students + Postdocs

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

The ruins of Pompeii with a compositional analysis overlay.

Pompeii offers insights into ancient Roman building technology

December 9, 2025

Categories: Research

Two urban landscapes showing improved air quality when industry uses renewable energy sources.

When companies “go green,” air quality impacts can vary dramatically

December 8, 2025

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Health of the Planet, Research

When we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, how long does it stay locked away?

December 4, 2025

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

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

Artist’s illustration of early Earth with fire, lava, volcanos, and meteors.

Geologists discover the first evidence of 4.5-billion-year-old “proto Earth”

October 14, 2025

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

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

A variety of sea sponges, some tall and cylindrical, some wide and flat, and some bowl-shaped.

The first animals on Earth may have been sea sponges, study suggests

September 29, 2025

Categories: Life + Environments, Research, Students + Postdocs

Solar panel arrays in a field.

MITEI Future Energy Systems Center funds new projects to advance the energy transition

September 17, 2025

Categories: Climate, Faculty + Senior Researchers, Health of the Planet, Research

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

Colorful rings surrounding a star with lines weaving up and down through them.

Astronomers reveal planet-building’s secret ingredient: magnetism

September 12, 2025

Categories: Faculty + Senior Researchers, In the Media, Planets, Research