Solutions & Sustainability
“Do not bid!”: The fight to stop homeownership collapse in Detroit
Can Detroit get its comeback right?
Why slime is the perfect protection against wildfires
Fire-retardant gels and slimes combine the best attributes of water and foam.
Virginia launches world’s biggest 3D-printed housing project
One home was printed in 28 hours. Now, Alquist 3D is building 200 more.
The biggest myths about electric vehicles
We're separating the facts about EVs from the fiction.
After millennia of agricultural expansion, the world has passed “peak agricultural land”
This marks a historic moment in humanity’s relationship to the planet.
MIT invents $4 solar desalination device
It could make enough drinking water for a family of four.
World map reveals wind and solar power winners (and losers)
Best in class: Denmark and Uruguay. Worst in class: Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and Russia.
Rooftop gardens can help alleviate heat in cities, study finds
An effect called the "urban heat island" means that temperatures are often 10 degrees higher in cities, according to NASA.
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop is possible. How badly do we want it?
The Hyperloop is physically possible, but engineering challenges will make its construction very difficult. Also, accidents would be catastrophic.
How Singapore’s “Garden City” vision fused nature and urban design like nowhere else
Singapore is a breeding ground of truly green buildings.
Solar + battery hybrids are poised for explosive growth
Meet the power plant of the future.
Companies are sucking carbon from the atmosphere using “direct air capture”
Here’s how it works.
Redwood trees have two different kinds of leaves, scientists discover
Two types of leaves for two different drastic weather conditions.
Why a nuclear power plant would survive a 9/11-style airplane attack
U.S. nuclear power plants are built to survive external attacks. Even missiles or a commercial aircraft strike would not cause a meltdown or radiation leak.
“GeoGrid” helps cut home energy bills to just $1 per month
A community in Austin, Texas is using geothermal energy to keep homes warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Cloud seeding might not be as promising as drought-troubled states hope
On Nov. 13, 1946, a scientist dropped crushed dry ice from a plane into supercooled stratus clouds.
Northern white rhino: resurrecting an extinct species in four steps
Scientists at the San Diego Zoo are on a mission to resurrect the extinct northern white rhino.
Is your air as unhealthy as cigarettes? There’s a map for that
The World Air Quality Index shows how clean your city’s air is, in real time.
MIT’s new plant-based material is made from cellulose nanocrystals and could replace plastics
Using cellulose from trees and a synthetic polymer, MIT researchers have created a material that "is stronger and tougher than some types of bone, and harder than typical aluminum alloys."
How can we produce electronics sustainably? Extract rare-earth elements from waste
A new method of extracting rare-earth elements could put us on the track toward a circular economy.
Map of whale migration “superhighways” might help save them from extinction
The world’s great whales aren’t just vulnerable where they congregate, but everywhere they roam.
Beavers offer lessons about managing water in a changing climate, whether the challenge is drought or floods
Letting nature's expert engineers lead the way.
See a futuristic flying car’s first untethered flight
This flying car — more properly called an "electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle" — will seat five and fly up to 135 mph.
Habitat for Humanity builds 3D-printed house in 28 hours
Made from concrete, it cost 15% less per square foot to construct than a typical house.
Bye, paper currencies: How blockchain and fintech will soon transform money
Digital currencies are set to upend paper currencies, but it likely won't be the decentralized utopia some hope it will be.
En-ROADS: A powerful, interactive climate model for predicting temperature rise
Driving Teslas and planting trees are nice, but methane reduction, industrial efficiency, carbon removal, and a moderate carbon tax are the most efficient ways to fight climate change.
There never was a “population bomb”
Society incorrectly blamed a "population bomb” for problems that had other causes. A wrong diagnosis produces ineffective solutions.
Drowning Holland: how the Netherlands will survive in floating cities
With sea levels rising, the Dutch are pondering floating cities — while also exporting their engineering know-how to turn a tidy profit.
Exotic and sustainable, night trains are coming back to Europe
The “Euro Night Sprinter” map is utopian, but Europe’s rail future could look a lot like it.
The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
In an excerpt from her recent book, the behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden carefully explores a topic that's often considered taboo: how genetics affect life outcomes.