Boston University

Earth & Environment

Photo: A woman mounts a sensor on a Boston city Blue Bike.

Air Quality

Air Quality Sensors Could Be Coming to a Bicycle Near You

June 4, 2024

Photo: A large teal sign reads "COP28 UAE: Energy Transition Changemakers". Streams of lit up water streams are shown in front of the bright sign.

Climate Conference

Can the World Find Agreement on Fighting Climate Change?

December 11, 2023

Image: A Modern wire frame mesh design vector illustration of the year "2023". Numbers are depicted with glowing neon green low polygonal digits on black background.

2023 in Review

Best of The Brink 2023: 10 Life-Changing Inventions, Amazing Discoveries, and Surprising Findings from BU Researchers

December 11, 2023

Collage: (From left to right, top down) Photo: Philadelphia Eagles' C.J. Gardner-Johnson catches a pass during practice at the NFL football team's training facility, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. A Black man wearing a dark green and white Eagles' football uniform and helmet catches a football in his hands, Photo: A flatlay of the iLet Bionic Pancreas, a bionic pancreas approved at the FDA. The device is a black box with a wire attached with two additional attachments, Photo: An unidentified person standing in a generic store pharmacy holds over the counter medicine in the aisle as they try to make a decision, and Photo: A white hands holds up a petri dish holding the yeast candida auris in a laboratory. a Petri dish with speckles of white dots/fungi is shown.

2023 IN REVIEW

What Were BU’s Most-Read Science and Research Stories in 2023?

December 11, 2023

Photo: Trees and mist in the green forest of Stanislaus National Forest from Yosemite National Park. A large green forest full of lush pine trees are shown. they look scenic with the rising sun. A hazy blue, green, and black static overlay is stylized at the bottom of the image.

Expert Take

US Forest Service’s Dangerous Carbon Disposal Plan Would Foul Our National Forests

December 7, 2023

Photo: A woman with glasses and a polkadot blouse and red skirt poses for a picture in front of a stone building on a sunny day

MacArthur Fellowship

BU Ecologist Lucy Hutyra Wins a 2023 MacArthur “Genius Grant”

October 4, 2023

Photo: Group photo of Assistant Professor of Biology, Sarah Davies (center) and PhD student, Maria Valadex Ingersoll (CAS 23) and Dr Hannah Aichelman (right) (CAS 23). The three women pose in a lab as Davies holds up a sample of bleached coral and another sample of algae rests on the lab tables in front of Ingersoll.

Coral Reefs

For Coral Reefs, Temperature Is Everything—Is It Too Late to Save Them?

September 26, 2023

Photo: A large brown mushroom is shown at the trunk of a tree at the edge of a sidewalk next to a quiet street.

Forest Edges

Cutting Up Forests Disrupts an Essential Bond between Trees and Fungi

September 12, 2023

Photo: STH professor Rebecca Copeland poses for a photo on a bright green lawn. A white woman wearing glasses, a white blouse, black cardigan, and long beaded necklace, stands with hands placed in front of her. Foreground leaves frame her and an old church-like building is shown in the blurred background.

Climate Change

What Can the Bible Teach Us about Fighting Climate Change?

August 15, 2023

Photo: Pedestrians pass the One World Trade Center, center, amidst a smokey haze from wildfires in Canada. Scene is tinted a sepia-orange as masked pedestrians walk in and around the city.

Wildfires

The Impact of Wildfires on Climate Change and Air Quality

June 8, 2023

Photo: Three young women hold up puppets on their right hand and smile into the camera. From left, she has short brown hair and wears a monochromatic tan outfit. In the middle, a white woman with long brown hair and a stripped shirt. On the right, a Black woman with shoulder length straight hair. She wears an all black outfit.

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

Communicating Science and Research—through Puppets

May 16, 2023

Photo: To the far left, Andrew Reid Bell, a white man wearing a green cap, looks on as a small group of dark-skinned Black women and men look to tablets on a multi-colored, checkered long table. They are in a small wooden dwelling with an open doorway and cross-patterned open windows letting light in.

Conservation

How Do We Make Farming Better for the Planet? Ask Women

March 16, 2023

Image: Concept illustration of Advanced Air Mobility, with its many vehicle concepts and potential uses in both local and intraregional applications. Mockup of multiple types of aircrafts are depicted flying over urban, suburban and rural areas.

NASA

Delivery Drones and Rotor-Powered Rideshares Sound Great—and Noisy

March 14, 2023

From left, Oliver McRae, Lena Dubitsky and James "Jacy" Bird, an ENG associate professor have been studying what bubbles can teach us about how microplastics, viruses, and bacteria aerosolize. Bird just put out a paper on his findings. The team worked in the lab, Wednesday, February 15, 2023. Photo by Jake Belcher. Three people stand in a lab setting with highspeed cameras and other technical equipment setup nearby.

Bubbles

New Bubble Popping Theory Could Help Track Ocean Pollution and Viruses

March 9, 2023

Photo: A birds-eye view of the destruction from the earthquake in Turkey. Mass rubble from a fallen structure is scattered everywhere.

Earthquakes

Why Were the Two Earthquakes That Struck Turkey and Syria So Catastrophic—and Could They Have Been Predicted?

February 9, 2023

Photo: Close-up side-view shot of a cooking pot on a gas stove. Various kitchen appliances can also be seen on the counter in the background.

Gas stoves

Should You Replace Your Gas Stove?

January 26, 2023

Collage: (From left to right, top down) Photo: Bruce Willis at a speaking engagement wearing a blue collared shirt with a white undershirt, Photo of BU Medical student, Molly Jia Yong Zhao gives a flu shot to a patient during a clinic on September 29, 2020, vector illustration of a brain pixelating and dissolving from left to right, and Photo of Clinical Assistant Professor in Health Science, Hagere Yilma, posing for a photo. A Black woman with shoulder-length black hair styled in a twist-out hairstyle wearing a black, tunic-style blouse stands in front of a brick wall and smiles to the camera.

2022 in Review

Best of The Brink 2022: BU’s Most-Read Science and Research Stories

December 13, 2022

Image: A Modern wire frame mesh design vector illustration of the year "2022". Numbers are depicted with glowing neon blue low polygonal digits on dark blue background. .

2022 in Review

Best of The Brink 2022: 10 Amazing Discoveries and Mind-Blowing Facts

December 12, 2022

Photo: Newly installed Nexamp solar panels at the Local 103 headquarters in Dorchester. Large solar panels cover a rooftop on a Boston building. A city skyline and distant white wind turbine are shown in the distance.

Climate Change

POV: Local Climate Action Matters Now More than Ever

November 15, 2022

Photo: The sun sets behind signage for the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. The large sign reads "COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh, 2022 Egypt" and is shown in shadow against the setting sun. A few large clown fish figures can be seen below the sign.

Climate Change

Urgency, Accountability, and Private Jets at UN Climate Summit COP27

November 14, 2022

Urgency, Accountability, and Private Jets at UN Climate Summit COP27