Boston University

Environment & Ecology

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: Isabel Novick, a white woman with wavy brown hair and wearing a cream long sleeved blouse smiles as she peers out from the other side of a clothes rack. She pushes aside a set of clothes and poses from in between them.

Ecology

Elevating the Clothes-Eating Moth from Pest to Evolutionary Marvel

May 3, 2023

Photo: Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupts in the background as Peter Schroedl, a person wearing black clothes, a face mask, orange neon vest collects specimens from volcanic rocks in the foreground.

Microbes

What Microbes Can Tell Us about Life on Earth and in Space

April 24, 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

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: The Tobin Bridge is shown over the Mystic River in Massachusetts. A large, cantilever truss bridge is shown over a slightly foggy body of water with a small line of boats docked underneath. The city of Boston can be seen in the distant skyline.

Climate Resilience

Climate Change Is Threatening the Mystic River Watershed—Can It Be Saved?

March 7, 2023

Photo: Zoomed in macro shot of brown ants on a green leaf in front of a bright white background.

Ants

BU’s “Ant Man” Studies Ant Brains

February 16, 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: 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

Photo of green and orange gliding tree frogs swarming on leaves against a black background.

Research in Photos

From Lovesick Frogs to Music-Making to Mouse Memories, Photo Contest Shows Stunning Breadth of BU Research

September 27, 2022

Photo of chicken kebabs and sausages on a propane grill.

Food Ethics

Firing Up the Grill? Why It’s So Hard to Give Up Meat

July 17, 2022

Photo of Pamela Templer (center), Shawn Jones (left), and Yasmin Romitti. From left, a tall Black man with glasses, a dark grey blazer, purpled collared shirt and black pants stands next to a shorter white woman with arms crossed wearing black blouse and pants and red cardigan, and on right a younger, shorter white woman wearing a black and white polka dot shirt and jeans. They all stand, pose, and smile next to each other.

Climate Change

Building a Diverse, Strong Climate Workforce

June 10, 2022

Two pairs of hands each hold a box full of scientific sensors in front of a sunlight sky background

Earth & Environment

As Climate Change Gets Worse, Science Provides Hope and Possibility

April 21, 2022

Photo of a white-tailed deer fawn on a neighborhood front lawn.

Animal Conservation

POV: The Secret to Wildlife Conservation Might Be the “Animal Agency” Approach—Giving Creatures a Role in Their Own Preservation

March 9, 2022

Image of BU Earth and environment researchers Catherine Mahoney, and Amanda Vieillard at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation in Boston, Mass. The women crouch in the yellow grass and set up portable carbon sensors. The Boston City Skyline is seen behind them.

Blue Carbon

Empowering Citizen Scientists to Study and Protect Coastal Wetlands

March 3, 2022

Photo of activists holding cardboard cutouts of President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi protest outside of the International Monetary Fund headquarters during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021.

International Relations

Why the World Monetary System Needs a New Set of Rules

February 28, 2022

Boston's city skyline showcasing the greenery and trees in the foreground

Forest Edges

City Trees and Soil Are Sucking More Carbon Out of the Atmosphere Than Previously Thought

February 16, 2022

Image of 4 black and white pencil-style illustrations showcasing the various steps needed for ice-cutting: scraping, grooving, planing and ribbing, and sawing, calking and breaking off.

History

Tracing the History of New England’s Ice Trade

February 4, 2022

photo of Randall skiing in a place called Echo Glacier. She is between a glacier and a mountain, where the ice has melted around the sides.

Climate Science

On Alaska’s Glaciers, Life Is Harsh—and So Is the Reality of Climate Change

December 13, 2021

On Alaska’s Glaciers, Life Is Harsh—and So Is the Reality of Climate Change