Do Forest Carbon Credits Work and Actually Help the Environment?
It takes a lot of fuel to get an airplane up in the sky and keep it there—which means a lot of emissions. In fact, the airline industry produces more greenhouse gases than many major countries. Most airlines know this isn’t a good look, so they are pushing for cleaner fuels—and offering passengers the chance to help them offset a flight’s carbon emissions. Book a trip with a big carrier and you might be asked if you want to invest in forest preservation, saving enough trees to soak up your jet-setting’s environmental emissions.
Why Do Urban Trees Grow Faster than Rural Ones?
Established in 1954, the Los Angeles–based philanthropic organization supports science, engineering, and medical research with a focus on novel proposals that strive to break new ground. The latest BU project is being led by forest microbial ecologist Jennifer Bhatnagar, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of biology and director of the BU Biogeoscience Program. She and her colleagues hope to use a better understanding of how urban trees adapt to sometimes harsh conditions to support preservation initiatives.
How Do We Solve America’s Affordable Housing Crisis? BU Research Helps Inspire a Federal Bill That Suggests Answers
A new federal bill, introduced by Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), aims to solve the crisis by making it easier to peel back local rules that can block new construction—and that are often weaponized by those who don’t want new housing in their backyards. And the bill’s approach was inspired, in part, by Boston University research.
Heat Waves Are Scorching Boston, but Are Some Neighborhoods Hotter than Others?
The heat island effect means some parts of the city warm up more than others when summer temperatures soar. While parks and other areas with green space and greater tree cover provide shade, and cool the air through evaporation and transpiration, the dark roofs and asphalt of densely developed areas absorb and radiate the sun’s heat. Despite its diversity of environments, Boston decides whether it’s in a heat wave from temperature readings at just one site: Boston Logan International Airport.
“A Lasting Legacy of Excellence”: Reflections on President Brown’s Impact on BU Research
To see President Robert A. Brown’s impact on research at Boston University, you just need to take a walk through its campuses. A series of striking buildings, all built within the past two decades, are the physical representation of the University’s emergence as a world-class research institution during Brown’s tenure: the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, and—most recently—the eye-catching Center for Computing & Data Sciences.
Sociologist Jessica Simes’ New Book Explores the Toll of Mass Incarceration and Its Racial Disparities
Her discovery launched Simes, now a Boston University College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of sociology, on an eight-year investigation into the shifting geography of mass incarceration—specifically in Massachusetts, but with the pattern being repeated across the country—and the consequences for neighborhoods and communities. Her findings—a data-driven story of American punishment and place mostly untold by scholars and researchers—are presented in her recent book, Punishing Places: The Geography of Mass Imprisonment (University of California Press, October 2021).