MIT’s new sustainability garden creates a buzz
Collaborative process makes space for community, plants, and pollinators alike.
Uncovering the riches of traditional global medicine
Researchers solve how the kava plant produces its pain-relieving and anti-anxiety molecules, demonstrate an extensible method to scale and optimize production.
Ambient plant illumination could light the way for greener buildings
Collaboration between MIT architect and chemical engineer could be at the center of new sustainable infrastructure for buildings.
The future of agriculture is computerized
Machine learning can reveal optimal growing conditions to maximize taste and other features.
An easier way to engineer plants
MIT-led team uses nanoparticles to deliver genes into plant chloroplasts.
How plants expand their capacity to use solar energy
Research from the lab of assistant professor of chemistry Gabriela Schlau-Cohen advances the understanding of plants' photosynthetic machinery.
Cracking a tough case
Whitehead Institute and MIT researchers uncover the detailed molecular structure of the sporopollenin polymer, an inert material key for the emergence of land plants.
Engineers create plants that glow
Illumination from nanobionic plants might one day replace some electrical lighting.
Sensors applied to plant leaves warn of water shortage
Electronic circuits reveal when a plant begins to experience drought conditions.
Finding the root cause of plant resilience
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering welcomes plant ecologist Dave Des Marais to the MIT faculty.
Harnessing the right amount of sunshine
Study reveals the mechanisms of a protein that helps moss and green algae defend against too much light.
Plants for the people
A new event series is bringing greenery to campus in partnership with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Nanobionic spinach plants can detect explosives
After sensing dangerous chemicals, the carbon-nanotube-enhanced plants send an alert.
Building up bamboo
MIT researchers study bamboo for engineered building material, similar to plywood.
Bionic plants
Nanotechnology could turn shrubbery into supercharged energy producers or sensors for explosives.