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MIT School of Science launches Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy

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Monday, August 5, 2024

The MIT School of Science is launching a center to advance knowledge and computational capabilities in the field of sustainability science, and support decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society to achieve sustainable development goals. Aligned with the Climate Project at MIT, researchers at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will develop and apply expertise from across the Institute to improve understanding of sustainability challenges, and thereby provide actionable knowledge and insight to inform strategies for improving human well-being for current and future generations.Noelle Selin, professor at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will serve as the center’s inaugural faculty director. C. Adam Schlosser and Sergey Paltsev, senior research scientists at MIT, will serve as deputy directors, with Anne Slinn as executive director.Incorporating and succeeding both the Center for Global Change Science and Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change while adding new capabilities, the center aims to produce leading-edge research to help guide societal transitions toward a more sustainable future. Drawing on the long history of MIT’s efforts to address global change and its integrated environmental and human dimensions, the center is well-positioned to lead burgeoning global efforts to advance the field of sustainability science, which seeks to understand nature-society systems in their full complexity. This understanding is designed to be relevant and actionable for decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society in their efforts to develop viable pathways to improve quality of life for multiple stakeholders.“As critical challenges such as climate, health, energy, and food security increasingly affect people’s lives around the world, decision-makers need a better understanding of the earth in its full complexity — and that includes people, technologies, and institutions as well as environmental processes,” says Selin. “Better knowledge of these systems and how they interact can lead to more effective strategies that avoid unintended consequences and ensure an improved quality of life for all.”    Advancing knowledge, computational capability, and decision supportTo produce more precise and comprehensive knowledge of sustainability challenges and guide decision-makers to formulate more effective strategies, the center has set the following goals:Advance fundamental understanding of the complex interconnected physical and socio-economic systems that affect human well-being. As new policies and technologies are developed amid climate and other global changes, they interact with environmental processes and institutions in ways that can alter the earth’s critical life-support systems. Fundamental mechanisms that determine many of these systems’ behaviors, including those related to interacting climate, water, food, and socio-economic systems, remain largely unknown and poorly quantified. Better understanding can help society mitigate the risks of abrupt changes and “tipping points” in these systems.Develop, establish and disseminate new computational tools toward better understanding earth systems, including both environmental and human dimensions. The center’s work will integrate modeling and data analysis across disciplines in an era of increasing volumes of observational data. MIT multi-system models and data products will provide robust information to inform decision-making and shape the next generation of sustainability science and strategy.Produce actionable science that supports equity and justice within and across generations. The center’s research will be designed to inform action associated with measurable outcomes aligned with supporting human well-being across generations. This requires engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including not only nations and companies, but also nongovernmental organizations and communities that take action to promote sustainable development — with special attention to those who have historically borne the brunt of environmental injustice.“The center’s work will advance fundamental understanding in sustainability science, leverage leading-edge computing and data, and promote engagement and impact,” says Selin. “Our researchers will help lead scientists and strategists across the globe who share MIT’s commitment to mobilizing knowledge to inform action toward a more sustainable world.”Building a better world at MITBuilding on existing MIT capabilities in sustainability, science, and strategy, the center aims to: focus research, education, and outreach under a theme that reflects a comprehensive state of the field and international research directions, fostering a dynamic community of students, researchers, and faculty;raise the visibility of sustainability science at MIT, emphasizing links between science and action, in the context of existing Institute goals and other efforts on climate and sustainability, and in a way that reflects the vital contributions of a range of natural and social science disciplines to understanding human-environment systems; andre-emphasize MIT’s long-standing expertise in integrated systems modeling while leveraging the Institute’s concurrent leading-edge strengths in data and computing, establishing leadership that harnesses recent innovations, including those in machine learning and artificial intelligence, toward addressing the science challenges of global change and sustainability.“The Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will provide the necessary synergy for our MIT researchers to develop, deploy, and scale up serious solutions to climate change and other critical sustainability challenges,” says Nergis Mavalvala the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science. “With Professor Selin at its helm, the center will also ensure that these solutions are created in concert with the people who are directly affected now and in the future.”The center builds on more than three decades of achievements by the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, both of which were directed or co-directed by professor of atmospheric science Ronald Prinn.

New center taps Institute-wide expertise to improve understanding of, and responses to, sustainability challenges.

The MIT School of Science is launching a center to advance knowledge and computational capabilities in the field of sustainability science, and support decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society to achieve sustainable development goals. Aligned with the Climate Project at MIT, researchers at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will develop and apply expertise from across the Institute to improve understanding of sustainability challenges, and thereby provide actionable knowledge and insight to inform strategies for improving human well-being for current and future generations.

Noelle Selin, professor at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will serve as the center’s inaugural faculty director. C. Adam Schlosser and Sergey Paltsev, senior research scientists at MIT, will serve as deputy directors, with Anne Slinn as executive director.

Incorporating and succeeding both the Center for Global Change Science and Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change while adding new capabilities, the center aims to produce leading-edge research to help guide societal transitions toward a more sustainable future. Drawing on the long history of MIT’s efforts to address global change and its integrated environmental and human dimensions, the center is well-positioned to lead burgeoning global efforts to advance the field of sustainability science, which seeks to understand nature-society systems in their full complexity. This understanding is designed to be relevant and actionable for decision-makers in government, industry, and civil society in their efforts to develop viable pathways to improve quality of life for multiple stakeholders.

“As critical challenges such as climate, health, energy, and food security increasingly affect people’s lives around the world, decision-makers need a better understanding of the earth in its full complexity — and that includes people, technologies, and institutions as well as environmental processes,” says Selin. “Better knowledge of these systems and how they interact can lead to more effective strategies that avoid unintended consequences and ensure an improved quality of life for all.”    

Advancing knowledge, computational capability, and decision support

To produce more precise and comprehensive knowledge of sustainability challenges and guide decision-makers to formulate more effective strategies, the center has set the following goals:

  • Advance fundamental understanding of the complex interconnected physical and socio-economic systems that affect human well-being. As new policies and technologies are developed amid climate and other global changes, they interact with environmental processes and institutions in ways that can alter the earth’s critical life-support systems. Fundamental mechanisms that determine many of these systems’ behaviors, including those related to interacting climate, water, food, and socio-economic systems, remain largely unknown and poorly quantified. Better understanding can help society mitigate the risks of abrupt changes and “tipping points” in these systems.
  • Develop, establish and disseminate new computational tools toward better understanding earth systems, including both environmental and human dimensions. The center’s work will integrate modeling and data analysis across disciplines in an era of increasing volumes of observational data. MIT multi-system models and data products will provide robust information to inform decision-making and shape the next generation of sustainability science and strategy.
  • Produce actionable science that supports equity and justice within and across generations. The center’s research will be designed to inform action associated with measurable outcomes aligned with supporting human well-being across generations. This requires engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including not only nations and companies, but also nongovernmental organizations and communities that take action to promote sustainable development — with special attention to those who have historically borne the brunt of environmental injustice.

“The center’s work will advance fundamental understanding in sustainability science, leverage leading-edge computing and data, and promote engagement and impact,” says Selin. “Our researchers will help lead scientists and strategists across the globe who share MIT’s commitment to mobilizing knowledge to inform action toward a more sustainable world.”

Building a better world at MIT

Building on existing MIT capabilities in sustainability, science, and strategy, the center aims to: 

  • focus research, education, and outreach under a theme that reflects a comprehensive state of the field and international research directions, fostering a dynamic community of students, researchers, and faculty;
  • raise the visibility of sustainability science at MIT, emphasizing links between science and action, in the context of existing Institute goals and other efforts on climate and sustainability, and in a way that reflects the vital contributions of a range of natural and social science disciplines to understanding human-environment systems; and
  • re-emphasize MIT’s long-standing expertise in integrated systems modeling while leveraging the Institute’s concurrent leading-edge strengths in data and computing, establishing leadership that harnesses recent innovations, including those in machine learning and artificial intelligence, toward addressing the science challenges of global change and sustainability.

“The Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will provide the necessary synergy for our MIT researchers to develop, deploy, and scale up serious solutions to climate change and other critical sustainability challenges,” says Nergis Mavalvala the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean of the MIT School of Science. “With Professor Selin at its helm, the center will also ensure that these solutions are created in concert with the people who are directly affected now and in the future.”

The center builds on more than three decades of achievements by the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, both of which were directed or co-directed by professor of atmospheric science Ronald Prinn.

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Laurent Demanet appointed co-director of MIT Center for Computational Science and Engineering

Applied mathematics professor will join fellow co-director Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou in leading the cross-cutting center.

Laurent Demanet, MIT professor of applied mathematics, has been appointed co-director of the MIT Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE), effective Sept. 1.Demanet, who holds a joint appointment in the departments of Mathematics and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences — where he previously served as director of the Earth Resources Laboratory — succeeds Youssef Marzouk, who is now serving as the associate dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing.Joining co-director Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou, the Quentin Berg (1937) Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Demanet will help lead CCSE, supporting students, faculty, and researchers while fostering a vibrant community of innovation and discovery in computational science and engineering (CSE).“Laurent’s ability to translate concepts of computational science and engineering into understandable, real-world applications is an invaluable asset to CCSE. His interdisciplinary experience is a benefit to the visibility and impact of CSE research and education. I look forward to working with him,” says Dan Huttenlocher, dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing and the Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.“I’m pleased to welcome Laurent into his new role as co-director of CCSE. His work greatly supports the cross-cutting methodology at the heart of the computational science and engineering community. I’m excited for CCSE to have a co-director from the School of Science, and eager to see the center continue to broaden its connections across MIT,” says Asu Ozdaglar, deputy dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, department head of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and MathWorks Professor.Established in 2008, CCSE was incorporated into the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing as one of its core academic units in January 2020. An interdisciplinary research and education center dedicated to pioneering applications of computation, CCSE houses faculty, researchers, and students from a range of MIT schools, such as the schools of Engineering, Science, Architecture and Planning, and the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as other units of the college.“I look forward to working with Nicolas and the college leadership on raising the profile of CCSE on campus and globally. We will be pursuing a set of initiatives that span from enhancing the visibility of our research and strengthening our CSE PhD program, to expanding professional education offerings and deepening engagement with our alumni and with industry,” says Demanet.Demanet’s research lies at the intersection of applied mathematics and scientific computing to visualize the structures beneath Earth’s surface. He also has a strong interest in scientific computing, machine learning, inverse problems, and wave propagation. Through his position as principal investigator of the Imaging and Computing Group, Demanet and his students aim to answer fundamental questions in computational seismic imaging to increase the quality and accuracy of mapping and the projection of changes in Earth’s geological structures. The implications of his work are rooted in environmental monitoring, water resources and geothermal energy, and the understanding of seismic hazards, among others.He joined the MIT faculty in 2009. He received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the U.S. Air Force Young Investigator Award in 2011, and a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2012. He also held the Class of 1954 Career Development Professorship from 2013 to 2016. Prior to coming to MIT, Demanet held the Szegö Assistant Professorship at Stanford University. He completed his undergraduate studies in mathematical engineering and theoretical physics at Universite de Louvain in Belgium, and earned a PhD in applied and computational mathematics at Caltech, where he was awarded the William P. Carey Prize for best dissertation in the mathematical sciences.

Science
Education
Water

Scientists Reveal That the Red Sea Completely Vanished 6.2 Million Years Ago

KAUST researchers discovered that the Red Sea experienced a massive disruption 6.2 million years ago, completely transforming its marine life. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have confirmed that the Red Sea once completely dried up around 6.2 million years ago, only to be suddenly refilled by a catastrophic influx of [...]

New research shows the Red Sea dried out 6.2 million years ago before being suddenly flooded by the Indian Ocean. (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.comKAUST researchers discovered that the Red Sea experienced a massive disruption 6.2 million years ago, completely transforming its marine life. Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have confirmed that the Red Sea once completely dried up around 6.2 million years ago, only to be suddenly refilled by a catastrophic influx of water from the Indian Ocean. Their work places a precise timeline on a remarkable event that reshaped the basin’s history. By combining seismic imaging, microfossil analysis, and geochemical dating, the team discovered that this transformation occurred within just 100,000 years, an exceptionally short span in geological terms. During this period, the Red Sea shifted from being linked to the Mediterranean to becoming a desolate salt basin. The dry phase ended when a powerful flood cut through volcanic ridges, opening the Bab el-Mandab strait and restoring the Red Sea’s connection to the global oceans. “Our findings show that the Red Sea basin records one of the most extreme environmental events on Earth, when it dried out completely and was then suddenly reflooded about 6.2 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Tihana Pensa of KAUST. “The flood transformed the basin, restored marine conditions, and established the Red Sea’s lasting connection to the Indian Ocean.” How the Indian Ocean Flooded the Red Sea The Red Sea was initially connected from the north to the Mediterranean through a shallow sill. This connection was severed, drying the Red Sea into a barren salt desert. In the south of the Red Sea, near the Hanish Islands, a volcanic ridge separates the sea from the Indian Ocean. But around 6.2 million years ago, seawater from the Indian Ocean surged across this barrier in a catastrophic flood. The torrent carved a 320-kilometer-long submarine canyon that is still visible today on the seafloor. The flood rapidly refilled the basin, drowning the salt flats and restoring normal marine conditions in less than 100,000 years. This event happened nearly a million years before the Mediterranean was refilled by the famous Zanclean flood, giving the Red Sea a unique story of rebirth. Why the Red Sea Matters Geologically The Red Sea formed by the separation of the Arabian Plate from the African Plate beginning 30 million years ago. Initially, the sea was a narrow rift valley filled with lakes, then became a wider gulf when it was flooded from the Mediterranean 23 million years ago. Marine life thrived initially, as seen by the fossil reefs along the northern coast near Duba and Umlujj. However, evaporation and poor seawater circulation increased salinity, causing the extinction of marine life between 15 and 6 million years ago. Additionally, the basin was filled with layers of salt and gypsum. This culminated in the complete desiccation of the Red Sea. The catastrophic flood from the Indian Ocean restored marine life in the Red, which persists in the coral reefs to the present. All in all, the Red Sea is a natural laboratory for understanding how oceans are born, how salt giants accumulate, and how climate and tectonics interact over millions of years. The discovery highlights how closely the Red Sea’s history is linked with global ocean change. It also shows that the region has experienced environmental extremes before, only to return as a thriving marine ecosystem. “This paper adds to our knowledge about the processes that form and expand oceans on Earth. It also maintains KAUST’s leading position in Red Sea research,” said co-author KAUST Professor Abdulkader Al Afifi. Reference: “Desiccation of the Red Sea basin at the start of the Messinian salinity crisis was followed by major erosion and reflooding from the Indian Ocean” by Tihana Pensa, Antonio Delgado Huertas and Abdulkader M. Afifi, 9 August 2025, Communications Earth & Environment.DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02642-1 Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.Follow us on Google, Discover, and News.

Science
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Climate

The Sun’s Poles Hold the Key to Its Three Greatest Mysteries

The Sun’s poles may hold answers to long-standing mysteries about magnetic cycles, solar wind, and space weather. The polar regions of the Sun remain one of the least explored areas in solar science. Although satellites and ground-based observatories have captured remarkable details of the Sun’s surface, atmosphere, and magnetic field, nearly all of these views [...]

The Sun’s polar regions, long hidden from our Earth-bound perspective, are a critical frontier in solar physics, holding the secrets to the solar magnetic cycle and the origin of the fast solar wind. An upcoming mission is designed to achieve an unprecedented polar orbit, promising to finally reveal these uncharted territories and transform our ability to predict space weather. Credit: Image courtesy of Zhenyong Hou and Jiasheng Wang at Peking University. Beijing Zhongke Journal Publising Co. Ltd.The Sun’s poles may hold answers to long-standing mysteries about magnetic cycles, solar wind, and space weather. The polar regions of the Sun remain one of the least explored areas in solar science. Although satellites and ground-based observatories have captured remarkable details of the Sun’s surface, atmosphere, and magnetic field, nearly all of these views come from the ecliptic plane, the narrow orbital path followed by Earth and most other planets. This restricted perspective means scientists have only limited knowledge of what occurs near the solar poles. Yet these regions are critical. Their magnetic fields and dynamic activity are central to the solar magnetic cycle and provide both mass and energy to the fast solar wind. These processes ultimately shape solar behavior and influence space weather that can reach Earth. Why the Poles Matter On the surface, the poles may seem calm compared to the Sun’s more active mid-latitudes (around ±35°), where sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are common. However, research shows that polar magnetic fields contribute directly to the global solar dynamo and may act as the foundation for the next solar cycle by helping establish the Sun’s dipole magnetic field. Observations from the Ulysses mission further revealed that the fast solar wind originates mainly from vast coronal holes in the polar regions. For this reason, gaining a clearer view of the Sun’s poles is essential to addressing three of the most fundamental questions in solar physics: 1) How does the solar dynamo work and drive the solar magnetic cycle? The solar magnetic cycle refers to the periodic variation in sunspot number on the solar surface, typically on a time scale of approximately 11 years. During each cycle, the Sun’s magnetic poles undergo a reversal, with the magnetic polarities of the north and south poles switching. The Sun’s global magnetic fields are generated through a dynamo process. Key to this process are the differential rotation of the Sun that generates the active regions, and the meridional circulation that transport magnetic flux toward the poles. Yet, decades of helioseismic investigations have revealed conflicting results about the flow patterns deep within the convection zone. Some studies even suggest poleward flows at the base of the convection zone, challenging the classical dynamo models. High-latitude observations of the magnetic fields and plasma motions could provide the missing evidence to refine or rethink these models. 2) What drives the fast solar wind? The fast solar wind – a supersonic stream of charged particles – originates primarily from the polar coronal holes, and permeates the majority of the heliospheric volume, dominating the physical environment of interplanetary space. However, critical details regarding the origin of this wind remain unresolved. Does the wind originate from dense plumes within coronal holes or from the less dense regions between them? Are wave-driven processes, magnetic reconnection, or some combination of both responsible for accelerating the plasma in the wind? Direct polar imaging and in-situ measurements are required to settle the debate. 3) How do space weather events propagate through the solar system? Heliospheric space weather refers to the disturbances in the heliospheric environment caused by the solar wind and solar eruptive activities. Extreme space weather events, such as large solar flares and CMEs, can significantly trigger space environmental disturbances such as severe geomagnetic and ionospheric storms, as well as spectacular aurora phenomena, posing a serious threat to the safety of high-tech activities of human beings. To accurately predict these events, scientists must track how magnetic structures and plasma flows evolve globally, not just from the limited ecliptic view. Observations from a vantage point out of the ecliptic would provide an overlook of the CME propagation in the ecliptic plane. Past Efforts Scientists have long recognized the importance of solar polar observations. The Ulysses mission, launched in 1990, was the first spacecraft to leave the ecliptic plane and sample the solar wind over the poles. Its in-situ instruments confirmed key properties of the fast solar wind but lacked imaging capability. More recently, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter has been gradually moving out of the ecliptic plane and is expected to reach latitudes of around 34° in a few years. While this represents a remarkable progress, it still falls far short of the vantage needed for a true polar view. A number of ambitious mission concepts have been proposed over the past decades, including the Solar Polar Imager (SPI), the POLAR Investigation of the Sun (POLARIS), the Solar Polar ORbit Telescope (SPORT), the Solaris mission, and the High Inclination Solar Mission (HISM). Some envisioned using advanced propulsion, such as solar sails, to reach high inclinations. Others relied on gravity assists to incrementally tilt their orbits. Each of these missions would carry both remote-sensing and in-situ instruments to image the Sun’s poles and measure key physical parameters above the poles. The SPO Mission The Solar Polar-orbit Observatory (SPO) is designed specifically to overcome the limitations of past and current missions. Scheduled for launch in January 2029, SPO will use a Jupiter gravity assist (JGA) to bend its trajectory out of the ecliptic plane. After several Earth flybys and a carefully planned encounter with Jupiter, the spacecraft will settle into a 1.5-year orbit with a perihelion of about 1 AU and an inclination of up to 75°. In its extended mission, SPO could climb to 80°, offering the most direct view of the poles ever achieved. The 15-year lifetime of the mission (including an 8-year extended mission period) will allow it to cover both solar minimum and maximum, including the crucial period around 2035 when the next solar maximum and expected polar magnetic field reversal will occur. During the whole lifetime, SPO will repeatedly pass over both poles, with extended high-latitude observation windows lasting more than 1000 days. The SPO mission aims at breakthroughs on the three scientific questions mentioned above. To meet its ambitious objectives, SPO will carry a suite of several remote-sensing and in-situ instruments. Together, they will provide a comprehensive view of the Sun’s poles. The remote-sensing instruments include the Magnetic and Helioseismic Imager (MHI) to measure magnetic fields and plasma flows at the surface, the Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope (EUT) and the X-ray Imaging Telescope (XIT) to capture dynamic events in the solar upper atmosphere, the VISible-light CORonagraph (VISCOR) and the Very Large Angle CORonagraph (VLACOR) to track the solar corona and solar wind streams out to 45 solar radii (at 1 AU). The in-situ package includes a magnetometer and particle detectors to sample the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field directly. By combining these observations, SPO will not only capture images of the poles for the first time but also connect them to the flows of plasma and magnetic energy that shape the heliosphere. SPO will not operate in isolation. It is expected to work in concert with a growing fleet of solar missions. These include the STEREO Mission, the Hinode satellite, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), the Solar Orbiter, the Aditya-L1 mission, the PUNCH mission, as well as the upcoming L5 missions (e.g., ESA’s Vigil mission and China’s LAVSO mission). Together, these assets will form an unprecedented observational network. SPO’s polar vantage will provide the missing piece, enabling nearly global 4π coverage of the Sun for the first time in human history. Looking Ahead The Sun remains our closest star, yet in many ways it is still a mystery. With SPO, scientists are poised to unlock some of its deepest secrets. The solar polar regions, once hidden from view, will finally come into focus, reshaping our understanding of the star that sustains life on Earth. The implications of SPO extend far beyond academic curiosity. A deeper understanding of the solar dynamo could improve predictions of the solar cycle, which in turn affects space weather forecasts. Insights into the fast solar wind will enhance our ability to model the heliospheric environment, critical for spacecraft design and astronaut safety. Most importantly, better monitoring of space weather events could help protect modern technological infrastructure — from navigation and communications satellites to aviation and terrestrial power systems. Reference: “Probing Solar Polar Regions” by Yuanyong Deng, Hui Tian, Jie Jiang, Shuhong Yang, Hao Li, Robert Cameron, Laurent Gizon, Louise Harra, Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, Frédéric Auchère, Xianyong Bai, Luis Rubio Bellot, Linjie Chen, Pengfei Chen, Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta, Jackie Davies, Fabio Favata, Li Feng, Xueshang Feng, Weiqun Gan, Don Hassler, Jiansen He, Junfeng Hou, Zhenyong Hou, Chunlan Jin, Wenya Li, Jiaben Lin, Dibyendu Nandy, Vaibhav Pant, Marco Romoli, Taro Sakao, Sayamanthula Krishna Prasad, Fang Shen, Yang Su, Shin Toriumi, Durgesh Tripathi, Linghua Wang, Jingjing Wang, Lidong Xia, Ming Xiong, Yihua Yan, Liping Yang, Shangbin Yang, Mei Zhang, Guiping Zhou, Xiaoshuai Zhu, Jingxiu Wang and Chi Wang, 29 August 2025, Chinese Journal of Space Science.DOI: 10.11728/cjss2025.04.2025-0054 Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.Follow us on Google and Google News.

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Energy

In a World-First, Scientists Directly Observe Elusive “Dark Excitons”

Using one of the world’s most advanced spectroscopy systems, researchers have developed a framework to guide studies in next-generation quantum information technologies. For the first time, scientists in the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have directly tracked how dark excitons evolve in atomically thin materials. This achievement paves [...]

The TR-ARPES setup used in the research. Credit: Jeff Prine (OIST)Using one of the world’s most advanced spectroscopy systems, researchers have developed a framework to guide studies in next-generation quantum information technologies. For the first time, scientists in the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have directly tracked how dark excitons evolve in atomically thin materials. This achievement paves the way for advances in both classical and quantum information technologies. The study was published in Nature Communications. Professor Keshav Dani, who leads the unit, emphasized the importance of the work: “Dark excitons have great potential as information carriers, because they are inherently less likely to interact with light, and hence less prone to degradation of their quantum properties. However, this invisibility also makes them very challenging to study and manipulate. Building on a previous breakthrough at OIST in 2020, we have opened a route to the creation, observation, and manipulation of dark excitons.” “In the general field of electronics, one manipulates electron charge to process information,” explains Xing Zhu, co-first author and PhD student in the unit. “In the field of spintronics, we exploit the spin of electrons to carry information. Going further, in valleytronics, the crystal structure of unique materials enables us to encode information into distinct momentum states of the electrons, known as valleys.” The ability to use the valley dimension of dark excitons to carry information positions them as promising candidates for quantum technologies. Dark excitons are by nature more resistant to environmental factors like thermal background than the current generation of qubits, potentially requiring less extreme cooling and making them less prone to decoherence, where the unique quantum state breaks down. The experimental setup at OIST, featuring the world-leading TR-ARPES (time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy) microscope, which features a proprietary, tabletop XUV (extreme ultraviolet) source, capable of imaging the electrons and excitons at femtosecond timescales (1fs = one quadrillionth (10-15) of a second). Credit: Jeff Prine & Andrew Scott (OIST)Defining landscapes of energy with bright and dark excitons In the last ten years, researchers have made significant strides in studying a family of atomically thin semiconductors called TMDs (transition metal dichalcogenides). Like all semiconductors, TMDs consist of atoms arranged in a crystal lattice that restricts electrons to defined energy levels, or bands, such as the valence band. When light strikes the material, electrons are lifted from the valence band into the higher-energy conduction band, leaving behind positively charged vacancies known as holes. The mutual attraction between the negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes binds them into hydrogen-like quasiparticles called excitons. If the electron and hole share specific quantum features, such as having the same spin configuration and occupying the same “valley” in momentum space (the energy minima available in the crystal lattice), they recombine within a trillionth of a second (1ps = 10−12 second), releasing light. These are known as “bright” excitons. However, if the quantum properties of the electron and hole do not match up, the electron and hole are forbidden from recombining on their own and do not emit light. These are characterized as ‘dark’ excitons. “There are two ‘species’ of dark excitons,” explains Dr. David Bacon, co-first author who is now at University College London, “momentum-dark and spin-dark, depending on where the properties of electron and hole are in conflict. The mismatch in properties not only prevents immediate recombination, allowing them to exist up to several nanoseconds (1ns = 10−9 second – a much more useful timescale), but also makes dark excitons more isolated from environmental interactions.” The atomic structure of ultrathin semiconductors like TMDs is hexagonal, and this symmetry is reflected in momentum space, where the conduction (top) and valence (bottom) bands each have local energy minima and maxima at specific points (K), which can be visualized as valleys in a momentum landscape. Time-reversal symmetry in quantum mechanics dictates that what happens in one valley is mirrored in the opposite valley: if the conduction band at K has spin-down (red), then K’ must have spin-up (blue), leading to an alternating pattern along the edge of the hexagon. Bright excitons form when the electron rests in the same valley and has the same spin as the corresponding hole. By using either left- or right-circularly polarized light, one can selectively populate bright exciton in a specific valley. The insert shows energy measurements of bright excitons, showing the contrast in valleys K and K’. Credit: Momentum landscape figure adapted Bussolotti et al., (2018) Nano Futures 2 032001. Insert adapted from Zhu et al., (2025) Nature Communications 16 6385“The unique atomic symmetry of TMDs means that when exposed to a state of light with a circular polarization, one can selectively create bright excitons only in a specific valley. This is the fundamental principle of valleytronics. However, bright excitons rapidly turn into numerous dark excitons that can potentially preserve the valley information. Which species of dark excitons are involved and to what degree they can sustain the valley information is unclear, but this is a key step in the pursuit of valleytronic applications,” explains Dr. Vivek Pareek, co-first author and OIST graduate who is now a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Observing electrons at the femtosecond scale With the state-of-the-art TR-ARPES (time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy) system at OIST, equipped with a custom-built table-top XUV (extreme ultraviolet) source, the researchers were able to monitor how different excitons evolved after bright excitons formed in a particular valley of a TMD semiconductor. They accomplished this by measuring momentum, spin state, and the population of electrons and holes at the same time, a combination of properties that had never previously been quantified together. Graphical illustration of the results, showing how the population of different exciton emerge and evolve over time at a picosecond scale (1ps = 10−12 second). Credit: Jack Featherstone (OIST), adapted from Zhu et al. (2025) Nature Communications 16 6385Their findings show that within a picosecond, some bright excitons are scattered by phonons (quantized crystal lattice vibrations) into different momentum valleys, rendering them momentum-dark. Later, spin-dark excitons dominate, where electrons have flipped spin within the same valley, persisting on nanosecond scales. With this, the team has overcome the fundamental challenge of how to access and track dark excitons, laying the foundation for dark valleytronics as a field. Dr. Julien Madéo of the unit summarizes: “Thanks to the sophisticated TR-ARPES setup at OIST, we have directly accessed and mapped how and what dark excitons keep long-lived valley information. Future developments to read out the dark excitons valley properties will unlock broad dark valleytronic applications across information systems.” Reference: “A holistic view of the dynamics of long-lived valley polarized dark excitonic states in monolayer WS2” by Xing Zhu, David R. Bacon, Vivek Pareek, Julien Madéo, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Michael K. L. Man and Keshav M. Dani, 10 July 2025, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61677-2 Funding: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Fusion Oriented REsearch for disruptive Science and Technology, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.

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Kenya’s Turkana people genetically adapted to live in harsh environment, study suggests

Research which began with conversations round a campfire and went on to examine 7m gene variants shows how people survive with little water and a meat-rich dietA collaboration between African and American researchers and a community living in one of the most hostile landscapes of northern Kenya has uncovered key genetic adaptations that explain how pastoralist people have been able to thrive in the region.Underlying the population’s abilities to live in Turkana, a place defined by extreme heat, water scarcity and limited vegetation, has been hundreds of years of natural selection, according to a study published in Science. Continue reading...

A collaboration between African and American researchers and a community living in one of the most hostile landscapes of northern Kenya has uncovered key genetic adaptations that explain how pastoralist people have been able to thrive in the region.Underlying the population’s abilities to live in Turkana, a place defined by extreme heat, water scarcity and limited vegetation, has been hundreds of years of natural selection, according to a study published in Science.It shows how the activity of key human genes has changed over millennia and the findings place “Turkana and sub-Saharan Africa at the forefront of genomic research, a field where Indigenous populations have historically been underrepresented”, according to Charles Miano, one of the study’s co-authors and a postgraduate student at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri).The research sequenced 367 whole genomes and analysed more than 7m genetic variants, identifying several regions of the genome under natural selection. It was conducted through the Turkana Health and Genomics Project (THGP), an initiative bringing together researchers from Kenya and the US, including Kemri, the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of California, Berkeley.The genomic analysis found eight regions of DNA that had undergone natural selection but one gene, STC1, expressed in the kidneys, showed exceptionally strong evidence of humans adapting to extreme environments. Evidence included the body’s response to dehydration and processing purine-rich foods such as meat and blood, staples of the Turkana people’s diet.Turkana women give water to their goats from a shallow well. The region is characterised by extreme heat, water scarcity, and limited vegetation. Photograph: Monicah Mwangi/ReutersTurkana stretches across a large swathe of northern Kenya, one of the most arid regions in the world, where shade is scarce and water even more rare. Rainfall arrives in short, unpredictable bursts, and securing enough water for themselves and their herds of cattle, goats and camels is a daily chore. Fetching water can involve journeys of many hours each day across hot terrain devoid of vegetation.About 70% to 80% of the community’s diet comes from animal sources, mostly milk, blood and meat, reflecting resourcefulness and adaptation to scarcity, which is common among pastoralist societies around the world living in environments where crops cannot grow and where markets are too far away to be accessed on foot.Yet, after years of documenting the Turkana people’s lifestyle and studying blood and urine samples to assess their health, researchers found that, although the community consumes too much purine, which should lead to gout, the condition rarely appears among the Turkana.“About 90% of the people assessed were dehydrated but generally healthy,” said Prof Julien Ayroles, from the University of California, Berkeley, one of the project’s co-principal investigators. “The Turkana have maintained their traditional way of life for thousands of years, providing us with an extraordinary window into human adaptation.”Genetic adaptations are believed to have emerged about 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the aridification of northern Africa, the study suggesting that as the region became drier, natural selection favoured variants that enhanced survival under arid conditions.A Turkana woman carries the leg of a cow as she migrates with Turkana people to find water and grazing land for cattle. Photograph: Goran Tomašević/Reuters“This research demonstrates how our ancestors adapted to dramatic climate shifts through genetic evolution,” said Dr Epem Esekon, responsible for Turkana county’s health and sanitation sector.However, as more members of the Turkana community move to towns and cities, the same adaptations that once protected them may now increase risks of chronic lifestyle diseases, a phenomenon known as “evolutionary mismatch”. This occurs when adaptations shaped by one environment become liabilities in another, highlighting how rapid lifestyle changes interact with deep evolutionary history.When the researchers compared biomarkers and gene expression – the process by which information encoded in a gene is turned into a function – in the genomes of city-dwelling Turkana people with their kin still living in the villages, they found an imbalance of gene expression that may predispose them to chronic diseases such as hypertension or obesity, which are more common in urban settings where diets, water availability and activity patterns are radically different.“Understanding these adaptations will guide health programmes for the Turkana, especially as some shift from traditional pastoralism to city life,” said Miano.As the world faces rapid environmental change, the Turkana people’s story offers inspiration and practical insights. For generations, the researchers said, this community has developed and maintained sophisticated strategies for surviving in a challenging and variable environment, knowledge that becomes increasingly valuable as the climate crisis creates new survival challenges.The study has combined genetic findings with community insights on environment, lifestyle and health. Photograph: Luis Tato/AFP/Getty ImagesFor close to a decade, the project centred on co-production of knowledge, combining genomic science with ecological and anthropological expertise. The agenda emerged from dialogue with Turkana elders, scientists, chiefs and community members, conversations about health, diet and change, often in the evening around a campfire.“Working with the Turkana has been transformative for this study,” said Dr Sospeter Ngoci Njeru, a co-principal investigator and deputy director at Kemri’s Centre for Community Driven Research. “Their insights into their environment, lifestyle and health have been essential to connecting our genetic findings to real-world biology and survival strategies.”Dr Dino Martins, director of the TBI, says the deep ecological connection and the adaptation to one of the Earth’s hottest and most arid environments provides lessons for how climate continues to shape human biology and health. “The discovery adds another important piece of knowledge to our wider understanding of human evolution,” he said.Researchers say other pastoralist communities in similar environments in east Africa, including the Rendille, Samburu, Borana, Merille, Karamojong and Toposa, are likely to share this adaptation.The research team will create a podcast in the Turkana language to share the study’s findings and also plan to offer the community practical health considerations that arise from rapidly changing lifestyles.

Science
Water
Climate

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