Ask MIT Climate

The past three years have been the three hottest humanity has ever measured. But who does the measuring, and how? Dr. Samantha Burgess, of the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, joins the show to explain how we know the temperature of the Earth, and how a global community of scientists works together to keep tabs on the health of our planet.

For show notes and more resources, visit https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/e3-taking-earths-temperature

Credits

Aaron Krol, Writer and Executive Producer

Madison Goldberg, Host and Associate Producer

Dave Lishansky, Editor and Producer

Michelle Harris, Fact-checker

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

License: CC-BY-NC-SA. View the license terms at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Nuclear power offers huge amounts of round-the-clock energy free of climate-warming pollution. In the United States, it’s also become very expensive to build. As government support grows to bring more nuclear power to the U.S., Prof. Jacopo Buongiorno of MIT joins us to break down how nuclear got so costly and what we can learn from countries with more active nuclear industries.

For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/e2-nuclear-price-tag

For more episodes of Ask MIT Climate, check out askmitclimate.org. Plus, find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for outtakes, bonus content, and more climate knowledge from MIT. As always, we love hearing from our listeners; email us at [email protected].

Salt marshes humming with insects and birds. Mangrove forests with tangled, arching roots. Seagrass meadows that blanket the ocean floor. The world’s coastal saltwater wetlands provide shelter for wildlife, purify water, and protect seaside infrastructure. And as Dr. Julie Simpson of MIT tells us, they also have a climate superpower: drawing down and locking away extraordinary amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide.
We gratefully acknowledge Professor Heidi Nepf; Ph.D. student Ernie Lee; and undergraduate student Joyce Yambasu of MIT for additional assistance and participation in this episode. Thanks as well to the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and research coordinator Megan Tyrrell.
For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/e1-marshes-mangroves-meadows.
For more episodes of Ask MIT Climate, check out askmitclimate.org. Plus, find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for outtakes, bonus content, and more climate knowledge from MIT. As always, we love hearing from our listeners; email us at [email protected].

The eighth season of MIT’s climate change podcast starts next week, and we’ve got some news! TILclimate is now Ask MIT Climate. It’s part of an effort to bring all of our climate change resources under one umbrella and reach learners in as many ways as we can.
We’re also diving into video! Find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube @askmitclimate for outtakes, bonus content, and more climate knowledge from MIT. And we love hearing from our listeners; email us at [email protected].
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We’re dropping into your feed to share the news that our founding host, Laur Hesse Fisher, is departing MIT and TILclimate. In this episode, Laur sits down with new host Madison Goldberg to talk about the philosophies that have shaped TILclimate over seven seasons and take listeners behind the scenes of the show. They also discuss what’s in store for season eight—because TILclimate isn’t going anywhere.
Check out an extended video version of this conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB544MVZ9bg
For a deeper dive and additional resources related to this episode, visit: https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/update-where-weve-been-and-where-were-going
For more episodes of TILclimate by the MIT Climate Project, visit tilclimate.mit.edu. 
Credits
Laur Hesse Fisher, Founding Host and Senior Editor
Madison Goldberg, Incoming Host and Associate Producer
Aaron Krol, Writer and Executive Producer
David Lishansky, Editor and Producer
Danielle Simpson, Editor
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Artwork by Aaron Krol
Special thanks to Brett Paci of MIT OpenCourseWare and to the folks at Giro Studio for their help producing this episode.