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Ask MIT Climate

MIT Climate Project

Get smart quickly on climate change. This award-winning MIT podcast breaks down the science, technologies, and policies behind climate change, how it’s impacting us, and what our society can do about it. Each quick episode gives you the what, why, and how on climate change — from real scientists — to help us all make informed decisions for our future.

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20 episodes
Avg 13 min
English

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S8 · E9
July 2 · 14 min
Dry spells and downpours
How can climate change cause both more intense droughts and more severe floods? With help from Prof. Mathew Barlow, we dive into the water cycle on a warming planet, and learn how the basic physics of water moving through the atmosphere can explain a lot of the strange weather we need to prepare for as the world heats up.
June 11 · 14 min
To the ice sheets with a polar scientist
Dr. Sarah Das, a Scientist Emeritus at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, takes us behind the scenes: into the world of glacier science, “boomerang flights,” and ice as far as the eye can see.
S8 · E8
May 28 · 14 min
Polar ice in a warming world
The frozen parts of our planet—from sprawling polar ice sheets and floating sea ice to mountain glaciers and frigid soils—face profound risks from climate change. Already, a warmer world has transformed these landscapes, with consequences that span the globe.
S8 · E7
May 14 · 14 min
A hard look at steel
Antoine Allanore, a professor of metallurgy at MIT, explains how CO2 became so entrenched in the chemistry of steelmaking—and the creative ways scientists and engineers are trying to get it out.
S8 · E6
April 30 · 15 min
An economist’s guide to climate change
Solutions to climate change, like building clean energy, come with a price tag. But unchecked warming also brings serious costs. As we make investments to rein in our climate pollution, how should we weigh costs and benefits?
April 9 · 15 min
Re-air and update: Carbon pricing
What exactly is a carbon price, and how does it work? To prepare for a new episode about climate economics, we’re re-airing this season one episode in which MIT professor Christopher Knittel explains economists’ favorite tool for addressing climate change. Professor Knittel also returns for a special update on big developments in the world of carbon pricing, from Canada, China, and the European Union.
S8 · E5
March 26 · 13 min
The (micro)grid of the future
As the world strives to make energy cleaner, cheaper, and more accessible, what can local models offer that a big utility can’t—and the other way round?
S8 · E4
March 12 · 15 min
The reshuffling of life on Earth
Climate change is putting pressure not only on humans, but also on our fellow species. How can plants, animals, and other living things survive as their habitats are transformed?
S8 · E3
February 26 · 14 min
Taking Earth’s temperature
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.
S8 · E2
February 12 · 13 min
The nuclear price tag
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.
S8 · E1
January 29 · 14 min
Marshes, mangroves, meadows
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.
January 22 · 1 min
New season, new name!
The eighth season of MIT’s climate change podcast starts next week, and we’ve got some news! TILclimate is now Ask MIT Climate.
Nov 4, 2025 · 15 min
Update: Where we've been and where we're going
Our departing host Laur Hesse Fisher and new host Madison Goldberg sit down together to talk about the philosophies that have shaped TILclimate over seven seasons and take listeners behind the scenes of the show.
S7 · E8
Jul 10, 2025 · 14 min
Transmission: Power to the people
In this episode of TILclimate, we explore what we stand to gain from a bigger, better transmission system, and how we might make it happen.
S7 · E7
Jun 12, 2025 · 14 min
Cleaner air
Here at TILclimate, we’re often asked about the health and environmental effects of materials in solar panels and batteries. But what if the greatest costs are the ones we’re already bearing—from the fossil fuels those technologies would replace?
S7 · E6
May 29, 2025 · 15 min
Dealing with dead batteries
The world’s demand for batteries to power electric vehicles is growing at incredible speed. What will we do with all these batteries when they die?
S7 · E5
Apr 17, 2025 · 15 min
Geothermal: Earth’s infinite clean power
Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, a molten stew of metals radiates vast amounts of energy. Prof. Roland Horne, Director of the Stanford Geothermal Program, joins TILclimate to talk about the “geothermal energy” technologies that tap this underground resource for electricity, manufacturing, and home heating and cooling.
S7 · E4
Apr 3, 2025 · 15 min
The great indoors
Modern buildings are complex machines, using heating, cooling and a host of other appliances to turn energy into comfort. But that energy comes with a cost: today, our buildings do more to warm the climate than heavy industry, agriculture, or transportation.
S7 · E3
Mar 20, 2025 · 13 min
Did climate change do that?
A new type of climate science is allowing us to draw clearer connections between our warming planet, and the extreme weather events this warming creates.
S7 · E2
Mar 6, 2025 · 15 min
Hasn't the climate changed before?
The Earth has gone through massive climate change before—many times over, in fact!—but human civilization has not.

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