Author: Fission Today

As 2026 begins, nuclear risks and the false myths about nuclear deterrence on the rise. ICAN, working with countries and partners across continents, are challenging nuclear weapons and taking our work to the next level. Here are three things we’re looking forward to this year: Celebrating five years of the nuclear ban treaty On 22 January, we’ll mark five years since nuclear weapons officially became illegal under international law. That’s not symbolic — it’s transformative. ICAN and partners around the world will commemorate the moment that nuclear weapons finally became illegal. With celebrations, seminars, screenings, actions and activism across the…

Q1: What is sustainable finance?Sustainable finance considers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) characteristics alongside traditional financial risk and return analysis. The level of sustainability varies across financial products.    Due to the lack of standardized sustainability ratings, government guidelines aim to increase transparency. European and Swiss authorities issued guidelines for the disclosure of sustainability characteristics that apply to most investment funds sold in Switzerland.Q2: What are funds that account only for sustainability risk alongside financial risk and return analysis?These funds consider ESG-related issues that can negatively impact a firm’s financial performance. For example, they consider whether a company is exposed to the…

A $20 million gift from the Leinweber Foundation, in addition to a $5 million commitment from the MIT School of Science, will support theoretical physics research and education at MIT.Leinweber Foundation gifts to five institutions, totaling $90 million, will establish the newly renamed MIT Center for Theoretical Physics – A Leinweber Institute within the Department of Physics, affiliated with the Laboratory for Nuclear Science at the School of Science, as well as Leinweber Institutes for Theoretical Physics at three other top research universities: the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago, as well…

 Reaction: Global outcry after US strikes Venezuela4 Jan 26, https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/03/caracas-explosions-venezuela-maduro-latest-news-updates-live?page=with:block-69599f418f085ed25e9e3394Nicolás Maduro ‘has arrived in New York’A plane believed to be carrying Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, has landed near Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York.Maduro is expected to be taken by helicopter to the city where he will be processed and transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center prison, officials told NBC News.They added the Venezuela president is set to appear in court by Monday evening.The New York Times has reported that at least 40 people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in Saturday’s US attack on Venezuela. The estimate comes from a…

City skyline of Denver Colorado downtown with snowy Rocky Mountains and the City Park Lake. This is the second blog post in this series looking at the requirements that the State of Colorado and City of Denver adopted to implement building performance standards (Blog # 1 can be accessed here). It will review the benchmarking requirements that determine the scope of the building performance standard through “covered building” definitions that use building type and square footage as parameters. This blog will raise issues on whether and how the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) applies to these requirements. Energy benchmarking…

Fusion energy has the potential to enable the energy transition from fossil fuels, enhance domestic energy security, and power artificial intelligence. Private companies have already invested more than $8 billion to develop commercial fusion and seize the opportunities it offers. An urgent challenge, however, is the discovery and evaluation of cost-effective materials that can withstand extreme conditions for extended periods, including 150-million-degree plasmas and intense particle bombardment.To meet this challenge, MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) has launched the Schmidt Laboratory for Materials in Nuclear Technologies, or LMNT (pronounced “element”). Backed by a philanthropic consortium led by Eric and Wendy Schmidt,…

As the world looks for ways to produce more with less, agrivoltaics offers a fresh approach: combining solar panels and agriculture on the same land. By generating renewable energy while supporting crops and livestock, this dual-use system can boost farm productivity, strengthen local economies, and make agriculture more resilient to a changing climate. Discover how agrivoltaics is redefining what it means to “farm the sun” in this article by Lisa Sandtner. Credits: Snapshot freddy | Shutterstock, All rights reserved. Available space for photovoltaic (PV) systems is limited – but there is also no limit to creativity when it comes to…

Statehouse Happenings This Week: The legislature has officially concluded its committee work for non-exempt committees. Here are a few highlights: SB 49 advanced with no amendments and we are eager to see this bill sent to the Governor for her signature! Efforts to erode local control continue and both HB 2446 and HB 2447 are above the line today. We do not support these bills and will urge Governor Laura Kelly to veto them should they make it to her desk. Both the House and Senate have water bills advancing through the process. We’re pleased that progress is forthcoming to ensure the longterm stability of our water…

In 2025, MIT granted tenure to 11 faculty members across the School of Engineering. This year’s tenured engineers hold appointments in the departments of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) — which reports jointly to the School of Engineering and MIT Schwarzman College of Computing — Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Nuclear Science and Engineering.“It is with great pride that I congratulate the 11 newest tenured faculty members in the School of Engineering. Their dedication to advancing their fields, mentoring future innovators, and contributing to a vibrant academic community is truly…

In early 2020, the prevailing narrative in the power sector was a continuation story of the developments from the decade before: renewable buildout will keep compounding, thermal capacity will keep retiring (albeit at a slower rate), markets will evolve to compensate for flexible generation products, capital will keep moving earlier in the development value chain and the grid will gradually transition to a cleaner fuel mix. But soon enough, this “straight-line” version of that story started losing strength. COVID-era supply chain disruptions and the start of the U.S.-China economic decoupling across strategic industries exposed how fragile “just-in-time” global energy supply…