Solar, wind and other industries blitzed Congress on the “big, beautiful bill.” One advocate called saving any part of the Democrats' 2022 climate law "a win."

The lawmakers want President Donald Trump to cancel an April executive order that tries to stifle state attempts to address global warming.

State agencies planning to meet growing demand see a need to maintain the state’s fossil fuel power plants.

The fund is likely to prove one of the most controversial aspects of the EU’s budget plans, with a number of countries opposed to pooled liabilities.

Intensifying cyclones, rising seas and saltwater intrusion are reshaping coastlines and threatening daily life across the island nation.

Rising sea levels increase the risk of coastal flooding and storm surges that lead to land loss. "Our coexistence with the sea here is in danger," one local said.

Experts say climate change is driving an increase in extreme weather events in the region.

Whether you've been following EFF for years or just discovered us (hello!), you've probably noticed that our team is kind of obsessed with the ✨future✨.

From people soaring through the sky, to space cats, geometric unicorns, and (so many) mechas—we're always imagining what the future could look like when we get things right.

That same spirit inspired EFF's 35th anniversary celebration. And this year, members can get our new EFF 35 Cityscape t-shirt plus a limited-edition challenge coin with a monthly or annual Sustaining Donation!

Join eFF!

Start a Convenient recurring donation Today!

The EFF 35 Cityscape proposes a future where users are empowered to

• Repair and tinker with their devices
• Move freely without being tracked
• Innovate with bold new ideas

And this future isn't far off—we're building it now.

EFF is pushing for right to repair laws across the country, exposing shady data brokers, and ensuring new technologies—like AI—have your rights in mind. EFF is determined and with your help, we're not backing down.

We're making real progress—but we need your help. As a member-supported nonprofit, you are what powers this work.

Start a Sustaining Donation of $5/month or $65/year by August 11, and we'll thank you with a limited-edition EFF35 Challenge Coin as well as this year's Cityscape t-shirt!

Victor K. McElheny, the celebrated journalist and author who founded MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program more than 40 years ago and served for 15 years as its director, died on July 14 in Lexington, Massachusetts, after a brief illness. He was 89.

Born in Boston and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, McElheny’s storied journalism career spanned seven decades, during which he wrote for several of the nation’s leading newspapers and magazines, penned three critically acclaimed books, and produced groundbreaking coverage of national stories ranging from the Apollo moon landing to the sequencing of the human genome. He is remembered as a steadfast champion of science journalism who eloquently made the case for the profession’s importance in society and worked tirelessly to help the field — and its practitioners — thrive.

“Victor was a pioneering science journalist, at publications that included The Charlotte Observer, Science, and The New York Times, and an author of note, especially for his biographies of scientific luminaries from Edwin Land to James Watson,” says Deborah Blum, who now heads the MIT program McElheny founded. “Yet, he still found time in 1983 to create the Knight Science Journalism Program, to fight for it, find funding for it, and to build it into what it is today.”

A 1957 graduate of Harvard University, McElheny worked as a reporter for the school’s venerable newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, before eventually taking a job as a science reporter at The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. In the decades that followed, he served as the European editor at Science magazine, science editor of the Boston Globe, and the technology specialist at The New York Times, among other prominent posts. McElheny’s 1970s reporting on emerging techniques in molecular biology earned the journalist a reputation as a leading reporter on the developing field of genetics — and helped lay the groundwork for his critically acclaimed 2003 biography, “Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution.” McElheny also authored a biography of Edwin Land, co-founder of the Polaroid Corp., and a well-received book about the groundbreaking effort to map the human genome.

The impact of McElheny’s own stalwart career is rivaled only by his indelible impact on the careers of legions of science journalists who have come behind him.

In 1983, after a stint as director of the Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, McElheny — along with then-MIT president Paul Gray and then-director of MIT’s Science, Technology, and Society Program, Carl Kaysen — helped launch a first-of-its-kind science journalism fellowship program, funded with support from the Alfred P. Sloan and Andrew W. Mellon foundations. “The notion took hold that it would be good for MIT to have a fellowship program for science journalists, on the model of the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard,” McElheny recalled in a 2013 MIT News story. (McElheny, himself, had been part of the Nieman’s 1962-63 fellowship class.) The goal, as he explained it, was to allow journalists to connect with researchers “to make acquaintances who will provide them not only with story tips, but with judgment.”

In 1987, McElheny secured a multimillion-dollar grant from the Knight Foundation, creating an endowment that continues to support the fellowship to this day. McElheny led the program — originally known as the Vannevar Bush Science Journalism Fellowship Program and later renamed the Knight Science Journalism Program — for 15 years before stepping down to make way for his successor, preeminent journalist and editor Boyce Rensberger.

“What motivated the man professionally was a deep desire that the public understand and appreciate science and technology,” Rensberger recalls of his predecessor. “And he knew the only way that could happen to people out of school was through science journalists and other science writers creating knowledgeable content for mass media.”

Over the Knight Science Journalism Program’s 42-year history, it has supported and helped advance the careers of more than 400 leading science journalists from around the world. Following his retirement, McElheny remained actively involved with the program, frequently visiting to drop in on seminars or share an inspiring word with incoming classes of fellows.

In 2018, McElheny and his wife, Ruth, teamed with Blum, who joined the program as director in 2015, to establish the Victor K. McElheny Award for local and regional science journalism. The award, which received early support from the Rita Allen Foundation, is now funded by a generous endowment created by the McElhenys. Now entering its seventh year, it has quickly built a reputation as a prestigious national competition honoring some of the country’s best local science journalism.

“Victor was a transformational figure for MIT,” says Agustín Rayo, dean of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, which houses the Knight Science Journalism Program. “He never ceased to impress me. He had an extraordinary understanding of the ways in which science and technology shape society, of the ways in which society has shaped MIT, and of the ways in which MIT can shape the world.”

“Victor touched so many lives in his long and storied career,” says Usha Lee McFarling, a former Knight Science Journalism Fellow who was recently named to succeed Blum as the program’s director. Even in recent weeks and months, she says, “Victor was bubbling over with ideas on how to keep the fellowship program he founded more than 40 years ago powerful and relevant.”

McElheny’s death was preceded by that of his wife, Ruth — also an accomplished science communicator — who died in April. He is survived by his brothers, Kenneth McElheny and Steven McElheny, and Steven’s wife Karen Sexton; his sister, Robin McElheny, and her husband Alex Griswold; his six nephews and nieces, Josiah and Tobias McElheny, Raphael Griswold, and Hanna, Molly, and Rosa McElheny; and Ruth’s nephew, Dennis Sullivan, and niece, Deirdre Sullivan.

Alumni of the Knight Science Journalism Program describe Victor McElheny’s passing as a huge loss for the entire field of science journalism — a loss of a visionary who generously shared both his remarkable knowledge of the history of the field and his inspiring vision of the possibilities for the future.

“Whether we’re talking about the stars, the Earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, or other planets, our level of understanding is increasing all the time,” McElheny mused to science writer Brittany Flaherty in a 2019 profile. “There’s always more — a lot more — for science journalists to do.”

For those who wish to honor McElheny’s memory, his family invites memorial gifts to the Victor K. McElheny Award Fund.

Seven faculty in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) have been honored for their contributions through promotions, effective July 1. Three faculty promotions are in the Department of Architecture; three are in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and one is in the Program in Media Arts and Sciences.

“Whether architects, urbanists, computer scientists, or nanotechnologists, they represent our school at its best, in its breadth of inquiry and mission to improve the relationship between human beings and their environments,” says SA+P Dean Hashim Sarkis.

Department of Architecture

Marcelo Coelho has been promoted to associate professor of the practice. Coelho is the director of the Design Intelligence Lab, which explores the intersection of human and machine intelligence across design, AI, and fabrication. His work ranges from light-based installations to physical computing. Recognition for his work includes two Prix Ars Electronica awards and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award. Coelho’s experimental approach redefines creative processes, transforming how we imagine and interact with intelligent systems. Coelho teaches courses that bring together industrial design, user experience, and artificial intelligence.

Holly Samuelson has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. Samuelson has co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers, winning a Best Paper award from the journal Energy and Building. As a recognized expert in architectural technology, she has been featured in media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the BBC, and The Wall Street Journal.

Rafi Segal has been promoted to full professor. An award-winning designer, Segal works across architectural and urban scales, with projects ranging from Villa 003 in the ORDOS 100 series to the Kitgum Peace Museum in Uganda, the Ashdod Museum of Art in Israel, and the winning design proposal for the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. His current work includes planning a new communal neighborhood for an Israeli kibbutz and curating the first exhibition on Alfred Neumann’s 1960s architecture.

Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)

Carlo Ratti has been reappointed as professor of the practice. Ratti is the director of the Senseable City Lab and a founding partner of the international design office Carlo Ratti Associati. He has co-authored over 500 publications and holds several patents. His work has been exhibited globally, including at the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Design Museum in Barcelona. Two of his projects, the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel, were named among TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year.” He is the curator of the 2025 Venice Biennale’s 19th International Architecture Exhibition.

Albert Saiz has been promoted to full professor. Saiz serves as the director of MIT’s Urban Economics Lab, which conducts research on real estate economics, urban economics, housing markets, local public finance, zoning regulations, global real estate, and demographic trends affecting urban and real estate development worldwide. He also contributes to the broader research community as a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, a research fellow at the Institute for the Analysis of Labor, and editor for the Journal of Housing Economics.

Delia Wendel has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. Wendel’s research engages three main areas: forms of community repair after conflict and disaster, African urbanism, and spatial politics. Her interdisciplinary work draws together urban studies, critical peace studies, architectural history, cultural geography, and anthropology. At MIT DUSP, she leads the Planning for Peace critical collective and oversees the Mellon Foundation and the MIT Center for Art, Science and Technology-funded research and exhibition project, Memory Atlas for Repair. She also serves as the managing editor of Projections, the department’s annual peer-reviewed journal on critical issues in urban studies and planning.

Program in Media Arts and Sciences

Deblina Sarkar has been promoted to associate professor without tenure. As the director of the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek Lab at the MIT Media Lab, she merges nanoelectronics, physics, and biology to create groundbreaking technologies, from ultra-thin quantum transistors to the first antenna that operates inside living cells. Her interdisciplinary work has earned her major honors, including the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award and the IEEE Early Career Award in Nanotechnology.

Law journal article that looks at the Dual_EC_PRNG backdoor from a US constitutional perspective:

Abstract: The National Security Agency (NSA) reportedly paid and pressured technology companies to trick their customers into using vulnerable encryption products. This Article examines whether any of three theories removed the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that this be reasonable. The first is that a challenge to the encryption backdoor might fail for want of a search or seizure. The Article rejects this both because the Amendment reaches some vulnerabilities apart from the searches and seizures they enable and because the creation of this vulnerability was itself a search or seizure. The second is that the role of the technology companies might have brought this backdoor within the private-search doctrine. The Article criticizes the doctrine­ particularly its origins in Burdeau v. McDowell­and argues that if it ever should apply, it should not here. The last is that the customers might have waived their Fourth Amendment rights under the third-party doctrine. The Article rejects this both because the customers were not on notice of the backdoor and because historical understandings of the Amendment would not have tolerated it. The Article concludes that none of these theories removed the Amendment’s reasonableness requirement...

Clean energy officials and analysts say the administration has moved into a new combative phase against renewables.

Language in an appropriations bill would prohibit Washington from spending money on its 2020 climate lawsuit against Big Oil.

It's among a few states that maintains state-level maps of environmental and health disparities. The Trump administration erased EPA's nationwide version.

The effort by climate, education and health groups comes as the White House prepares to ask Congress to cut billions of dollars from science agencies.

The Department of the Environment rejected federal regulators' argument that there was an error in the state permit issued to US Wind.

Biodiversity restoration is no longer ring-fenced in the EU budget. Campaigners fear that means green funds will flow to industrial programs.

President Lee Jae Myung said the government will push to designate areas hit hard by the downpours as special disaster zones to boost recovery aid.

All governmental offices, banks and businesses in Tehran province will be closed Wednesday, said an official.

Generally, most bees are heat-tolerant, but as the climate warms, some experts think their ability to fend off disease and gather food might become harder.