Scientists at MIT are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that generates realistic satellite images to illustrate potential flooding scenarios.

Millions of households in the United States continue to rely on lead pipes, a dangerous and outdated infrastructure that poses a significant health risk.

One New England university banned a pro-Palestinian student group.

Hurricane Otis unexpectedly turned from mild to monster in record time, and scientists are struggling to figure out what happened.

(NOAA via AP)With named storms coming earlier and more often in warmer waters, the Atlantic hurricane season is going through some changes with meteorologists ditching the Greek alphabet during busy years. The Greek alphabet had only been used twice in 2005 and nine times last year in a record-shattering hurricane season. AdMeanwhile, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration is recalculating just what constitutes an average hurricane season. STARTING EARLIERMIT hurricane researcher Kerry Emanuel said “this whole idea of hurricane season should be revisited." So a warming world means the new normal is busy hurricane seasons just like the last 30 years.

Biden and Harris also veered from their prepared texts to hold up the scientists as examples to children across the country. Biden also named two prominent female scientists to co-chair the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Biden picked Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a social scientist who studies science, technology and social inequality, as deputy science policy chief. The president-elect noted the team's diversity and repeated his promise that his administration's science policy and investments would target historically disadvantaged and underserved communities. The job as director of science and technology policy requires Senate confirmation.

President-elect Joe Biden picked a pioneering geneticist to be his science advisor and elevated the job to his Cabinet. Saying “science will always be at the forefront of my administration,” Biden said he is boosting the science advisor post to Cabinet level, a first in White House history. The job as director of science and technology policy requires Senate confirmation. Science organizations were also quick to praise Lander and the promotion of the science post. Biden chose Alondra Nelson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, a social scientist who studies science, technology and social inequality, as deputy science policy chief.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused U.S. universities of caving to Chinese pressure to blunt or bar criticism of the Chinese Communist Party. Pompeo took aim at universities across the U.S., claiming they refused to address the Trump administration’s concerns about China’s attempts to influence students and academics. Pompeo defended the Trump administration's tough stance on China in remarks at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “MIT wasn’t interested in having me give this speech on their campus," Pompeo said. “Now, thank God, Vera was eventually released, and returned to the U.S,” Pompeo said of the student.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif says the culture that permitted multiple donations to the school to be facilitated by Jeffrey Epstein has prevailed at MIT for far too long. BOSTON - MIT President L. Rafael Reif has vowed to "repair a system and a culture that failed the people" of the university, after reports revealed the school's involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Reif said Wednesday the culture that allowed the school to make those mistakes has prevailed at MIT for far too long. Epstein was associated with at least $7 million in donations from wealthy donors to the MIT Media Lab, communications obtained by CNN show. "Since I played a role in this problem, I feel a deep responsibility to help repair a system and a culture that failed the people of MIT," Reif said.

(CNN) - Signe Swenson, a former development associate and alumni coordinator at the MIT media lab, told CNN on Saturday that she repeatedly expressed concern about MIT's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, but the lab's leadership made it clear that his donations were to be kept secret. "I wanted to get closer to the amazing things coming out of the media lab and generally, MIT," Swenson said. Once she was working with the lab, Swenson recalls that the lab's leadership made it clear that Epstein's donations were to be kept under wraps. Swenson said Cohen asked her how to take money from Epstein anonymously without having to report it to the university. Swenson said the two women who arrived at the MIT media lab with Epstein during summer 2015 "looked like models."

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - The first footsteps on the moon belonged to two men, but they may never have made it there if not for Margaret Hamilton. The software engineer developed the onboard computer programs that powered NASA's Apollo missions, including the 1969 moon landing. Who is Margaret Hamilton? The software's emergency preparedness is thought to have helped save the mission, Hamilton wrote. Hamilton never left the Earth's atmosphere, but without her groundbreaking software, it's unlikely that the American flag would've been planted on the moon in July 1969.