This week's articles by MSU faculty, specialists and students making a difference feature AI-powered orchard mapping, soft robotics for pipe inspection, and sustainable solar development.

In the humid heat of Karachi—Pakistan’s largest city and home to more than 20 million people—a tanker truck connects to a fire hydrant and begins siphoning water. This is not unusual. These tankers are part of what’s known as the “water mafia”.

This week's articles by MSU faculty, specialists and students making a difference feature virus tracking in wastewater, COVID-19 testing, AI forecasting, and U.S. ocean sampling.

This week’s articles by MSU faculty, specialists and students making a difference feature foodborne pathogen behavior and precision agriculture tools that detect crop disease risks.

This week’s articles by MSU faculty, specialists and students making a difference feature the food-energy-water nexus, freshwater fish distributions, greenhouse gas emissions, and PFAS.

This week’s articles by MSU faculty, specialists and students making a difference feature juvenile sea lamprey, aquaculture, and an Internet of Things-based disease forecaster.

A group of fourth and fifth graders from Wass and Hill Elementary Schools have traded in their backpacks for blueprints. Assisted by MSU Associate Professor Michael Wagner, an expert on aquatic invasive species, the team has designed a buoy to help protect the Great Lakes from a long-standing threat to the region’s ecosystem: the sea lamprey.

What are PFAS compounds? According to the State of Michigan, PFAS “are a large group of manmade chemicals that are resistant to heat, water and oil,” which have “been used in many industrial applications and consumer products such as carpeting, waterproof clothing, upholstery, food paper wrappings, personal care products, fire-fighting foams and metal plating.”

More than 70% of Earth is covered in water, but only about 3% is drinkable. This finite quantity is segregated in ice caps, lakes, rivers, groundwater and the atmosphere. Ruby Ghosh, research associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University, has lived in many countries...

This week’s articles by MSU faculty, specialists, and students making a difference feature beach erosion and phosphorus fertilizer overapplication among Michigan corn farmers.

Michigan Sea Grant and partners, including the Friends of the Detroit River, have been working to restore habitat along the Detroit River for more than fifteen years.

The Fate of the Earth: Our Waters Symposium, hosted by MSU’s Environmental Science and Policy Program, WaterCube NRT and the MSU Water Alliance, took place at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on March 20-21, 2025.

Couldn’t make it? Here’s what happened...