California dairy farmer Anthony Agueda is using a low-glamour pollution tool: red earthworms in a wet bed of wood chips. James Temple reported for MIT Technology Review that Agueda, a third-generation farmer, showed a vermifiltration setup in which worms and microbes help treat manure wastewater.
The appeal is obvious if you have ever been downwind of a dairy operation or downstream of its waste. According to Temple, vermifiltration could cut methane, nitrous oxide, and water pollution from manure wastewater. The method is one of several approaches now being tested or adopted by farmers, companies, and researchers as livestock producers face more pressure over the environmental damage from manure.
The system Temple described is not some glossy climate-tech abstraction. It is a filter bed, wood chips, microbes, and a lot of worms. Agueda raked through the dark material and exposed several red earthworms, with many more likely living below the surface. The worms and microbes are doing the unphotogenic part of agricultural cleanup: turning a waste stream into something less damaging before it leaves the farm.
MIT Technology Review framed the work as part of a broader push to address pollution from livestock operations, where manure can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and contaminate water. The report did not present vermifiltration as a finished fix for the dairy industry. It described it as one candidate in a wider set of manure-control methods now getting attention because the old approach, making the mess and dealing with it later, is running out of political and environmental room.
Geoengineering leaves the spreadsheet
Temple also reported that solar geoengineering is getting dragged from climate models into the harder business of hardware. The idea is to deliberately intervene in the climate system to offset some warming, a proposal that remains controversial even before engineers start pricing the aircraft.
Researchers are now studying the machinery that would be needed, including aircraft, materials, and supporting systems, according to MIT Technology Review. That work is producing a colder read on deployment. Even an early version would require substantial infrastructure, years of preparation, and large investment, Temple reported.
That is the useful reality check. Solar geoengineering often gets discussed as if the core question is whether society should flip a planetary switch. The engineering work described by MIT Technology Review suggests there is no switch sitting around. There would be fleets, supply chains, materials decisions, operating plans, and governance fights long before any deployment.
Other technology stories in the same roundup
MIT Technology Review’s daily briefing also pointed readers to several other reports across AI, defense, labor, and autonomy:
- Axios reported that the Trump administration lifted restrictions on OpenAI’s GPT 5.6 after additional testing and meetings. Bloomberg reported OpenAI said it would launch the model widely the next day, while The Verge reported the rollout had been delayed over security concerns.
- Reuters reported that China is considering limits on overseas access to leading Chinese AI models, with Alibaba, ByteDance, and Z.ai attending meetings on the proposal.
- The BBC reported that European NATO allies unveiled a $50 billion plan for stealth and hypersonic missiles. Reuters reported the weapons would be able to hit targets at least 300 kilometers away.
- The Financial Times reported that Meta is testing AI glasses designed to record continuously and plans to disable privacy LEDs that show when they are active.
- 404 Media reported that a Waymo robotaxi called police on teenagers in San Mateo, California, after alleged drinking and shooting from the vehicle.
This story draws on original reporting from MIT Technology Review.
