Kevin Krajick, Author at State of the Planet

Kevin Krajick is the Earth Institute's senior editor for science news. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where he worked at his high-school newspaper. He started his professional career as a reporter covering crime, police and prisons across the United States. He has since reported from all 50 U.S. states and 30-some countries, writing about science, medicine, immigration and other subjects. His work has been featured in National Geographic, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Science, Smithsonian and many other publications. He was a 1981 finalist for the National Magazine Award for Public Service for his reporting on organized crime's links to the toxic waste-disposal industry. He is two-time winner of the American Geophysical Union's Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, and his work has been featured repeatedly in the yearly book "Best American Science and Nature Writing." His widely praised 2001 book "Barren Lands" is the true account of how two prospectors discovered diamonds in Canada's remote far north. Krajick holds degrees in comparative literature and journalism from Columbia University. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife and a tiny white dog.

Recent Posts

Photos of five Columbia climate researchers honored by leading scientific organizations: Suzana Camargo, Adam Sobel, Melissa Lott, Michela Biasutti, Richard Seager.

Five Columbia Climate Researchers Honored by Leading Scientific Organizations

Scientists connected to the Climate School received notable accolades from the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.

by |September 15, 2023

With Drones, Geophysics and ArtificiaI Intelligence, Researchers Prepare to Do Battle Against Land Mines

Finding land mines the old-fashioned way—on foot, with a metal detector—is agonizingly slow and dangerous. Scientists are working to make the process faster and safer.

by |September 12, 2023

How Do We Dismantle Offshore Oil Structures Without Making the Public Pay?

If offshore oil installations are rapidly dismantled as a result of the transition to clean energy, the public, not companies, could end up paying. How to avoid this?

by Martin Lockman and Martin Dietrich Brauch |September 6, 2023

Acutely Exposed to Changing Climate, Many Greenlanders Do Not Blame Humans

The Arctic is warming much faster than most of the world, and because many Greenlanders live close to nature, they are personally feeling the effects. Yet the idea that humans are changing the climate is a stretch for many people. Why?

by |June 28, 2023

Upcoming Scientific Fieldwork, 2023 and Beyond

Climate School researchers are carrying out fieldwork on every continent and every ocean. A guide to upcoming projects.

by |May 9, 2023

Ivan Tolstoy, Who Elucidated Travels of Sound Through Oceans and Air, and Helped Map Seabeds, Dies at 99

From beginnings as an exile from the Russian Revolution, a life spent studying geology and long-distance acoustics at sea and in the atmosphere.

by |April 4, 2023

1,000-Plus Years of Tree Rings Confirm Historic Extremity of 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Scientists quickly pronounced the summer 2021 heat wave that hit western North America to be unprecedented, but they had no long-term physical proof. Now they do.

by |March 27, 2023

Cutting Confederate Ties, the U.S. Navy Names Ships for a Pioneering Female Oceanographer and a Daring Enslaved Pilot

Marie Tharp was a marine scientist in a man’s world. Robert Smalls was a skilled sailor, but held as a slave. Both are now being honored by the U.S. Navy.

by |March 16, 2023
David Kohlstedt of the University of Minnesota has won the 2023 Vetlesen Prize for achievement in the earth sciences. (Courtesy David Kohlstedt)

Explorer of Deep Earth Wins Vetlesen Prize

Using sophisticated equipment, David Kohlstedt has recreated the pressure, temperature and chemical conditions in the Earth’s mantle, which humans cannot observe directly. His findings have laid the basis for understanding many of the processes that drive the planet’s dynamics.

by |January 24, 2023

New York City’s Greenery Absorbs a Surprising Amount of Its Carbon Emissions

A hyper-local study of vegetation shows that the city’s trees and grass often cancel out all the CO2 released from cars, trucks and buses on summer days.

by |January 5, 2023