Author: Kevin Krajick15

Kevin Krajick is the former senior editor for science news at the Earth Institute and the Columbia Climate School. He grew up in the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley of upstate New York, where he worked at his high-school newspaper. He has since reported from all 50 U.S. states and 30-some countries, writing about science, medicine, crime, immigration and other issues. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Science, Smithsonian and many other publications. He was a 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 2001 book “Barren Lands” is the true account of how two prospectors discovered vast deposits of 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 family. You can email Kevin at: krk4@columbia.edu

Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

Centuries-old trees on a peninsula near New York City could provide an important record of past storms. Researchers recently traveled there to sample the trees before they are wiped out by rising seas and powerful storms.
American Geophysical Union 2019: Key Events From the Earth Institute

A chronological guide to key talks and other events at the Dec. 9-13 American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Walter Pitman: Discovered a Key to Plate Tectonics

Walter Pitman, a seagoing geophysicist who spotted a crucial piece of a huge puzzle that revolutionized the earth sciences, has died.
Scientists Stand With Students at Climate March

Dozens of Earth Institute staff and students took part in New York City’s Climate Strike march.
The Surprising Way a Volcanic Eruption Fueled a Bloom of Ocean Algae

A new study reveals a surprising way in which lava influences marine ecology.
The Climate Epochs That Weren’t

Climate scientists often invoke the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age as natural worldwide climate swings predating human influences. They may not have worked the way we think.
How Did Africa’s Grasslands Get Started?

Millions of years ago, vegetation across much of the world underwent a transformation as grasses with a new way of doing photosynthesis displaced previously dominant plants, shrubs and trees. A new study examines what got these plants started, and why they spread so far and wide.
Study Bolsters Case That Climate Change Is Driving Many California Wildfires

A new study combs through the factors that can promote wildfires in California, and concludes that in many cases, warming climate is the decisive driver.
Part of the Pacific Ocean Is Not Warming as Expected. Why?

Climate models predict that as a result of human-induced climate change, the surface of the Pacific Ocean should be warming. But one key part is not.

Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

Centuries-old trees on a peninsula near New York City could provide an important record of past storms. Researchers recently traveled there to sample the trees before they are wiped out by rising seas and powerful storms.
American Geophysical Union 2019: Key Events From the Earth Institute

A chronological guide to key talks and other events at the Dec. 9-13 American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Walter Pitman: Discovered a Key to Plate Tectonics

Walter Pitman, a seagoing geophysicist who spotted a crucial piece of a huge puzzle that revolutionized the earth sciences, has died.
Scientists Stand With Students at Climate March

Dozens of Earth Institute staff and students took part in New York City’s Climate Strike march.
The Surprising Way a Volcanic Eruption Fueled a Bloom of Ocean Algae

A new study reveals a surprising way in which lava influences marine ecology.
The Climate Epochs That Weren’t

Climate scientists often invoke the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age as natural worldwide climate swings predating human influences. They may not have worked the way we think.
How Did Africa’s Grasslands Get Started?

Millions of years ago, vegetation across much of the world underwent a transformation as grasses with a new way of doing photosynthesis displaced previously dominant plants, shrubs and trees. A new study examines what got these plants started, and why they spread so far and wide.
Study Bolsters Case That Climate Change Is Driving Many California Wildfires

A new study combs through the factors that can promote wildfires in California, and concludes that in many cases, warming climate is the decisive driver.
Part of the Pacific Ocean Is Not Warming as Expected. Why?

Climate models predict that as a result of human-induced climate change, the surface of the Pacific Ocean should be warming. But one key part is not.