State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Kevin Krajick25

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  • Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    East Africa’s rift valley is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. In the Turkana region of northwest Kenya, researchers Christopher Lepre and Tanzhuo Liu of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are cooperating with colleagues to study questions of human evolution, from the creation of the earliest stone tools to climate swings that…

  • Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Who were our earliest ancestors? How and when did they evolve into modern humans? And how do we define “human,” anyway? Scientists are exploring Kenya’s Lake Turkana basin to help answer these questions.

  • New Support For Human Evolution In Grasslands

    A 24 Million-Year Record of African Plants Plumbs Deep Past

  • Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    On a ledge just inside the lip of Chile’s Quizapu volcanic crater, Philipp Ruprecht was furiously digging a trench. Here at an elevation of 10,000 feet, a 1,000-foot plunge loomed just yards away, and wind was whipping dust off his shovel. But the volcanologist was excited. Ruprecht had just found this spot, topped with undisturbed…

  • Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    High in the southern Andes, Chile’s Quizapu crater is one of South America’s most fearsome geologic features. In 1846, it was the source of one the continent’s largest historically recorded lava flows. In 1932, it produced one of the largest recorded volcanic blasts. The volcano is currently inactive, but could revive at any time. What…

  • A Major Source of Air Pollution: Farms

    Global Study Shows How Agriculture Interacts With Industry

  • Could Global Warming’s Top Culprit Help Crops?

    Study Looks at How Carbon Dioxide Might Cut Effects of Rising Heat

  • Global Warming Pushes Wines Into Uncharted Terroir

    Heat Has Decoupled French Grapes from Old Weather Patterns

  • Scientists Say Many Plants Don’t Respond to Warming as Thought

    From Tundra to New York Exurbs and Tropics, New Data Lowers Estimates of Carbon Release

  • Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    East Africa’s rift valley is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. In the Turkana region of northwest Kenya, researchers Christopher Lepre and Tanzhuo Liu of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are cooperating with colleagues to study questions of human evolution, from the creation of the earliest stone tools to climate swings that…

  • Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Who were our earliest ancestors? How and when did they evolve into modern humans? And how do we define “human,” anyway? Scientists are exploring Kenya’s Lake Turkana basin to help answer these questions.

  • New Support For Human Evolution In Grasslands

    A 24 Million-Year Record of African Plants Plumbs Deep Past

  • Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    On a ledge just inside the lip of Chile’s Quizapu volcanic crater, Philipp Ruprecht was furiously digging a trench. Here at an elevation of 10,000 feet, a 1,000-foot plunge loomed just yards away, and wind was whipping dust off his shovel. But the volcanologist was excited. Ruprecht had just found this spot, topped with undisturbed…

  • Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano

    High in the southern Andes, Chile’s Quizapu crater is one of South America’s most fearsome geologic features. In 1846, it was the source of one the continent’s largest historically recorded lava flows. In 1932, it produced one of the largest recorded volcanic blasts. The volcano is currently inactive, but could revive at any time. What…

  • A Major Source of Air Pollution: Farms

    Global Study Shows How Agriculture Interacts With Industry

  • Could Global Warming’s Top Culprit Help Crops?

    Study Looks at How Carbon Dioxide Might Cut Effects of Rising Heat

  • Global Warming Pushes Wines Into Uncharted Terroir

    Heat Has Decoupled French Grapes from Old Weather Patterns

  • Scientists Say Many Plants Don’t Respond to Warming as Thought

    From Tundra to New York Exurbs and Tropics, New Data Lowers Estimates of Carbon Release