Earth Sciences110
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Fossil Teeth, Traces of Climate & Evolution
From fossil teeth to carbon traces of plants in the soil, scientists are studying how changes in climate may have influenced early human evolution in Africa. Researchers from around the world gathered for a symposium held recently at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Watch the videos.
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Plankton Fishing in the Bering Sea
As Discovery Channel fans know, the Bering Sea supports one of the world’s most productive fisheries, accounting for more than 50 percent of U.S. fish and shellfish catches. The goal of our study is to understand how climate change is impacting phytoplankton, and ultimately the Bering Sea ecosystem.
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Did Climate Change Shape Human Evolution?
“The use of stone to make stone that can cut flesh is important,” Richard Leakey said. “We’re not empirical things, we’re thinkers. … What was it that triggered that response?”
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Paleomagnetism Researcher Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dennis Kent, a leading expert in the history of earth’s magnetic field, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other members of the 2012 class include U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, playwright Neil Simon, Hollywood director Clint Eastwood and Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos.
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Why Soil Matters
Soil is the source of all life. Yet “we know more about soils of Mars than about soils of Africa,” says Pedro Sanchez, director of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and the Rural Environment Program. To remedy this situation, the Earth Institute is taking part in an ambitious undertaking to map the world’s soils.
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Expanding Overseas Study Opportunities
A golf-ball-sized rhinoceros beetle flies through the open-air pavilion and lands on my table. I look up from my notes, an attempt at reworking my African wild dog study methods, and realize I haven’t seen one of these mighty beasts since my junior year in South Africa. The beetle is a welcome companion on this…
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Top Planetary Scientist to Lead Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost John H. Coatsworth have named Sean C. Solomon, a leading geophysicist whose research has combined studies of the deep earth with missions to the moon and the solar system’s inner planets, to be director of Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Solomon, a research scientist and director emeritus at…
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Faculty Profile: Yochanan Kushnir
by Kaci Fowler Yochanan Kushnir began his career as a meteorologist in the Israeli Navy, where he started as an operational marine forecaster, and with time became the Navy’s Chief Meteorology Officer. As part of his duties, Kushnir ventured out to sea to collect meteorological and oceanographic data for research. Motivated by these experiences, Kushnir…
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Oil Stains on Direct Air Capture?
Affordable direct air capture could shape long-term climate mitigation options. Point source emissions may be the first to be addressed, but the climate change problem is not resolved until the carbon dioxide from the transportation sector is also dealt with. Conflating air capture with a carbon dioxide consuming application like the environmentally questionable EOR should…
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