State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences141

  • Arsenic in Bangladesh Water, Then and Now

    Back in the summer of 1997 while working for a small newspaper focusing on UN development issues, I traveled to Bangladesh to see how far this often overlooked country tucked away in a corner between India and China had fared since its independence 25 years ago. At the time the only stories which came out…

  • Suburban Seismology

    Three minor earthquakes struck North Jersey last month. Yes, Jersey. Turns out the state known for its turnpikes and shopping malls also has a major geological landmark: the Ramapo Fault, which crosses into New York and Pennsylvania. “Earthquakes are not unexpected here,” seismologist Won-Young Kim told The New York Times. “It’s just an indication that…

  • Pole of Inaccessibility

    Hidden beneath 2.5 miles of ice, the Gamburtsev Mountains in eastern Antarctica are the most mysterious peaks on Earth. Michael Studinger, a scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, helped lead a recent expedition to map these invisible mountains using geophysical instruments. He will speak this Sunday about his trip. He answers a few questions here: Q:…

  • Foot Forward

    In 1968, 14-year-old Paul Olsen of suburban Livingston, N.J., and his friend Tony Lessa heard that dinosaur tracks had been found in a nearby quarry. They raced over on their bikes.  “I went ballistic,” Olsen recalls. Over the next few years, the boys uncovered and studied thousands of tracks and other fossils there, often working into the night.  It opened the…

  • Geologists Map Rocks to Soak CO2 From Air

    6,000 Square Miles in U.S. Might Turn Emissions to Harmless Solids

  • Major Drilling Ship Back at Sea

    JOIDES Resolution to Range From Bering Sea to Antarctic

  • J. Lamar Worzel, Physicist Who Set Man’s Ear to Oceans

    A wizardly improviser who guided sub warfare and charting of depths

  • Rocks Could Be Harnessed to Sponge Vast Amounts of Carbon Dioxide from Air, Say Researchers

    Proposed Method Would Speed Natural Reactions a Million Times

  • Geologist Who Linked Cosmic Strike to Dinosaurs’ Extinction Takes Top Prize

    The Vetlesen, on Level with Nobel, Goes to Walter Alvarez

  • Arsenic in Bangladesh Water, Then and Now

    Back in the summer of 1997 while working for a small newspaper focusing on UN development issues, I traveled to Bangladesh to see how far this often overlooked country tucked away in a corner between India and China had fared since its independence 25 years ago. At the time the only stories which came out…

  • Suburban Seismology

    Three minor earthquakes struck North Jersey last month. Yes, Jersey. Turns out the state known for its turnpikes and shopping malls also has a major geological landmark: the Ramapo Fault, which crosses into New York and Pennsylvania. “Earthquakes are not unexpected here,” seismologist Won-Young Kim told The New York Times. “It’s just an indication that…

  • Pole of Inaccessibility

    Hidden beneath 2.5 miles of ice, the Gamburtsev Mountains in eastern Antarctica are the most mysterious peaks on Earth. Michael Studinger, a scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, helped lead a recent expedition to map these invisible mountains using geophysical instruments. He will speak this Sunday about his trip. He answers a few questions here: Q:…

  • Foot Forward

    In 1968, 14-year-old Paul Olsen of suburban Livingston, N.J., and his friend Tony Lessa heard that dinosaur tracks had been found in a nearby quarry. They raced over on their bikes.  “I went ballistic,” Olsen recalls. Over the next few years, the boys uncovered and studied thousands of tracks and other fossils there, often working into the night.  It opened the…

  • Geologists Map Rocks to Soak CO2 From Air

    6,000 Square Miles in U.S. Might Turn Emissions to Harmless Solids

  • Major Drilling Ship Back at Sea

    JOIDES Resolution to Range From Bering Sea to Antarctic

  • J. Lamar Worzel, Physicist Who Set Man’s Ear to Oceans

    A wizardly improviser who guided sub warfare and charting of depths

  • Rocks Could Be Harnessed to Sponge Vast Amounts of Carbon Dioxide from Air, Say Researchers

    Proposed Method Would Speed Natural Reactions a Million Times

  • Geologist Who Linked Cosmic Strike to Dinosaurs’ Extinction Takes Top Prize

    The Vetlesen, on Level with Nobel, Goes to Walter Alvarez