State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences79

  • Chemical silence

    Chemical silence

    What if you couldn’t smell smoke? Or detect flirty signs from a bloke? Imagine the cost Of faculties lost, Of signals that deafness would cloak …

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    In Part 4 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the source of the red sandstone of Russell Hall at the Columbia Teachers College on 120th Street.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • The Art and Science of Climate Change

    The Art and Science of Climate Change

    This fall, the photographs of Sebastião Salgado provide the springboard for an ambitious program of panel discussions, lectures and film screenings addressing the urgent issue of climate change, at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.

  • Aureococcus

    Aureococcus

    On skin, it’s barely a freckle I’d make, But baby, en masse, we turn seas opaque! Come darkness, come famine, come poison or flood, My kind can flourish in any old crud.

  • Building Blocks from the Mississippian Sea

    Building Blocks from the Mississippian Sea

    The Columbia Geology Tour, Part 2: Take a trip back 350 million years to the shallow seas of the Mississippian that covered what is now the U.S. Midwest — source of the finely crafted limestone columns and facade details of St. Paul’s Chapel.

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings

  • Chemical silence

    Chemical silence

    What if you couldn’t smell smoke? Or detect flirty signs from a bloke? Imagine the cost Of faculties lost, Of signals that deafness would cloak …

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    In Part 4 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the source of the red sandstone of Russell Hall at the Columbia Teachers College on 120th Street.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • The Art and Science of Climate Change

    The Art and Science of Climate Change

    This fall, the photographs of Sebastião Salgado provide the springboard for an ambitious program of panel discussions, lectures and film screenings addressing the urgent issue of climate change, at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.

  • Aureococcus

    Aureococcus

    On skin, it’s barely a freckle I’d make, But baby, en masse, we turn seas opaque! Come darkness, come famine, come poison or flood, My kind can flourish in any old crud.

  • Building Blocks from the Mississippian Sea

    Building Blocks from the Mississippian Sea

    The Columbia Geology Tour, Part 2: Take a trip back 350 million years to the shallow seas of the Mississippian that covered what is now the U.S. Midwest — source of the finely crafted limestone columns and facade details of St. Paul’s Chapel.