Natural Disasters54
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To Comilla and Back
I’ve just arrived back in Bangladesh with an engineer to install 6 new GPS stations to add to our studies of earthquake hazards and land subsidence. Our first stop was Comilla University, the westernmost exposed fold of the collision between the Ganges-Bramaputra Delta and the Sumatra-Andaman-Burma plat boundary.
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Japan, Nuclear Power and the Need for Transparency
A year and a half after the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered one of the worst nuclear catastrophes in recorded history, the country is now in full energy conservation mode.
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Seeking the Deadly Roots of the Dinosaurs’ Ascent
Over the past 450 million years, life on earth has undergone at least five great extinctions, when biological activity nosedived and dominant groups of creatures disappeared. The final one (so far) was 65 million years ago, when it appears that a giant meteorite brought fires, shock waves and tsunamis, then drastically altered the climate. That killed off…
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Along an Ancient Coast, Clues to a Global Extinction
Wave-washed sea cliffs along the coasts of western England and Wales are home to spectacular assemblages of rocks and fossils that may hold keys to understanding a sudden global extinction 201.4 million years ago that cleared the way for the rapid evolution of dinosaurs. Paleontologist Paul Olsen and geologist Dennis Kent of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty…
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The Triassic and Today: Hinge Points in Earth’s History
Paleontologist Paul Olsen has been investigating the causes of Triassic-Jurassic extinction–a turning point in earth’s history that wiped out many life forms and started the reign of dinosaurs. More than 200 million years separate us from this catastrophe (also called the End-Triassic Extinction), but it could contain some lessons for us today, says Olsen. For…
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Drilling into the Jurassic in New Jersey
One hour from New York City, where the suburbs of New Jersey give way to farms, a team of scientists are drilling for ancient rocks on the edge of a cornfield. The rocks hold clues about what the earth was like about 201 million years ago,during the great extinction that allowed dinosaurs to dominate. Listen…
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Cities Are Where the Action Is, Post-Rio
Representatives of the worlds’ cities came to Rio in June for a series of events focused on the problems pressing in on the burgeoning urban population. Mayors around the world already are working on solutions and came out of Rio with concrete commitments for the future.
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For Tomorrow’s Leaders, a Tool Box for a Complex World
How are the global leaders of tomorrow going to secure renewable sources of energy, solve the problems of water scarcity, and maintain our standard of living – all while improving health, ending poverty, and accommodating a growing population and changing environment? The World Economic Forum, with its commitment to “improving the state of the world,”…
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Investigating Giant, Unseen Landslides
Steep mountains produce some of the biggest landslides on earth but in such rugged terrain who’s around to notice? These monster back country slides are now gaining attention from far-away scientists, aided by a global network of seismic stations, earth-orbiting satellites and the crowd-sourcing power of the internet.
Congratulations to our Columbia Climate School Class of 2026 and all of our 2026 Columbia University graduates! Learn more about our May 15 Climate School Class Day celebration. 💙 #Columbia2026 #ColumbiaClimate2026
