State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Biomimicry

  • Biomimicry 101: Nature and the College Freshman

    Biomimicry 101: Nature and the College Freshman

    Sustainable development student Isabelle Seckler explains how nature taught her the most important lessons she has learned all year.

  • The Next Climate Tech Breakthrough May Have Already Happened, We Just Didn’t Notice

    The Next Climate Tech Breakthrough May Have Already Happened, We Just Didn’t Notice

    How biomimicry and evolution can offer sustainable solutions for adaptation and resilience.

  • Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    According to the World Water Management Institute, over one-third of the human population is affected by water scarcity. Advances in physical understanding, its applications, and the study of our environment and bio-mimicry help us develop more effective ways to fight freshwater scarcity around the world.

  • Nature-Inspired Robots

    Nature-Inspired Robots

    Scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland created a new breed of robots to advance their research in robotic movements. But the cheetah-cub robot is not the first animal to bound across laboratory floors. Scientists have produced a “mechanical menagerie” of robots that mimic four legged mammals, compact insects, and everything in…

  • Biomimicry: Learning From Nature’s Genius

    Biomimicry: Learning From Nature’s Genius

    Biomimicry is the science of studying and emulating nature’s solutions to the problems that human beings are trying to solve. Over the 3.8 billion years that life has existed on Earth, nature, through evolution, has come up with sustainable and robust solutions that work and that endure.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Biomimicry 101: Nature and the College Freshman

    Biomimicry 101: Nature and the College Freshman

    Sustainable development student Isabelle Seckler explains how nature taught her the most important lessons she has learned all year.

  • The Next Climate Tech Breakthrough May Have Already Happened, We Just Didn’t Notice

    The Next Climate Tech Breakthrough May Have Already Happened, We Just Didn’t Notice

    How biomimicry and evolution can offer sustainable solutions for adaptation and resilience.

  • Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    Copy Cat!: Fighting the Global Water Scarcity Issue

    According to the World Water Management Institute, over one-third of the human population is affected by water scarcity. Advances in physical understanding, its applications, and the study of our environment and bio-mimicry help us develop more effective ways to fight freshwater scarcity around the world.

  • Nature-Inspired Robots

    Nature-Inspired Robots

    Scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland created a new breed of robots to advance their research in robotic movements. But the cheetah-cub robot is not the first animal to bound across laboratory floors. Scientists have produced a “mechanical menagerie” of robots that mimic four legged mammals, compact insects, and everything in…

  • Biomimicry: Learning From Nature’s Genius

    Biomimicry: Learning From Nature’s Genius

    Biomimicry is the science of studying and emulating nature’s solutions to the problems that human beings are trying to solve. Over the 3.8 billion years that life has existed on Earth, nature, through evolution, has come up with sustainable and robust solutions that work and that endure.