Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has found that rising temperatures influence wildfires in the American West.
Research News All
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November 12, 2018
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November 12, 2018
I had one last day installing seismometers with the team, then left for Mandalay. After a breakfast with colleagues, I had a free day to explore Mandalay Hill.
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November 10, 2018
With the GPS done, I joined the seismologists installing 32 stations in Myanmar. We finished the preparations and then headed out to the field in three teams.
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November 06, 2018
On the way back to Kale, we stopped at a Catholic church where one of the seismometers will be deployed. The seismic team is now in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital preparing for the seismic instrument deployment.
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November 03, 2018
Our next two sites were Kalewa to the east and Tedim to the west. To get to Kalewa we followed the Myittha River past the Kabaw Fault to the site with view of a monastery. Tedim is a long and windy drive through the mountainous Chin Hills.
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October 30, 2018
We drove 15 hours over two days to get to Kale, our new home base. Here, we managed to build a monument and install our first GPS station in only one day. Our homemade post-driver worked amazingly well.
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October 27, 2018
There may be a significant earthquake hazard in the densely populated region along the IndoBurman subduction zone. Thus, we are in Myanmar, installing five GPSes to study it.
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October 26, 2018
The Trump administration is attempting to rescind almost all the policies to fight climate change proposed or enacted by the Obama administration. Could this send us over the climate tipping points?
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October 17, 2018
The award from the New York State Department of Transportation recognizes Lamont’s electric shuttle buses, bike-friendly engineering, and more.
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October 15, 2018
The Global Famine of 1876-1878 was one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history, killing as many people as World War II. A new analysis suggests it could happen again, only worse because of climate change.
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October 01, 2018
To find out if this harmful metal is lingering in your backyard or local park, and to learn how to protect your family, bring a few scoops of soil to the Lamont-Doherty Open House on October 13.
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October 01, 2018
A small team of scientists ventures out onto the Greenland ice sheet to study the forces large and small that are accelerating the melting of the world’s second-largest ice mass.
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September 27, 2018
An interview with Ed Cook, one of the founding directors of the Tree-Ring Laboratory at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
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September 25, 2018
Scientists and staff from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Earth Institute share some of the ways they’re shrinking their carbon footprints.
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September 24, 2018
New study reveals surprising facts behind a shrinking wetland, and suggests remedies.
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September 24, 2018
Using newly refined analysis methods, scientists have discovered that a North Korean nuclear bomb test last fall set off aftershocks over a period of eight months on a previously unmapped earthquake fault nearby.
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September 18, 2018
A comprehensive plan outlines ways to clean up the Hudson River and reduce the impacts from development and climate change.
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September 13, 2018
By enhancing climate models, a project will help to improve forecasts of intense hurricanes like Hurricane Florence.
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September 12, 2018
Our hurricane and disaster experts are standing by to answer media questions about hurricane physics, emergency response, climate change, and more
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September 12, 2018
Experts from around the Earth Institute weigh in on some of the biggest questions about Hurricane Florence.
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August 22, 2018
In a new study, researchers report that their physics-based model of California earthquake hazards replicated estimates from the state’s leading statistical model.
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August 21, 2018
An extensive investigation by the Reuters news agency has found that many children living on U.S. military bases may be exposed to hazardous levels of lead in family housing units.
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August 16, 2018
Tiny microbes called phytoplankton live beneath the ocean’s surface, producing oxygen that is essential to human survival. A new study sheds light on how these all-important diatoms survive and thrive under difficult conditions.
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August 15, 2018
Two Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists affiliated with the Center for Climate and Life are leading research that examines some of the ways climate change affects the health of the ocean.
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August 13, 2018
Scientists have known for some time that ice shelves off West Antarctica are melting as deep, warm ocean waters eat at their undersides, but a new study shows that temperatures, and resultant melting, can vary far more than previously thought, within a time scale of a few years.
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August 09, 2018
The American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest and most distinguished Earth and space science society, has announced its newest Fellows, and among the honorees are two Lamont scientists.
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August 03, 2018
The world is warming and our air conditioners are making it worse. Here are some less energy-intensive ways to survive the rising heat.
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July 31, 2018
The American Geophysical Union honors the outstanding work of three Lamont scientists.
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July 27, 2018
Why should we care what causes a drought?
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July 25, 2018
For this early part of the season the goal is to tease apart a record of historic precipitation and temperature for this region using isotopes from leaf waxes collected in the lake sediments.
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July 20, 2018
Lamont-Doherty researchers will use the grant to enhance a sample identification system that makes scientific results more reproducible.
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July 18, 2018
Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are exploring how volcanic inputs are influencing ocean health in Hawaii.
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July 18, 2018Superheroes are identified by their unique powers and skills, allowing them to see and act in ways that inspire awe in the rest of us. Do scientists have superhero powers?
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July 17, 2018
Rising temperatures and humidity could make summers unbearable in the southeastern U.S. and beyond, according to a study published in December.
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July 13, 2018
The sounds from icebergs are constant—a bit of groaning as the waves shift the ice, and then a sharp popping like gunfire as the ice fractures, beginning its weakening.
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July 13, 2018
In a world filled with fake news and “alternative facts,” science is an integral part of an effective democracy that is based on truth and reality.
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July 12, 2018
Snow on Ice is launching into the field with two teams of scientists this summer. The first group, an ‘advance team’ of six women, will focus on lakes where meltwater has collected on the southwestern flank of Greenland bedrock.
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July 10, 2018
Business leaders and climate scientists recently met to discuss how advances in climate science research can be used to reduce investment risk and improve returns.
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July 02, 2018
The gift will be used to fast-track innovative high-risk, high-reward projects aimed at delivering science-based solutions to address the challenges of climate change.
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June 27, 2018
Scientists have long determined what extinct animals ate by analyzing carbon isotopes locked inside their fossil teeth. Recently researchers have discovered that the isotopic record depends on the animal’s body mass.
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June 25, 2018
Even if we limit global warming to no more than 2°C above preindustrial levels, as the Paris Agreement aims, the world is in store for some dramatic changes, according to a new study.
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June 20, 2018
A new algorithm quickly sifts through hours of field recordings to learn how climate change influences bird migration. The A.I. could help track other wildlife as well.
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June 18, 2018
Yutian Wu, an atmospheric scientist seeking to understand how the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice will impact North American weather extremes, is the Center’s newest Fellow.
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June 14, 2018
Posing as an interplanetary flight attendant in an upcoming show, researcher Christine McCarthy will lead a geological journey through the solar system.
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June 13, 2018
Thousands of years ago, the West Antarctic ice sheet shrank dramatically—then grew back in an unexpected way.
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June 08, 2018
A new study, which found that the Earth and the Moon are drifting apart, inspired a science communicator to write this poem.
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June 04, 2018
For anyone who has ever wished there were more hours in the day, geoscientists have some good news: Days on Earth are getting longer. Very slowly.
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May 30, 2018
Sunny California may be getting too sunny. Increasing summer temperatures brought on by a combination of intensifying urbanization and warming climate are driving off once-common morning cloud cover in southern coastal areas of the state, leading to increased risk of wildfires.
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May 28, 2018
Intensifying river floods caused by global warming may hamper national economies worldwide, and effects might propagate through global trade and supply networks, a new study says.
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May 25, 2018
Alexandria Ang takes home the prestigious recognition for her research on a climate change-driven algae whose greenish blooms plague the Arabian Sea.
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May 25, 2018
Volcanologist Einat Lev shares incredible footage of steam plumes, lava fountains, and more from the Kilauea eruption.
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May 24, 2018
A new website provides an interesting and easy-to-understand primer on the carbon cycle.
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May 23, 2018
In a new study in Science Advances, researchers at Columbia University show that machine learning algorithms could pick out different types of earthquakes from three years of earthquake recordings at Geysers in California. The repeating patterns of earthquakes appear to match the seasonal rise and fall of water-injection flows into the hot rocks below, suggesting a link to the mechanical processes that cause rocks to slip or crack, triggering an earthquake.
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May 22, 2018
Volcanologist Einat Lev is tracking lava flows at Hawaii’s volcanic eruption. Here, she describes what conditions are like on the ground—and in the sky.
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May 21, 2018
A new study has uncovered when and why the native vegetation that today dominates much of Australia first expanded across the continent.
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May 18, 2018
The President’s Global Innovation Fund will provide grants to three Earth Institute research projects.
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May 14, 2018
Columbia scientists recently visited the Caribbean island of Barbados, whose fossilized coral reefs contain an exquisite record of how the ocean has risen and fallen in the past.
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May 07, 2018
Scientists drilling deep into ancient rocks in the Arizona desert say they have documented a gradual shift in Earth’s orbit that repeats regularly every 405,000 years, playing a role in natural climate swings.
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May 02, 2018
Sediments deposited over thousands of years provide a window to the past—and may perhaps shed light on what happened to the island’s now-lost civilization.
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May 02, 2018
Research by tree-ring scientist Laia Andreu-Hayles will provide much-needed observational climate data for Bolivia and Peru and insight into the climate sensitivity of tropical tree species in the Andes.
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May 01, 2018
Climate scientist Radley Horton is bringing the effects of sea level rise to the attention of decision-makers and fostering discussions to help society confront climate change.
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May 01, 2018
Small island nations are on the frontlines of climate change—and for some, retreat is not an option.
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April 30, 2018
An international collaboration will study the wasting of the Thwaites glacier, which already accounts for around 4 percent of current global sea-level rise, and could collapse within decades or centuries.
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April 25, 2018
Geoscientist Wally Broecker explains the money that’s backing climate denialism, and what it will take to fight it.
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April 24, 2018
Polar scientists Marco Tedesco and Robin Bell provide a primer on how climate change will impact our coastlines.
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April 24, 2018
A new study suggests we may be underestimating the chances of extreme heat and droughts in Europe under climate change.
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April 23, 2018
For decades, scientists believed that the Greenland Ice Sheet is relatively stable compared with the vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Two Lamont scientists questioned this assumption about Greenland’s ice and wanted to take a much closer look.
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April 13, 2018
Coastal waters play an important role in the carbon cycle by absorbing carbon into sediments or transferring it to the open ocean, a new study confirms.
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April 11, 2018
Two new papers find that the line that divides the moist East and arid West is edging eastward due to climate change—and the implications for farming and other pursuits could be huge.
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April 10, 2018
Alexandria Ang, a former intern at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, will present her scientific discoveries for a chance to win some major prizes.
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April 06, 2018
Sykes helped to establish plate tectonic theory in the 1960s. He is professor emeritus at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
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March 29, 2018
Scientists are collecting lake sediment, rock, water and plant samples to explore linkages among Arctic sea ice, atmospheric uptake, and changes in snowfall on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
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March 21, 2018
Lead poisoning has been in the news often over the last few years. Local high school students are helping Lamont scientists test lead exposure levels from lead-contaminated soils in New York City.
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March 19, 2018
What does it take for palm trees to expand into northern parts of the world that have long been too cold for palm trees to survive? A new study, led by Lamont researcher Tammo Reichgelt, attempts to answer this question.
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March 15, 2018
A generous donation of marine seismic technology equipment from CGG Inc. is enabling Lamont to advance its world-class ocean research capacities and opens the door to new areas of sub-seafloor exploration, including an expanded understanding of the undersea dynamics of earthquakes and tsunamis as well as climate science and impacts of sea level change.
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March 13, 2018
Salinity in the North Atlantic dropped markedly over the last decade, according to a new study that used data from a floating network of sensors to obtain the most detailed picture yet of changing ocean conditions in the region.
But researchers say it’s too soon to say whether the decline is due to an influx of freshwater from melting ice on land or sea, or part of a natural, longer-term cycle.
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March 08, 2018
Lamont’s Robin Bell is one of the world’s leading polar investigators and has been tracking ice for thirty years. She has coordinated ten expeditions to Antarctica and Greenland. And although she took her first expedition to Antarctica back in the 1980s, there is nothing routine about her approach.
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March 01, 2018
The death of coral reefs is a more significant factor in the erosion of tropical coastlines than rising sea levels, a new international study has revealed.
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February 27, 2018
Citizen scientists can gather data to help uncover how snow is changing over time.
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February 19, 2018
In a new study, researchers have mapped out a large variety of discarded pharmaceuticals dissolved throughout the Hudson River. They say that in some places, levels may be high enough to potentially affect aquatic life.
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February 14, 2018
On every continent and every ocean, Lamont researchers are studying climate, geology, natural hazards, ecology and more. Here is a list of projects in rough chronological order.
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February 12, 2018
Braving the high seas and a curious shark, a team of scientists taps into the secret social life of a microbe that’s crucial for marine ecosystems.
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January 31, 2018
On January 31 at 1:00 p.m. EST, Lamont-Doherty’s Hugh Ducklow and his colleagues will use National Science Foundation social media to discuss their research on Antarctic ecology.
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January 24, 2018
You could say goodbye to the atmosphere and GPS navigation, to start.
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January 19, 2018
Researchers create first model for hurricane hazard assessment that is both open source and capable of accounting for climate change.
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January 16, 2018
Working as an Antarctic field scientist, I witnessed the destruction provoked by a rapidly warming planet. But I also found inspiration.
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January 13, 2018Lamont climate scientist Deepti Singh explains the dynamics behind January’s extreme winter weather and how climate change may have been a contributing factor.
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January 11, 2018
As the Arctic warms, the unfreezing of permafrost poses a threat to the planet.
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January 10, 2018
Rainfall changes caused by global warming will increase river flooding risks across the globe by the 2040s, says a new study. The study finds that the increases will be greatest in much of the United States, central Europe, Indonesia, and parts of India and Africa.
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January 08, 2018
A new study shows how ambient seismic noise can help understand how the strength of tropical cyclones is being modified by climate change.
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December 22, 2017
Climate scientists say that killer heat waves will become increasingly prevalent in many regions as climate warms. However, most projections leave out a major factor that could worsen things: humidity, which can greatly magnify the effects of heat alone. Now, a new global study projects that in coming decades the effects of high humidity in many areas will dramatically increase.
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December 18, 2017
Presentation calls attention to a largely under-recognized health threat.
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December 14, 2017
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger today announced his appointment of Alexander N. Halliday, a geochemistry professor at University of Oxford and vice president of the UK’s Royal Society, as the new Director of Columbia’s Earth Institute.
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December 14, 2017
Billy D’Andrea is trying to understand Easter Island’s climate history over the last few thousand years and how communities dealt with past climate change.
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December 11, 2017
The coasts of Antarctica are ringed with ice shelves – large expanses of ice that float on the surrounding ocean and form the outermost extensions of the glaciers that cover the land behind them. A new study shows that even minor deterioration of ice shelves can instantaneously hasten the motion and loss of ice hundreds of miles landward.
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December 08, 2017
As climate warms, the surface of the Greenland ice sheet is melting, and all that meltwater ends up in seasonal rivers that flow to the sea. At least that is what scientists have assumed until now. A new study shows that some of the meltwater is actually being soaked into porous subsurface ice and held there, at least temporarily.
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December 08, 2017
Organic geochemist Pratigya Polissar is developing new tools to look at the history of plants and ecosystems on Earth over the past 20 million years.
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December 06, 2017Congress has opened portions of Alaska’s pristine wilderness to oil and gas development. What might that mean for the creatures living there?
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December 04, 2017
A chronological guide to key talks and other events presented by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at the American Geophysical Union 2017 meeting.
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December 04, 2017
If each of us in the U.S. ate half as many burgers and steaks each week, according to a new study, there could be substantial effects on carbon emissions and the environment.
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