On Thursday we lowered a camera into an ice borehole to get a look at the underside of the ice. In the following video, you can clearly see the algae living in the bottom of the ice due to their pigments, which they use to harvest light.
The Microgrid Solution
Last October, Superstorm Sandy provoked widespread frustration and fear after it left more than 7.5 million people in the New York Metro area without power. In the hardest hit areas, outages lasted two weeks or more. These failures led many observers to wonder if America’s aging electrical grid was up to dealing with emerging climate and other challenges.
Climate and Conquest: How Did Genghis Khan Rise?
Eight hundred years ago, relatively small armies of mounted warriors suddenly exploded outward from the cold, arid high-elevation grasslands of Mongolia and reshaped world geography, culture and history in ways that still resound today. How did they do it?
Mysterious Honeybee Deaths Remain Unsolved
According to a comprehensive federal study, the collapse of American honeybee colonies stems from a complex slew of factors, including pesticides, parasites, poor nutrition and a lack of genetic diversity.
The Sahel Is Getting Wetter, But Will It Last?
New research gives a unifying explanation of the Sahel’s past, present and future climate patterns.
National Grid Joins the Corporate Circle
The Earth Institute is pleased to welcome National Grid into the Corporate Circle, a collective partnership of leading corporations from across the globe committed to pursuing sustainable development objectives. Through a generous gift, National Grid will support sustainable energy research at the Earth Institute.
Ice Capades
Fieldwork is exciting and inspiring, leading scientists to new ideas, places and observations about how the world works. Spring on Alaska’s North Slope provides an especially productive environment for fieldwork. When the sun never sets, it’s easy to linger in the field and the lab long into the well-lit night.
Roads: An Essential Element of Development
Roads data is critical to planning and development of rural transportation in developing countries, where better transportation systems can help improve livelihoods.
Auction Proceeds to Benefit the Millennium Villages
Renowned collector and Wall Street money manager William H. Gross sold pieces from his unparalleled U.S. stamp collection for the first time at an auction at the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries here in New York on April 9. Since 2008, Bill and his wife Sue have donated over $19 million to the Millennium Villages project, and they continued their generosity by donating the proceeds from the auction to the Earth Institute and to Doctors Without Borders.
Identifying Capacity Building Needs for the Government of Haiti
The Earth Institute’s Haiti Research and Policy Program at the Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development welcomed two distinguished speakers as part of the Spring 2013 Haiti Dialogue Series to discuss government capacity building and national monitoring systems for government funded programs.
M.S. Student Learns the Importance of Form and Function through Sustainable Design Courses
Being able to model solutions visually is a critical component for managers’ intent for solving environmental problems. For that reason, perhaps, advancing the way we design the built environment has always been my keenest interest. Sustainable design requires more than just the ability to create spatially: it requires expansive considerations—materials, energy, water-use, financial feasibility, new technologies. It must successfully execute the maxim “form meets function”.
