What caused the ice ages? Tiny ocean fossils offer key evidence
December 10, 2020 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightThe last million years of Earth history have been characterized by frequent “glacial-interglacial cycles,” large swings in climate that are linked to the growing and shrinking of massive, continent-spanning ice sheets. These cycles are triggered by subtle oscillations in Earth’s…
Hack Graduate Award recipients explore water issues from groundwater cleanup to carbon-capturing crystals
June 4, 2020 ・ Morgan KellyThe Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) has selected seven Princeton University graduate students as 2020 recipients of the Mary and Randall Hack ’69 Graduate Awards for Water and the Environment. The awardees are Francisco Carrillo, Eunah Han, Julie Kim, Aleksander Musiał,…
Two million-year-old ice cores provide first direct observations of an ancient climate
November 21, 2019 ・ Morgan KellyPrinceton University-led researchers have extracted 2 million-year-old ice cores from Antarctica that provide the first direct observations of Earth’s climate at a time when the furred early ancestors of modern humans still roamed. Gas bubbles trapped in the cores —…
Geyman’s published senior thesis research offers new thoughts on how carbonates record global carbon cycle
November 8, 2019 ・ Tom GarlinghouseWhen scientists want to study Earth’s very ancient geological past — typically greater than 100 million years ago — they often turn to rocks called carbonates. Calcium carbonates, the most ubiquitous forms of carbonate, are minerals that precipitate from seawater…
From crystals to climate: New ‘gold standard’ timeline connects volcanic eruptions to climate change
October 19, 2018 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightImagine an enormous volcano erupting in the Pacific Northwest, pouring lava across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Imagine the lava flooding out until river valleys are filled in. Until bushes and shrubs are buried in liquid rock. Until the tallest trees…
Historians to climate researchers: “Let’s talk”
March 19, 2018 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightHistory – and historians – can tell us a lot about how societies handle environmental upheaval.
Princeton geologists solve fossil mystery by creating 3-D ‘virtual tour’ through rock
February 27, 2018 ・ Liz Fuller-WrightPrinceton geoscientists Adam Maloof and Akshay Mehra can create 3-D versions of rock samples that scientists can look at from any angle.
Theory suggests root efficiency, independence drove global spread of flora
February 21, 2018 ・ Morgan KellyResearchers from Princeton and the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggest that plants spread worldwide thanks to root adaptations that allowed them to become more efficient and independent.
Farms, petroculture and the Environmental Nexus: Four new environmental studies courses and ENV 200 for Spring 2018
December 4, 2017 ・ PEI StaffFour new environmental studies courses and the popular “Environmental Nexus” class are among the many Spring 2018 offerings from PEI’s Certificate Program in Environmental Studies. Registration begins Dec. 6.
