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These stories offer a glimpse of the many ways in which faculty and students are addressing some of today's greatest challenges in the Earth and environmental sciences.

Stanford scientists document fragile land-sea ecological chain
Stanford News Service by Rob Jordan

Intricate, often invisible chains of life are threatened with extinction around the world. A new study quantifies one of the longest such chains ever documented.

Generation Anthropocene
WordPress

Generation Antropocene compiles interviews conducted by students in an Earth Systems class called Podcasting the Antropocene. As part of their experiment in interdisciplinary science communication, students talked with geologists, engineers, ecologists, doctors, project managers, oceanographers, and historians on the theme of life in the Antropocene age.

Climate change may create price volatility in the corn market, say researchers from Stanford and Purdue
Stanford Report by Rob Jordan

Researchers from Stanford and Purdue universities found that climate change's impact on corn price volatility could far outweigh the volatility caused by changing oil prices or government energy policies mandating biofuels production from corn and other crops. "Frankly, I was surprised that climate had the largest effect of these three influences," said Noah Diffenbaugh, assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at the School of Earth Sciences and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "These are substantial changes in price volatility that come from relatively moderate global warming."

Global Climate and Energy Project awards $8.4 million to develop innovative energy technologies
Stanford News Service by Mark Shwartz

"These awards support fundamental research on a broad range of potentially game-changing energy technologies – from an all-carbon solar cell to a soot-free diesel combustion process," said GCEP Director Sally Benson, a research professor of energy resources engineering at Stanford.

From glovebox to archive: Private collector gives huge trove of road maps to Stanford
Stanford Report by Cynthia Haven

"They're thought of as ephemera – a map that stays in the car and you use it until you throw it away," said Julie Sweetkind-Singer, head librarian of Stanford's Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections. "It's a source of research information, just in a different format – a cartographic format instead of a text  format," she said. "It's one of the most significant road map collections in the West."

DuPont joins Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project
Stanford Report

"We are extremely delighted to welcome DuPont as our newest corporate sponsor," said GCEP Director Sally Benson, a research professor of energy resources engineering at Stanford. "DuPont is the ideal partner – a company with a robust research capability and a commitment to global sustainability. Joining GCEP is a true affirmation of the value of university-industry research partnerships."

Margot Gerritsen on the critical need for energy literacy in the US
Stanford Report by Mark Shwartz

Although the United States is one of the world's biggest energy consumers, the average American has little knowledge about basic energy issues, says Margot Gerritsen.

Quake-Catcher Network detected tremor 10 seconds before shaking reached campus
Stanford Report by Steve Tung

The Quake-Catcher Network, a web of sensors plugged into the computers of 2,000 volunteers, detected the shaking of Monday's 5:33 a.m. earthquake in less time than it took the motion to travel through the ground from the epicenter in the East Bay town of El Cerrito to the Stanford campus in Palo Alto.

Sally Benson discusses the challenges and opportunities of carbon sequestration
Stanford Report by Mark Shwartz

"Two major challenges stand in the way of carbon sequestration reaching its full potential," said Sally Benson, a research professor of energy resources engineering at Stanford University. "One is the high cost of capturing CO2. The other is an overall lack of confidence in the capacity, safety and permanence of sequestration in deep geological formations."

Dean Pamela Matson addresses Faculty Senate
Stanford Report

Pamela Matson, the Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, began her presentation on the school with a familiar photo – a satellite image of Earth. "For us, this actually has really significant meaning, because it is actually what we do," said Matson, who also is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Environmental Studies and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment.