Get Stanford Earth Matters stories delivered to your inbox each month.
Using satellites and AI to help fight poverty in Africa
A new tool combines publicly accessible satellite imagery with AI to track poverty across African villages over time.
Tracking the tinderbox: Mapping dry wildfire fuels with AI and new satellite data
Researchers have developed a deep-learning model that maps fuel moisture levels in fine detail across 12 western states, opening a door for better fire predictions.
Environment and energy after COVID-19
Global carbon dioxide emissions are down dramatically in the wake of COVID-19. A new study pinpoints where energy demand has dropped the most, estimates the impact on annual emissions and points the way to a less polluted future.
Hunting down clues to Earth's early molten days
Scientists are still trying to piece together how Earth transformed from a molten planet to one with living creatures walking around on its silicate mantle and crust. Hints lie in the strange ways materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures.
Double-whammy weather
Like an undulating seesaw, weather in some regions swings from drought to heavy rain under the weight of climate-induced changes, a new study finds.
High schoolers co-author paleobiology study with Stanford researchers
A cohort of the Stanford Earth Young Investigators program helped advance our understanding of the relationship between the body size and circulatory systems of marine animals over a vast time frame.
Less water could sustain more Californians if we make every drop count
As climate change and population growth make drinking water costlier, here are six strategies to quench the state’s thirst without busting its budget.
'Planetary quarantine' report reviews risks of alien contamination of Earth
The former director of NASA Ames discusses how the advent of new activities and players in the exploration and use of space is raising fresh challenges and concerns about planetary protection.
COVID-19 could exacerbate food insecurity around the world
COVID-19 and other looming threats could make it much harder for people to access food. David Lobell, director of Stanford’s Center on Food Security and the Environment, outlines likely scenarios and possible solutions.
Rethinking tsunami defense
Careful engineering of low, plant-covered hills along shorelines can mitigate tsunami risks with less disruption of coastal life and lower costs compared to seawalls.
New ancient plant captures snapshot of evolution
Researchers have discovered an ancient plant species whose reproductive biology captures the evolution from one to two spore sizes – an essential transition to the success of the seed and flowering plants we depend on.
A new approach to managing earthquake risk from fracking
Earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing can damage property and endanger lives. Stanford researchers have developed new guidelines for when to slow or halt fracking operations based on local risks.
Seismic map of North America reveals geologic clues, earthquake hazards
A new stress map that reveals the forces acting on the planet’s crust will contribute to safer energy exploration, updated seismic hazard maps and improved knowledge about the Earth.
Promising signs for Perseverance rover in its quest for past Martian life
New research indicates river delta deposits within Mars’ Jezero crater – the destination of NASA’s Perseverance rover on the Red Planet – formed over time scales that promoted habitability and enhanced preservation of evidence.
Q&A: Climate change politics in the high school classroom
A Stanford education scholar discusses how young people are affected by the politicization of climate change – and what science teachers can do to help bridge the divide.
A more holistic way to measure the economic fallout from earthquakes
Officials know how to account for deaths, injuries and property damages after the shaking stops, but a new study, based on a hypothetical 7.2 magnitude quake near San Francisco, describes the first way to estimate the far greater financial fallout that such a disaster would have, especially on the poor.
Steve Graham looks back on the first Earth Day
Stanford Earth Dean Steve Graham joined one of the thousands of rallies held in celebration of the first Earth Day. Now he discusses the event and his own expanding thinking about the planet and its history.
Water heaters’ methane leaks are high, but fixable
Emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from water heaters are higher than previously estimated, especially for a new type of heater growing in popularity, a new study finds. But simple fixes exist.
'A bad time to be alive': Study links ocean deoxygenation to ancient die-off
Researchers present new evidence that the deoxygenation of the ocean wiped out biodiversity during one of the “Big Five” mass extinctions in Earth’s history – relevant information as climate change contributes to decreasing oxygen in the oceans today.