Land & water
Site news
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David Lobell discusses how satellite data and artificial intelligence can provide insights on food security, poverty, and sustainability in this episode of the Stanford Ecopreneurship podcast.
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Scientists have discovered wintertime seismic activity in the ocean around Antarctica controls summer growth of phytoplankton, tiny organisms that fuel the marine food web and sequester huge amounts of carbon from Earth’s atmosphere.
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Stanford’s EPS 5 field course immerses students in the geological history of the Bay Area through a two-day excursion to ancient beaches, landslides, and earthquake sites, revealing the many ways people are tied to Earth’s shifting landscape.
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Founder and biochemist Pat Brown and business leader Nick Halla discuss animal agriculture and scaling from lab innovations to market in this episode of the Stanford Ecopreneurship podcast.
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Stanford researchers are studying how changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and ecological shifts affect the global food system, while developing ways to improve food security for all.
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With support from the TomKat Center, two Stanford alumni are working to transform biowaste such as palm fibers into oil feedstocks for advanced fuels.
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New research finds damage to rice crops has accelerated in recent decades due to rainstorms that increasingly submerge young plants for a week or more. Adoption of flood-resistant rice varieties in vulnerable regions could help avert future losses.
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In many parts of the world, staple crops such as maize and wheat are dependent on rainfall recycled from land rather than oceans, making them more vulnerable to drought. Researchers at Stanford and the University of California San Diego identified a critical threshold in atmospheric moisture sources that could help predict and prevent future crop failures.
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New analysis of isotopes preserved in ancient seafloor sediments suggests oxygen levels in Earth’s deep ocean stabilized at modern-day levels long after the rapid burst of evolution that gave us most major animal groups.
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A decade ago, the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm was established after years of student advocacy. Today, it thrives as a hub for teaching, research, and campus life.
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Scholars across campus are leveraging AI to drive remarkable advancements in fields from robotics to neuroscience to mining, while fostering a cautious approach to the application of the technology.
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Eva Scheller designs and plans spacecraft instruments, including Mars rovers and satellites, and analyzes the data to understand the formation, evolution, and habitability of planetary bodies.
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Scientists are tapping wastewater for valuable nutrients, public health information, and more.
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For the first time, researchers report that Arctic algae can hustle along in -15 C – the lowest-temperature movement ever recorded in complex, living cells. This discovery raises new questions about how algal communities regulate the overall health of the Arctic environment.
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Research reveals that unvegetated meandering rivers can geologically masquerade as braided rivers, suggesting they were much more common in the first 90 percent of Earth’s history than previously thought.
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Jennifer Burney combines physics, economics, and on-the-ground data to understand how practical, local solutions and better policies can help improve access to food, support farmers, and drive down planet-warming emissions.
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Stanford researchers have developed a prototype system that can harvest fertilizer from urine. The approach could provide sanitation, income, and energy in resource-limited regions.
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Stanford researchers discovered that a nearly forgotten variety of black peas from the northwest Himalayas in India is genetically distinct from other peas and outperforms them.
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Often portrayed as lumber-hungry nuisances, North American beavers build dams that help freshwater ecosystems thrive. A new Stanford-led study uses high-resolution aerial imagery to map beaver dams and ponds, ultimately aiding managers in prioritizing areas for restoring wetlands and reintroducing beavers.
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The Environmental Law Clinic’s case for the Pit River Tribe culminated in the designation of Medicine Lake Highlands as a national monument, reflecting decades of commitment from students and tribal advocates.
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The latest awards enable development and implementation of cross-disciplinary projects tackling real-world sustainability challenges in food and agriculture, industry, water, electricity, and biology.
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Stanford researchers are developing new ways to curb deforestation while boosting rural incomes. Their work pairs economic theory with on-the-ground trials to advance practical climate solutions.
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A new water market model for the Colorado River basin could improve water security and restore ecosystems amid intensifying shortages.
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A sweeping new analysis finds that rising global temperatures will dampen the world’s capacity to produce food from most staple crops, even after accounting for economic development and adaptation by farmers.
