Land & water
Site news
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Recent graduate Emily Paris, PhD ’26, studies Earth’s most extreme deep-sea environments to learn about the habitability of ancient Mars and inform carbon storage efforts.
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Stanford researchers have developed a model that explains how lava-covered worlds close to their stars can retain their atmospheres. The new theory could inform the search for life beyond our solar system.
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The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Stanford University Libraries are collaborating to reorganize, rehouse, and revitalize the Geoscience Specimen Collection, which contains an estimated half a million specimens, including rocks, minerals, fossils, cores, soil, water, and other physical materials.
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Civil and environmental engineer Khalid Osman seeks to change the world through infrastructure and create a future where all communities have access to safe and reliable services.
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Recent graduate Edward Apraku, PhD ’26, combined environmental engineering with a commitment to community impact during his time at Stanford.
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Environmental chemist Nina Zhao seeks to understand the chemicals in our lives, and why people respond so differently to the same drug, pesticide, or pollutant.
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Stanford researchers are working with the City of Santa Cruz to improve assistance programs for residents who pay their water bills indirectly through rent.
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The U.S. Department of Energy announced the first phase of funding for projects using artificial intelligence to tackle the nation’s most complex science and technology challenges, including six led by Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
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Stanford engineer Khalid Osman and collaborators are building modeling tools to help water system managers find the most cost-effective option for improving their community’s drinking water.
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As COVID-19 disrupted rural economies, communities living near protected rainforests faced rising uncertainty about jobs, health and basic needs.
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Some wildfire smoke plumes are more toxic than others, depending on the geology where a fire burns. Stanford scientist Scott Fendorf explains why.
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Hotter, drier conditions could leave millions of Americans struggling to afford tap water. The cost of drought resilience measures, such as desalination plants, will likely fall on ratepayers, with the greatest impact on low-income and minority communities, according to the research.
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Environmental microbiologist Yaochun Yu studies how microbes break down pesticides, plastic additives, and other chemicals in the environment. His goal is to enable new ways to clean up pollution and design safer chemicals for the future.
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Stanford water experts discuss America's hundreds of thousands of dams, controversy over the planned removal of two in Northern California, and the future of water infrastructure.
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During the Stanford Sustainability Forum, the chef and founder of a global food relief organization discussed access to clean cooking fuels and pathways for quickly moving solutions into action.
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The chronic disease schistosomiasis wreaks havoc on more than 220 million people around the world. New research shows how introducing fish into rice fields could help reduce disease incidence and poverty in a hot spot for the disease
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Altering livestock grazing could allow soils to store billions more tons of carbon each year, depending on the region. But net climate benefits depend heavily on where supplemental feed comes from.
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A Stanford-led study based on two decades of satellite data finds California could cut deadly pollution from wildfire smoke by 20% in active fire years by expanding use of prescribed fire in conifer forests each year.
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PhD student Sierra Castañeda’s research on cover crops could shape policies that protect drinking water and reward farmers for implementing practices that keep pollution out of water supplies.
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A new modeling approach applied to 146 countries shows how strategic land use can provide significant gains for climate and nature without economic losses.
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Researchers have developed the Smaller Than Earth Habitability Model (STEHM) to assess which planets can maintain life-supporting atmospheres, focusing on size and atmospheric dynamics.
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From collecting soil samples to directing ballet performances, Anneli Chow blends science, creativity, and community.
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Combining satellite imagery and productivity data, David Lobell studies hundreds of millions of farms to secure plentiful, nutritious food worldwide.
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New analysis shows 85% of carbon emissions from the 2025 Dava Moor Fire in Scotland came from peat combustion, signaling a dangerous shift in how wildfires behave in historically boggy landscapes.
