Our picks: Top 10 stories of 2023
Our list includes a mix of favorites, high-impact stories, and some of our most-read research coverage from the past year.
As 2023 draws to a close, we are looking back at research highlights from the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
These stories from our first full year as a school provided insights on wildfire smoke impacts, gas stove pollution, power grid resilience, water affordability, the early history of mountain ranges, and much more. In many cases, they also pointed to solutions to sustainability challenges.
Early in the year, Stanford scientists provided new evidence that emission goals designed to achieve the world’s most ambitious climate target – 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – may in fact be required to avoid more extreme climate change of 2 degrees Celsius.
Future insights about how native species' ranges will shift in the face of climate change may come from a project launched this spring by Northern Chumash Tribal leaders and marine scientists including Stanford’s Steve Palumbi. The team is developing a new, collaborative approach to monitoring coastal zones, starting with the first area to be tribally nominated as a national marine sanctuary.
Later in the year, Stanford researchers revealed the wildfire vulnerability of power lines across California amid increasing threats from climate-fueled wildfires, rapid population growth in some of the most fire-prone regions of the American West, and a push from California lawmakers to expedite undergrounding of electrical lines. They also proposed a way to improve safety without making energy unaffordable for low-income Californians.
Other scholars documented the growing influence of wildfire smoke on air quality trends across the country. Arriving on the heels of smoke waves that shrouded many of the most densely populated areas in the U.S. with pollution from Canadian wildfires, the results underscored a need for a new approach to regulating air pollution as record-breaking wildfires and extreme smoke waves become near-annual events.
Research published in June highlighted an overlooked source of indoor air pollution, revealing that the carcinogen benzene creeps into millions of homes whenever residents light their gas stoves. Indoor levels of the carcinogen can reach levels even higher than those in secondhand tobacco smoke, drifting throughout a home and lingering for hours.
Read on to find our top 10 picks from coverage of Stanford scientists studying Earth, climate, and sustainability this year.
Droughts increase costs for low-income households
When providers act to curtail water use or invest in new infrastructure because of a drought, bills can rise for low-income households and drop for high-income households.
January 19, 2023
AI predicts global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees in 2030s
Artificial intelligence provides new evidence our planet will cross the global warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius within 10 to 15 years. Even with low emissions, we could see 2 C of warming. But a future with less warming remains within reach.
January 30, 2023
‘Two-Eyed Seeing’ off the California coast
A new research partnership will combine Indigenous and scientific knowledge to monitor marine life in a sacred tribal region that may be a bellwether of how native species will fare in the face of climate change.
March 22, 2023
Oil-sand wastewater triggered large Alberta earthquake
New research reveals wastewater injected underground by fossil fuel operators caused a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in November 2022 in the Peace River area of Alberta’s oil sands region. This is the first study to link seismicity in the area to human activity.
March 23, 2023
Study finds combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of benzene
About 47 million homes use natural gas or propane-burning cooktops and ovens. Stanford researchers found that cooking with gas stoves can raise indoor levels of the carcinogen benzene above those found in secondhand smoke.
June 16, 2023
A solution for California’s wildfire safety deficit
Stanford research finds low-income communities in California face a “wildfire safety deficit” as a result of longstanding policies about who should pay to move power lines underground.
August 7, 2023
Before reaching the skies, the Himalayas had a leg up
A new technique for measuring past topography shows the Himalayas were more than halfway to their summit before a continental collision made them the highest range in the world.
August 10, 2023
New paint gives extra insulation, saving on energy, costs, and carbon emissions
Researchers show that their newly invented paints, which they produced in a wide array of colors, can reduce the need for both heating and air conditioning in buildings and other spaces, like trains and trucks for refrigerated cargo.
August 14, 2023
Oceans in a new light
An optical sensor smaller than a postage stamp could help coastal communities monitor some of the world’s largest marine protected areas.
September 12, 2023
Wildfire smoke’s toxic influence
Stanford research reveals the rapidly growing influence of wildfire smoke on air quality trends across most of the United States. Wildfire smoke in recent years has slowed or reversed progress toward cleaner air in 35 states, erasing a quarter of gains made since 2000.
September 20, 2023
Explore More
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Conventional sunscreen ingredients can damage coral reefs and human health. An immunologist and a marine ecologist teamed up to develop a better approach.
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With support from a Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Accelerator seed grant, an interdisciplinary team has developed a groundbreaking optical sensor that measures DNA and other key molecules in seawater using light, potentially revolutionizing the study of biodiversity in the enigmatic depths below the ocean’s surface.
