Since much of Papua New Guinea lies close to the equator where the Coriolis effect is weak, the risk of tropical cyclones striking the island nation is relatively low, especially in its northern areas. Nevertheless, unusually warm sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions favorable to storm formation brought powerful Tropical Cyclone Maila dangerously close to the islands of Bougainville, New Britain, and New Ireland in April 2026, fueling intense rainfall.

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Laramie Jensen's interest in inorganic and analytical chemistry led her to the ocean. And then to the North Pole....

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Our streets are crowded with commuters and delivery vehicles, but when a police car or fire engine approaches with its lights and sirens on, drivers clear the way. In the coming years, drones for deliveries and other commercial tasks will become common in the skies over our communities, and NASA is working to ensure first responder vehicles in the air get the same kind of clearance that they do on the ground.

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Now in its fifth year, the annual conference was created to highlight the critical climate-driven health and environmental impacts affecting our shared community....

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My next post about the Geology of the National Parks Through Pictures is from our move across the country from Utah to New York. Along the way we visited 13 National Parks as well as some other sites. This was the 11th National Park along the way.

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"Mother, mother ocean, after all the years I've foundMy occupational hazard beingMy occupation's just not around"

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Physics of the Cosmos...Physics of the Cosmos CommunityTDAMM SIG Meeting, 11...AboutCommunityProgram Analysis Group (PhysPAG)Science GroupsMeetingsCosmic PathfindersScience GapsEarly Career WorkshopsOpportunitiesMissionsStudiesNews & EventsResources?...

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Aynsley Kretschmar, a soon-to-be graduate of the M.A. in Climate and Society program, reflects on the skills she's gained from her time at Columbia, as well as what she's most excited about for her future. ...

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An extreme drought that has gripped the Southeast for months helped fuel two large, destructive, human-caused wildland fires in southern Georgia in April 2026. The Pineland Road and Highway 82 fires together burned more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) as of April 28, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.

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By Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

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How much did Artemis II resonate with people -- or glance off them?...

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The bright whites of mountain snow, muted browns of the arid plains, and gem-like blues and teals of glacial lakes typically dominate the Patagonian color palette. But for a short time in the austral autumn, temperate deciduous forests add splashes of warm tones. On April 12, 2026, a break in the clouds allowed the Landsat 9 satellite to capture an image of reddish hillsides in the Magallanes region of southern Chile.

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M.A. in Climate and Society student Erin Frank shoots film around New York City. She says her camera and climate coursework have more in common than she expected....

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Over the years I've collected a few sightings in Oakland of actinolite, an uncommon-but-not-rare mineral in the Coast Range and Sierra foothills. This is my reference specimen, one I bought at a Russian River rock shop when I asked the owner for something local.

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The scientists behind threatened missions speak out....

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The through line for the western United States so far in the 2026 water year is simple: there's very little snow. With few exceptions, the mountains of the U.S. West have seen unusually little snow accumulation since October 2025, constituting a widespread snow drought. The lack of mountain snowpack has resource managers on alert going into the warmer months. Meager meltwater can affect hydropower production, agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, and wildland fire risk.

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I believe the global financial markets are now in what I would call a Wile E. Coyote moment frequently depicted in the old Warner Bros. animated series called "The Road Runner Show."  In this cartoon series a coyote while ...

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 Anyone who so much as drives between Australian cities these years will notice that an infestation of anti-renewable ideas has taken hold in pockets of the Australian bush. Alien hate and extremism has infected soils throughout our wide brown l...

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The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 95 spacecraft is safely in orbit and headed to the International Space Station following its launch at 6:21 p.m. EDT (3:21 a.m. Baikonur time Sunday, April 26) on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

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Jed McKinney (University of Texas, Austin)

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Registration is now open for the Community Science (Ad ASTRA) Workshop to engage the community in defining future large, strategic astrophysics missions. The workshop will take place in Pasadena, CA on 1-3 September 2026. In-person attendance will be limited by venue capacity to approximately 250 people, but virtual participation will also be possible. The hotel room block is available.

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The 2026 Day of Action brought more than 130 space advocates from 34 states and the District of Columbia to the nation's capital to advocate for space....

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We have a unique opportunity to advocate that a CMB Probe mission be studied in preparation for the Astro2030 Decadal Survey through the ASTRA Initiative. See more details on the ASTRA webpage. NASA is requesting community input on which 4-6 missions (plus far-IR and X-ray flagships) should be studied. NASA plans to announce the selected missions at the January 2027 AAS meeting. In advance of that, there will be the AD ASTRA community workshop in Pasadena, CA, in early September. We need strong advocacy from all of you to emphasize the importance of a CMB mission to NASA.

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About 23 million people live in Taiwan, a Pacific island about the size of Maryland. Despite its size, the island produces a tremendous amount of agricultural goods per year--about $18 billion, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Agriculture.

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Caine's new book depicts a small community in the glacier-fed Peruvian Highlands as it navigates climate change and social pressures....

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