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Andrew Carnegie

The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private organization that conducts basic research for the benefit of humanity.

Other News

Scientists Tackle the Carbon Conundrum more »

Testing geoengineering more »

Links in the chain: Global carbon emissions and consumption more »

Water evaporated from trees cools global climate more »

Reforestation's Cooling Influence — A Result of Farmer's Past Choices more »

Launching the next generation Carnegie Airborne Observatory more »

Anna Michalak joins DGE faculty more »

Consumption, carbon emissions, and international trade more »

Sugarcane Cools Climate After Deforestation more »

Recent News

Geoengineering and global food supply

Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas have been increasing over the past decades, causing the Earth to get hotter and hotter. There are concerns that a continuation of these trends could have catastrophic effects, including crop failures in the heat-stressed tropics. This has led some to explore drastic ideas for combating global warming, including the idea of trying to counteract it by reflecting sunlight away from the Earth. However, it has been suggested that reflecting sunlight away from the Earth might itself threaten the food supply of billions of people. New research led by the DGE's Julia Pongratz examines the potential effects that geoengineering the climate could have on global food production and concludes that sunshade geoengineering would be more likely to improve rather than threaten food security. Their work is published online by Nature Climate Change January 22. more »

Sea Cucumbers: Dissolving coral reefs?

Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research led by Kenneth Schneider analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef. The work is published December 23 by the Journal of Geophysical Research. more »

The case of the dying aspens

Over the past 10 years, the death of forest trees due to drought and increased temperatures has been documented on all continents except Antarctica. This can in turn drive global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by trees and by releasing carbon locked up in their wood. New research led by DGE researcher and Stanford University PhD student William Anderegg offers evidence for the physiological mechanism governing tree death in a drought. The work is published the week of December 12 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. more »