Washington, D.C.— Scientists have discovered that the magnetic strength of magnetite—the most abundant magnetic mineral on Earth—declines drastically when put under pressure. Researchers from the...
Washington, D.C. A young star is speeding away from the Milky Way so fast that astronomers have been puzzled by where it came from; based on its young age it has traveled too far to have come from...
Since we can’t sample the deepest regions of the Earth, scientists watch the velocity of seismic waves as they travel through the planet to determine the composition and density of that material....
Pasadena, CA—The Royal Astronomical Society has awarded Stephen Shectman of the Carnegie Observatories the 2008 Jackson-Gwilt Medal for his exceptional work in developing astronomical...
Plate tectonics, the geologic process responsible for creating the Earth’s continents, mountain ranges, and ocean basins, may be an on-again, off-again affair. Scientists have assumed that the...
Washington, DC— Astronomers at the Carnegie Institution have found the first indications of highly complex organic molecules in the disk of red dust surrounding a distant star. The eight-million-...
Stanford, CA — Carbon emissions from human activities are not just heating up the globe, they are changing the ocean’s chemistry. This could soon be fatal to coral reefs, which are havens for marine...
Washington, DC—Organic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001,...
Chris Field is one of 25 researchers who will attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and banquet on Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway. See http://nobelprize.org/
Pasadena CA—Typically, little M-dwarf stars—the most common type of star in the galaxy—are cold, quiet, and dim. Now a team of astronomers led by Edo Berger, a Carnegie-Princeton postdoctoral fellow...
Astronomers have found a new population of faint protogalaxies by taking the most sensitive spectroscopic survey ever of a time when the universe was only 15% of its present age. These objects are...
The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) announced today that renowned astrophysicist Vera Rubin, who confirmed the existence of dark matter, has been selected to receive the 2008...
The first “State of the Carbon Cycle Report” for North America, released online this week by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, finds the continent’s carbon budget increasingly...
Washington, DC Ronald Cohen of Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory will receive the 2009 Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America. The announcement was made today at the Geological...
Stanford, CA The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a $750,000 grant to the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology for an intensive pilot study of ecosystem diversity in South Africa’...
The Center for the Built Environment—an organization where industry leaders and researchers cooperate to produce substantial, holistic, and far-sighted research on buildings—awarded the Department...
Ken Caldeira, of Carnegie’s Department of Global Ecology, has an Op Ed piece about how to cool the planet in the October 24, 2007, New York Times. See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/opinion/...
Stanford, CA -- Human activities are releasing carbon dioxide faster than ever, while the natural processes that normally slow its build up in the atmosphere appear to be weakening. These conclusions...
The Norwegian Embassy brings together scientists from both sides of the Atlantic for its Annual Science Week at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. Among the topics discussed will be the...
Greg Asner of the Department of Global Ecology has been picked by Popular Science magazine as one of its annual “Brillant 10.” According to the magazine’s November issue, Brilliant 10 researchers “...
Carnegie scientists Chris Field and Ken Caldeira of the Department of Global Ecology are key contributors in the UN panel awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on October 12 for work on global climate...
Former Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE) director Inés Cifuentes has won this year’s Hispanic Heritage Award for Math and Science. Instituted by the White House in 1987, the Hispanic...
Genes of a tiny, single-celled green alga called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii may contain scores more data about the common ancestry of plants and animals than the richest paleontological dig. This work...
Senior trustee William T. Golden died on Sunday October 7 at the age of 97. Bill Golden was an icon of American science policy, and the Carnegie Institution was privileged to have his support and...
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Consortium* announces that the GMT will be constructed at Cerro Las Campanas, Chile. This location was selected for its high altitude, dry climate, dark skies,...