About 3.3 million years ago, during a period called the Pliocene epoch when Earth’s atmosphere contained CO₂ levels similar to today’s, a short but intense cooling event occurred that scientists call Marine Isotope Stage M2. Understanding what happened during this 25,000-year period matters today because it reveals how sensitive ice sheets are to changes in […]
Research
Rutgers Scientists Honored at AGU with Prestigious Flinn Award
Rutgers scientists John Wilkin, professor, and Hernan Arango, research programmer, in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences (DMCS) along with Andrew Moore, professor at University of California-Santa Cruz, have been honored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) with its 2025 Edward A. Flinn III Award. A coveted AGU honor for mid-career or senior scientists, the […]
Why Energy Efficiency Alone Won’t Solve Our Climate Problems
When countries make plans to fight climate change, they often focus heavily on energy efficiency—making buildings, appliances, and vehicles use less energy. But a new study suggests this approach might be missing the bigger picture. Affiliates of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, Clinton Andrews, Distinguished Professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public […]
Empowering Young Innovators to Lead the Way to a Sustainable Future
What if the key to solving our planet’s biggest challenges lies with young people? A new study shows that empowering youth to develop innovative solutions could accelerate progress toward global sustainability goals—but only if we give them the right support and opportunities. Wendy Purcell, professor at Rutgers School of Public Health and affiliate of the Rutgers […]
Turning Liquid Fuel into Clean Energy: A New Cobalt Catalyst Could Help Power the Future
A new study has found a better way to turn a common liquid chemical into clean energy, and it could help us move away from fossil fuels. Kate Waldie, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University and an affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, is a co-author on […]
Plant Biologist Elected to National Academy of Inventors, Receives Highest Honor for His Work
The Rutgers plant biologist was elected to the 2025 Class of the National Academy of Inventors When basil crops across the United States began collapsing 15 years ago, farmers were desperate. A mysterious strain of downy mildew began wiping out crops with no treatments, no way to stop the disease from spreading and no basil […]
Scientists Map Genome of Hybrid Oyster to Advance Sustainable Aquaculture
Oysters are one of the world’s most important seafood products, with farms producing about seven million metric tons each year. Now, researchers have unlocked the complete genetic code of a special hybrid oyster, providing a valuable tool that could help improve how these shellfish are farmed. The study, published in Scientific Data, presents the first […]
Large Ice Sheets Existed Much Earlier Than Scientists Thought
Scientists have long reconstructed the extent of ancient ice sheets by analyzing chemical signatures in seafloor sediments. The traditional view held that the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets started small about 3 million years ago and gradually grew larger over time, reaching their maximum extent only in the last 800,000 years. This progression seemed to explain […]
Amino Acid Shortage Disrupts Vitamin A Distribution, Rutgers Study Finds
Groundbreaking PNAS research reveals a new pathway regulating vitamin A mobilization from the liver—independent of vitamin A status. Researchers at Rutgers University have discovered that amino acid scarcity—whether caused by diet or chemotherapy—impairs the liver’s ability to release vitamin A into the bloodstream, revealing a previously unrecognized mechanism for controlling vitamin A availability in the […]
Climate Intervention Techniques Could Reduce the Nutritional Value of Crops, New Study Finds
A new study published in the journal, Environmental Research Letters, reports that cooling the planet by injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere—a proposed climate intervention technique—could reduce the nutritional value of the world’s crops. Scientists at Rutgers University used global climate and crop models to estimate how stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), one type of solar […]
