The global ocean that covered the Earth 3.4 billion years ago was far cooler than has been thought, according to Stanford researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in rocks formed on that ancient ocean floor. Instead of a hot primordial soup, much more tepid temperatures prevailed. Cooler temperatures may have had effects on the evolution of the early atmosphere and could also have opened the door to an earlier spread of photosynthetic life forms across the planet.

Tagged: Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

The Inca artisans of the 1570s tried to recreate the pots their predecessors had made before the Spanish Conquest. Now Stanford's Archaeology Center retraces their steps.

Tagged: archaeology, Arts & Creativity, Humanities & Sciences

A tracking study of white sharks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean shows they adhere to a rigid route of migration across the sea, returning to precisely the same spot along the California coast each time they come back. Over time, this behavior has made the population in the northeastern Pacific genetically distinct from other white shark populations.

Tagged: Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

Four decades after publication of "The Population Bomb," professor of ecology Paul Ehrlich remains an influential player on the environmental scene. "Americans should go childless, or limit themselves to a single offspring, as an act of patriotism," he said before heading to Spain to receive the Margalef Prize.

Tagged: Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

Preventing acute respiratory diseases in Bangladesh, creating biodegradable composite materials for the building industry, reducing the social and environmental impact of Chile’s salmon farming industry – these are the crucial interdisciplinary research projects funded by Stanford's Environmental Venture Projects program.

Tagged: Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences

Chile's once-fledgling salmon aquaculture industry is now the second largest in the world.  But that massive economic growth has had equally massive environmental and social effects, say researchers.

Tagged: Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences

Paleoanthropologist David DeGusta's analysis of 4-million-year-old fossils helps explain how human ancestors came down from the trees and began walking.

Tagged: On Campus, Humanities & Sciences

Stanford students team with their peers at Makerere University in Kampala to examine their preconceptions of each other.

Tagged: Africa, dance, Arts & Creativity, Humanities & Sciences

For Lukas Felzmann, great photos don't happen in a moment. They are the result of "extended attention and receptiveness."

The art lecturer is one among a baker's dozen of faculty artists, photographers, printmakers, sculptors and filmmakers from the Department of Art and Art History who are exhibiting their works at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts.

Tagged: Cantor Center, Arts & Creativity, Humanities & Sciences

Half of California could be occupied by new bird communities by 2070, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford  and partner institutions

Tagged: California, climate change, Environmental Research, Environment & Sustainability, Humanities & Sciences