Columbia News

Recent News from Columbia

November 12, 2026

A Pillowcase that Tracks Sleep

New findings could offer a way to collect detailed sleep information without requiring people to wear a device overnight.

Astronaut Mike Massimino Spotlights Engineers Chasing the Impossible in New ‘Moonshot’ Podcast

The new Columbia Engineering podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Initial Treatment for Lower Back Pain Is Associated with Subsequent Risk of Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose

The findings support prioritizing alternative treatments before prescribing opioids.

Videos

Money Matters: A Columbia Law School Professor’s Take on Money in Politics

Money Matters: A Columbia Law Professor’s Take on Money in Politics

Meet Dennis Mitchell, Dean of Columbia College of Dental Medicine

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80 Years of Community. Countless Acts of Care.

Donate to Columbia Community Service

Research & Discovery

The first of a new fleet of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) being readied for deployment from Hobart, Tasmania, to begin data collection in the Southern Ocean. Credit: CSIRO/AAPP

Robot Sailboats Will Spend Five Years Measuring Carbon in the Southern Ocean

A new project will deploy a fleet of autonomous vehicles to measure carbon exchange in remote waters.

Upending Decades of Debate, Scientists Discover Most Neurons are Jacks-of-All-Trades

A new study of mouse neurons has the scientific community abuzz.

Columbia scientist Terry Plank disembarks from a helicopter on the Villarrica volcano in Chile.

Measuring the Rumblings of the Earth

Columbia scientists are working to give observatories better views of restless volcanoes and to make those data openly available.

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Campus & Community

Columbia Welcomes the 14th Cohort of A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars

On Oct. 27, the newest cohort gathered on Columbia’s Morningside campus to be celebrated by past cohorts, faculty and staff, community leaders, and A’Lelia Bundles herself.

Sisters in Sportsmanship

There’s no rivalry to speak of for the three sets of siblings on the 2026 field hockey team.

Columbia Nobel Prize Winner Michael Woodford’s First To-Do? Give an Economics Exam

In true professorial fashion, after winning a Nobel on Oct. 12, Woodford headed straight to Uris Hall to administer a test in his Cognitive Mechanisms and Economic Behavior course, to cheers and applause from his students.

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National & Global Affairs

Illustration showing a ballot with a check mark

SIPA Perspectives on the 2026 U.S. Midterm Elections

Read the initial reactions of faculty members on everything from the Iran War, holding Big Tech accountable, women’s leadership, and the fight for global democracy.

A photo of Emily Feng (credit: An Rong Xu) next to image of the cover of her new book, “Our Hearts Burned for Home: Uyghur Militants in Syria’s Civil War,” published by Columbia Global Reports.

The Complicated Story of Uyghur Fighters in Syria

In this excerpt from Our Hearts Burned for Home, Emily Feng introduces readers to a community without a country in a country at war.

President Jennifer L. Mnookin speaking from a podium at the 2026 Columbia University World Leaders Forum.

President Mnookin Welcomes World Leaders to Columbia

As the U.N. General Assembly and Climate Week got underway in New York City, students discussed issues facing our world with visitors from around the globe.

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Arts & Humanities

Ad Reinhardt, Columbia University campus map

This Columbia campus map was printed in the Jester issue of September 1938. The editors included a note about this campus map, which said: “On the opposite page you see a map of the Campus drawn specially for this issue by Ad F. Reinhardt, ’35, former editor of the Jester. While at college, Reinhardt put out a very striking and very good Jester and was personally elected America’s most original college artist. His efforts, we think, started a new and fine period for Jester and a splendid tradition.”

See ‘Drawn by a Columbian’ at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library

The exhibition features the work of famous artists and cartoonists created while they were students at the University.

The Declaration of Independence

Why the Declaration of Independence Remains Required Reading for All Columbia Undergrads

As America continues to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Columbia News asks: Does this founding document, which is part of the Core Curriculum, remain relevant?