Research & Discovery

This page highlights the astonishing amount of scientific discovery happening at Columbia, one of the world’s leading research universities. 

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The Sonadora Stream in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico. (Eric Laverty)
Tropical Trees Show Unexpected Capacity to Adapt to Drought

Most tropical tree species can adjust water-use strategies across rainfall conditions, offering hope in a warmer, drier world.

FIND OUT MORE

The Pepacton Reservoir.
CLIMATE
Illustration of a person's face with sound bars.
ENGINEERING
A bottle of colorful pills tipped over
HEALTH
A Modular Neuronal Network (MoNNet) with interconnected spheroids, each one featuring several types of brain cells.
NEUROSCIENCE

COLUMBIA SCIENCE IN THE NEWS

Surprising Uniqueness of Puerto Rico’s Trees Could Make Them More Resistant to Drought

Science News
August 14, 2026

A.I. Is Finding Sperm Where Doctors Couldn’t

The New York Times
August 11, 2026

Alzheimer's Research: Columbia Doctors Pinpoint Where the Disease Begins

ABC News
August 2, 2026

RECENT STORIES

Clockwise from top left: Yuhang Hu of the Creative Machines Lab face-to-face with his robot, Emo (John Abbott/Columbia Engineering); a Moche figure with a human body and spider features carrying a goblet, painted on a pillar within the Hall of the Moche Imaginary at the Pañamarca site in northern Peru (Lisa Trever); illlustration of an elephantnose fish (Columbia's Zuckerman Institute); stone statues known as moai on Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui (Stephanie Morcinek via Unsplash)
Research

Columbia Research Made Headlines in 2024

Smiling robots, nanoplastics, electric fish, and an archaeological dig in Peru were some of the biggest news stories of the year.

Jeannette Wing, executive vice president for research and professor of computer science at Columbia University, and Christa Peters-Lidard, director of NASA Goddard’s Sciences and Exploration directorate, at a signing ceremony on Monday, Dec. 16.
Announcement

Columbia and NASA Deepen Ties

Columbia and NASA signed a “collaborative Space Act Agreement” to jointly advance research and education opportunities.

A tiny 3D-printed microneedle designed by a close-knit team of Columbia physicians and engineers.
Research

The Most Interesting Needle in the World?

Future treatments for hearing loss could rely on a tiny 3D-printed microneedle designed by Columbia physicians and engineers.

Ioannis (John) Kymissis, W. Ian Lipkin, and Konstantin Petrukhin
Awards & Milestones

Three Columbia Faculty Elected to National Academy of Inventors

Ioannis (John) Kymissis, W. Ian Lipkin, and Konstantin Petrukhin will be officially inducted as fellows at a ceremony in June.

A human ovary.
Research

Studying Ovaries to Understand How We All Age

New findings from a Columbia researcher suggest that ovarian aging has lessons for us all.

Illustration of a person showing their brain and gastrointestinal tract.
Research

Antidepressants May Act in Gut to Reduce Depression and Anxiety

Targeting antidepressant medications to cells in the gut could cause fewer side effects than current treatments.

Ruben Gonzalez
Office Hours

A New Finding About Protein Motions Has Big Implications for Drug Development

Ruben Gonzalez records movies to discover how biomolecules’ motions determine their functions. He has a major new finding.

A patient's hands in the foreground, and a psychotherapist in the background.
Research

Study Finds Uneven Gains in Psychotherapy Use Among Adults

Psychotherapy has risen among younger adults, women, college-educated individuals, and those with higher family incomes.

Columbia C at Muscota Marsh
Campus & Community

2024 Year in Review: The Top 12 Stories That Garnered Your Attention on ‘Columbia News’

What stories grabbed the attention of our readers in 2024? The results may surprise you.

This artist's illustration depicts a reconstruction of what the Firefly Sparkle galaxy looked like about 600 million years after the big bang if it wasn’t stretched and distorted by a natural effect known as gravitational lensing. This concept is based on images and data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford [STScI]).
In the Lab

Kartheik Iyer Found a Milky Way-Like Galaxy, and Nicknamed It the Firefly Sparkle

Iyer, a NASA Hubble fellow at Columbia, has also developed an AI-powered search tool for astronomers.

A 3D rendering of high-energy particles from cosmic rays.
Research

A New Discovery About the Source of the Vast Energy in Cosmic Rays

New research suggests that these ultra-high energy rays derive their energy from magnetic turbulence.

Integrated circuit at the core of the BIOSYNC implant will interface to the cell reservoirs electrically and optically.
Awards & Milestones

Interdisciplinary Columbia Team Wins ARPA-H Award for Up to $41 Million

Engineering school and medical center researchers will build a wireless bioelectronic device to treat obesity and diabetes.