13 Columbia Science Discoveries That Had an Impact in 2024
Columbia researchers made major breakthroughs in cancer research, neuroscience, earth science, and other fields this year.
This year, like every year, Columbia researchers have turned up a range of major findings in medicine, engineering, public health, the earth sciences, to name just a few of the many fields the University works in. As 2024 inches to a close, here are 13 findings worth knowing about—a small selection of the huge trove of cutting-edge research produced across our campuses this year.
New Inhalable Therapy Is a Big Step Forward in Lung Cancer Research
Columbia Biomedical Engineer Ke Cheng has developed a technique that uses the inhalation of exosomes, or nanobubbles, to directly deliver anti-lung cancer cargo in mice.
Healthy Diet Is Linked With a Slower Pace of Aging, Reduced Dementia Risk
New findings suggest that a slowed pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of a healthy diet with reduced dementia risk. Monitoring the pace of aging may inform dementia prevention.
Columbia Releases New Data on Hydrogen Emissions Within the Orion Constellation
The data includes coordinates, calibration, and other information that will make a night sky survey, which was created by three amateur astronomers, useful as a resource for both the public and the astronomy community.
Opening a New Front Against Pancreatic Cancer
A new type of investigational therapeutic in development for pancreatic cancer has shown unprecedented tumor-fighting abilities in preclinical models of the disease, suggesting it has the potential to offer novel treatment options for nearly all pancreatic tumors.
Columbia Scientists Identify New Brain Circuit in Mice That Controls Body’s Inflammatory Reactions
The brain can direct the immune system to an unexpected degree. It is capable of detecting, ramping up, and tamping down inflammation, shows a new study in mice from researchers at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute. Future research could identify drugs that can target this newfound brain circuit to help treat a vast range of disorders and diseases.
The Coldest Lab in New York Has a New Quantum Offering
The lab of Columbia physicist Sebastian Will, whose experimental group specializes in pushing atoms and molecules to temperatures just fractions of a degree above absolute zero, successfully created a unique quantum state of matter called a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) out of molecules. The lab will use their finding to explore quantum phenomena including new types of superfluidity, a state of matter that flows without experiencing any friction.
One of Earth’s Top Hazards, the Cascadia Subduction Zone, Comes Into Sharper Focus
Off the coasts of southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California lies a 600-mile-long strip where the Pacific Ocean floor is slowly diving eastward under North America. Scientists have long been working to understand the Cascadia Subduction Zone’s subterranean structures and mechanics in order to delineate places most susceptible to quakes, how big they might be and what warning signs they might produce. A new study furthers this vital effort.
Turns Out, I’m Not Real: Detecting AI-Generated Videos
Columbia Engineering researchers expanded on their work detecting AI-generated texts and moved into the realm of discovering deepfake videos.
Bacteria Encode Hidden Genes Outside Their Genome—Do We?
Since the genetic code was first deciphered, our genes have seemed like an open book. By reading and decoding our chromosomes as linear strings of letters, like sentences in a novel, we can identify the genes in our genome and learn why changes in a gene’s code affect health. This linear rule of life was thought to govern all forms of life—from humans down to bacteria. But a new study by Columbia researchers shows that bacteria break that rule and can create free-floating and ephemeral genes, raising the possibility that similar genes exist in us.
With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility: Unpacking Views on Using AI for Mental Health Care
Columbia Nursing researchers investigated patient perspectives on using AI in mental health care in a study through a survey of 500 U.S.-based adults. They found 49.3% of participants viewed AI as beneficial for mental health care.
Our Brains Divide the Day Into Chapters. New Psychology Research Offers Details on How.
The moment a person steps off the street and into a restaurant—to take just one example from daily life—the brain mentally starts a new “chapter” of the day, a change that causes a big shift in brain activity. But what determines how the brain divides the day into individual events? A new paper aimed to find out, with intriguing results.
Hacking Bacteria to Attack Cancer
Columbia researchers have engineered probiotic bacteria that educate the immune system to destroy cancer cells, opening the door for a new class of cancer vaccines that take advantage of bacteria’s natural tumor-targeting properties.
High Heat Is Preferentially Killing the Young, Not the Old
Many recent studies assume that elderly people are at particular risk of dying from extreme heat as the planet warms. A new study of mortality in Mexico turns this assumption on its head: it shows that 75% of heat-related deaths are occurring among people under 35―a large percentage of them ages 18 to 35, or the very group that one might expect to be most resistant to heat.