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Extreme weather can wreak havoc on cities and their economies. Damage from hurricanes Katrina and Sandy is estimated at more than $150 billion and over $60 billion, respectively. Weather-based power failures and disruptions to transportation systems can delay commuters, stall deliveries, and choke supply chains. And even where extreme conditions are common, economic life suffers. Regions with hot, wet climates are less productive on average.

Thanks to a bit of providential timing, Columbia Journalism had a large news bureau at the installation of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Rome in mid-March. Sixteen students covered every aspect of the historic event: the pilgrims, the dignitaries, the trinket sellers, the faithful and the protesters.

The conference, “History in Action,” drew an eclectic group of historians, including some who have pursued non-academic careers or made an impact outside the academy.

If you could take only one volume to a desert island, Columbia Law School Professor Robert A. Ferguson’s new book might be the one. Ferguson, the George Edward Woodberry Professor in Law, Literature, and Criticism, has written \"Alone in America: The Stories that Matter\" (Harvard University Press), which explores the recurring theme of loneliness in American fiction and the possibility that literature can soothe the pain. “It is a subject lonely people are not willing to admit to, but they’re quite happy to read about it.” said Ferguson “More people live by themselves than at any…

When Barbara Becker’s strategic communications class decided to help Afghan women and children afflicted with a disfiguring disease, they focused their campaign on another group in the community—the men. Three students from her School of Continuing Education class, “Communications for Social Change,” set out to educate male heads of household about leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the bites of infected sand flies that lurk in the home. The infection mostly affects women and children, who are more likely to spend time indoors. The disease leaves unsightly scars, creating…

With the primary goal of building capacity to recruit and fund scholars and students dedicated to social and civic engagement in Brazil, the Lemann Foundation has signed a multimillion dollar agreement with Columbia University for the benefit of several related initiatives.

The Lamont-Doherty Core Repository holds one of the world’s most unique and important collections of scientific samples from the deep sea—approximately 72,000 meters of sediment cores from every major ocean and sea.

Fueled by industrial greenhouse gas emissions, Earth’s climate warmed more between 1971 and 2000 than during any other three-decade interval in the last 1,400 years, according to new regional temperature reconstructions covering all seven continents.

A massive study analyzing gene expression data from 22 tumor types has identified multiple metabolic expression changes associated with cancer. 

Artworks by contemporary Cambodian artists, including survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide, are on display at Columbia’s Maison Française and Italian Academy. 

Given her expertise in constitutional law and Congressional power, "The Record" asked Johnson to discuss recent clashes between the executive and legislative branches.

The Lamont-Doherty Core Repository holds one of the world’s most unique and important collections of scientific samples from the deep sea—approximately 72,000 meters of sediment cores from every major ocean and sea. It is both an archive of sediment (some terrestrial), rocks and coral from beneath the ocean floor, and an archive of the digital data pertaining to the material.

In his new book, The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power, Journalism School Professor Victor Navasky examines influential political cartoonists from the 18th century to the present.

More than 350 guests attended the conference and, appropriately enough, hundreds more tuned in via webcast. Its starting point was the often observed fact that the world is awash in a sea of data, from sensors, digital photos, global positioning systems, social media, e-mail, inventory statistics, patient metrics, consumer spending patterns, and weather stations, to name some of the leading sources.

Columbia Engineering researchers, led by Dimitris Anastassiou, Charles Batchelor Professor in Electrical Engineering and member of the Columbia Initiative in Systems Biology, have developed a new computational model that is highly predictive of breast cancer survival.