Earth and Environmental Science

Understanding the Northeast earthquake

Last week, people in the Northeast experienced a rare earthquake that registered a magnitude of 4.8. Penn Today spoke with David Goldsby of the School of Arts & Sciences and Robert Carpick of the School of Engineering and Applied Science about the event.

Nathi Magubane

Kathleen Morrison on biodiversity and climate change

The faculty director of the Environmental Innovations Initiative, her research spans anthropology, archaeology, and paleoecology, involving the study of historic climates and environments, with a focus on South Asia.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

The soils beneath the solar fields

How do solar farms impact soil health? It’s a question that master’s student Hannah Winn is exploring at the central Pennsylvania site where solar energy production is helping Penn progress toward carbon neutrality.

Katherine Unger Baillie

COP28 takeaways

Perry World House Fellows and Advisors Lolita Jackson, Stephen Hammer, and Wolfgang Blau offered their insights from the conference in a discussion last week, moderated by Perry World House Interim Director Michael Weisberg.

Kristen de Groot

The Endangered Species Act at 50

Ahead of the anniversary, experts from four schools across the University share their thoughts on the landmark legislation.

Kristen de Groot



In the News


WHYY (Philadelphia)

Climate policy under a second Trump presidency

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses how much a president can do or undo when it comes to environmental policy.

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Salon.com

Exxon CEO wants Trump to stay in Paris climate accord

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences voices his concern about the possibility that the U.S. could become a petrostate.

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Associated Press

Amid Earth’s heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that total carbon emissions including fossil fuel pollution and land use changes such as deforestation are basically flat because land emissions are declining.

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The Independent

Climate scientists fear Trump will destroy progress in his second term – and the outcome could be ‘grim’

Michael Mann of the School of Arts & Sciences says that a second Trump term and the implementation of Project 2025 represents the end of climate action in this decade.

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NBC News

Special mud rubbed on all MLB baseballs has unique, ‘magical’ properties, study finds

A study by Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has uncovered the mechanical properties of the mud used to coat Major League baseballs.

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The New York Times

The science that makes baseball mud ‘magical’

A study by Douglas Jerolmack of the School of Arts & Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Science and colleagues has uncovered the mechanical properties of the mud used to coat Major League baseballs, with additional remarks from postdoc Shravan Pradeep and Paulo Arratia.

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