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Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1902 as an organization for scientific discovery. His intention was for the institution to be home to exceptional individuals—men and women with imagination and extraordinary dedication capable of working at the cutting edge of their fields. more »

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High Yield Crops Keep Carbon Emissions Low

Moon Whets Appetite for Water

Scrubbing CO2 from Atmosphere Could Be a Long-term Commitment

Whiter Clouds Could Mean Wetter Land

Scientists Find Moon Whiskers

Carnegie’s Larry Nittler Elected Meteoritical Fellow

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) staff member Larry Nittler has been elected a fellow of the Meteoritical Society. Society fellows are “members who have distinguished themselves in meteoritics or allied sciences.” Just one percent of the membership can be elected by the society’s council on even-numbered years.

Galaxy Formation Pioneer Dr. Leonard Searle Dies

Leonard Searle, astronomer and director emeritus of Carnegie Observatories, died at his home on July 2, 2010, in Pasadena, CA.

Read the Summer 2010 CarnegieScience

Find out how carbon emissions are “outsourced” to other countries; whether there are carbon reserves in the deep Earth; how the most distant galaxy cluster found to date is surprisingly similar to galaxies today; and more.

From Lab Dishwasher to Distinguished Researcher

Dianne Williams of Baltimore was hired by Carnegie’s Department of Embryology to wash lab dishes as part of a city job program for inner city youth in 1983. Now as head technician and manager of a Drosophila research lab, and with two degrees from Johns Hopkins University, she has authored four scientific papers and has been acknowledged on countless others. She will receive the Carnegie Service to Science Award on May 5, 2010, for her contributions

Carnegie’s Doug Koshland Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Douglas E. Koshland, staff scientist at Carnegie’s Department of Embryology, has been elected as one of 72 new members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his excellence in original scientific research. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States.

Bald Eagle Diet Shift Enhances Conservation

An unprecedented study of bald eagle diet, from about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to the present, will provide wildlife managers with unique information for reintroducing Bald Eagles to the Channel Islands off California. The scientists, including researchers from the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, found that eagles fed mainly on seabirds from about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to the 1840s and 50s, when humans introduced sheep. See multimedia story.
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The University of Chicago Joins Giant Magellan Telescope Project

The Giant Magellan Telescope Organization (GMTO) Corporation is pleased to announce that the University of Chicago has joined the partnership that will construct the 25-meter Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), a state of the art astronomical observatory. The GMT will be used to address fundamental questions in cosmology and astrophysics and to explore worlds around other stars.

New Revelations about Mercury’s Volcanism, Magnetic Substorms, and Exosphere from MESSENGER

Analysis of data from MESSENGER’s third and final flyby of Mercury in September 2009 has revealed evidence of younger volcanism on the innermost planet than previously recognized, new information about magnetic substorms, and the first observations of emission from an ionized species in Mercury’s very thin atmosphere or exosphere.

Plant “Breathing” Mechanism Discovered

A tiny, little-understood plant pore has enormous implications for weather forecasting, climate change, agriculture, hydrology, and more. A study by scientists at the Department of Global Ecology has now overturned the conventional belief about how these important structures called stomata regulate water vapor loss from the leaf–a process called transpiration. They found that radiation is the driving force of physical processes deep within the leaf.

Scrubbing CO2 from Atmosphere Could Be a Long-term Commitment

With carbon dioxide in the atmosphere approaching alarming levels, even halting emissions altogether may not be enough to avert catastrophic climate change. Could scrubbing carbon dioxide from the air be a viable solution? A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution suggests that while removing excess carbon dioxide would cool the planet, keeping carbon dioxide at low levels would require a long-term commitment spanning decades or even centuries.

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