People used to think that the Earth was the center of the solar system, until we learned that the sun is in fact at the center of the solar system. Making that transition in the human belief system was not easy because many people in positions of power were threatened by this new knowledge. The story is similar with climate change and other issues of human sustainability such as recognizing the rights of Mother Earth.

It is difficult to estimate how detrimental fake news has been to the world, but it is almost undeniable that it is playing an influential role. Fake news is not a fresh invention, but the internet has made it more prevalent and accessible than ever before. Controversial issues like climate change are frequently the battleground for the truth.

Climate models are probably the most fundamental tool advancing the field today, and to me, until recently, the models seemed like some large mythic machine behind locked doors in some secret facility in the desert. My research internship succeeded at demystifying them. They’re essentially mathematical representations of the climate system courtesy of codes run on powerful computers.

There’s no doubt education is a vitally important part of fighting against climate change for several key reasons. Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing young people, and education can equip them with the skills to help. It also encourages young people to get involved as global citizens and make contributions.

Recently, the Cal Madow mountain range has been experiencing warmer temperatures and less rainfall. While seemingly slight, these changes are having a considerable impact on the health of the trees and the communities that rely on them. Climate change will only further shift things, and conservation provides a unique opportunity to strengthen and prepare communities through preservation.

Five weeks prior to the storm, I arrived at our field site in the remote northern corridor of the Guatemalan jungle, excited to embark on a journey of piecing together the story of ancient Mayan life. Full of energy and excitement, I unloaded box after box of scientific equipment from our helicopter and stumbled down the muddy, root-strewn trail to the site’s wooden-framed laboratory. Tasked with studying the ancient climate at the site, our team began a six-week process of excavating noteworthy archaeological areas and drilling sediment cores for soil analyses.

When I tell friends, family, or strangers about the work I’ve been doing, the reactions all tend to be something along the lines of, “wow, GIS! Sounds interesting…what is it?” I always respond with a speech that, after having recited it dozens of times, is very well rehearsed.

How do you regulate workers’ rights in an illegal office? How do you enforce bodily autonomy, safety, and well-being when you’re not sure where a company operates or how many people they employ? How do you report crime in the workplace when there’s no HR department, and every police department within 100 miles is turning a blind eye?

Any New York City history buff can tell you how closely the city’s fortunes are intertwined with the rivers and estuaries that snake around the five boroughs. Manhattan alone has 32 miles of coastline, but public access to that waterfront has fallen under the shadow of expressways on both the east and west sides of the island.

In 2017, New York’s waterways are a shadow of what they once were, and that could spell disaster.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are some of the hottest topics in the past few decades. They have caught wide attention because their applications as diverse as data mining, self-driving cars, fingerprint identification, financial services and other fields.