
25 Columbia Ideas and Innovations that Changed the World
From antibiotics to blood banks, radio waves to video calls, we spotlight the biggest scientific breakthroughs in medicine, technology, and more

This Columbian Cowrote the Bible of SNL
Fifty years after Saturday Night Live’s premiere, Doug Hill ’76JRN looks back on his influential 1986 book

Exploring the Hidden Gems of Rural Sri Lanka
How entrepreneur Charles Conconi ’92CC is driving more economically sustainable tourism on the South Asian island

How Do We Change the Way We Eat?
Our industrialized food system is harming our health and warming the planet. Columbia experts weigh in on solutions
Recent Stories

Sigrid Nunez Takes a Walk
With nine novels and two recent film adaptations, the National Book Award-winning author is having a moment

How to Dine Like a Professional Restaurant Critic
Bao Ong ’10JRN spent over a decade as a New York food columnist before relocating to Texas. Earlier this year, he became the Houston Chronicle’s restaurant critic

A Sea of Light Blue
Neither pouring rain nor frozen funds could dampen the joy of Commencement

A Death Investigator Learns to Live
Barbara Butcher ’83PH spent two decades behind police tape in New York City, examining bodies. Now, she reflects on the hard lessons learned

Why US Cities Are Sinking
New research reveals the toll of massive groundwater extraction in cities from Houston to New York

A Brief History of Science Funding
Universities have come to rely on federal funding to support scientific and medical research. How did we get here?

An Ancient Black Hole Collision Reverberates
Columbia astronomers recently detected a faraway event that challenges existing theories about black-hole formation

The Secret Science Behind Feeling Great
Columbia biologists propose a more holistic framework for measuring health — asking not what ails you, but what makes you thrive
Books

How Do You Write the Story of Mike Tyson?
For Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson, Mark Kriegel ’86JRN had to revisit his own past as a sportswriter

A Human History of Ancient Mesopotamia
In Between Two Rivers, Oxford historian Moudhy Al-Rashid ’05CC finds relatable slices of life in five-thousand-year-old clay tablets