Features
The Machine that Can Read Your Mind
At Columbia's Magnetic Resonance Research Center, scientists are unveiling the neural basis of human thoughts, memories, and emotions
What Everyone Needs to Know About the Threat of Mass Extinction
A million plant and animal species are at risk of disappearing, many within decades
High Art, High Ideals: Rachel Chavkin Takes on Broadway
The Tony Award-winning director of Hadestown may be theater’s most forward-thinking artist
College Walk
The Columbia Startup Lab Throws a Birthday Party
Entrepreneurs help celebrate five years of innovation
Kicking off Columbia’s Year of Water
An interactive installation lets you “experience” rising sea levels
The Short List: Fall 2019
An opera by Hannah Lash comes to Miller Theatre, and other events
A 500-year-old Artisanal Manuscript Yields Its Secrets
“Try burnt oysters,” and other words of wisdom
A Playing-Card Collector Shows His Hand
An exhibition at Columbia presents highlights from the 6,400 decks of Albert Field ’38CC
The Core Curriculum Turns One Hundred
Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger on a century of well-rounded intellect
How Scholars Rescued the Author of Moby-Dick from the Waters of Oblivion
Honoring Melville at 200
Touring Brooklyn’s Urban Farms
Students get a fresh look at the issues of food justice and sustainability
Explorations
Dangerous Radiation Lingers for Decades
Certain areas of the Marshall Islands should remain off-limits, scientists say
The Mysterious Case of the Alien Rock
Why does an island in the Indian Ocean contain a mountain of crystalline rock that could never have formed there naturally?
Making Precision Medicine Work for Every Body
A new study aims to identify ways of diversifying genetic databases
Do Cell Phones Reduce Violent Crime?
A new study suggests that they may have helped slash US murder rates in the 1990s
Now Scientists Can Alert Immune System to Cancer Cells in Hiding
The technique could lay the groundwork for a new type of immunotherapy
Cash is Critical in Fight Against Poverty
Fund people over programs, study suggests.
Columbia Scientists Discover Largest Fresh-Water Aquifer Ever Found
(It’s bigger than Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined)
How ISIS Really Recruits its Members
A study looks at what makes the group’s online propaganda successful
Astrophysicists Strike Gold
0.3 percent of Earth's rare elements come from a single stellar explosion 4.6 billion years ago
Network
9 Vintage Movie Posters Worth a Second Look
Film buff Dwight Cleveland ’82CC gives a tour of his rare collection
A Scholar’s Guide to the Camino Way
Olivia Pittet ’79GSAS on the joys of navigating the medieval pilgrimage route
A Data Scientist Competes in one of the World’s Toughest Endurance Tests
Meet Eco-Challenge contestant Joshua Forester ’04CC
Capturing the Life of Toni Morrison
A new film by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders '74CC honors the legacy of the celebrated writer
He Loves Italian Soccer So Much He Bought a Team
Rocco B. Commisso ’71SEAS, ’75BUS is the new owner of the Florence-based team ACF Fiorentina
Books
The Long and Strange History of Celebrity
English and comparative-literature professor Sharon Marcus shines a light on self-promotion and stardom through the ages
Bulletin
Big Grant for Big Data
The National Science Foundation has awarded $4 million to the Columbia-led Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub
Costis Maglaras Takes the Reins at Business School
The new dean is an authority on operations research, data analytics, and quantitative finance
Knight Institute Wins Lawsuit Challenging President’s Twitter Tactics
Blocking critics on the social-media platform violates the First Amendment, court rules
Aces Down the Line
Columbia tennis head coach Bid Goswami retired this summer as the winningest coach in program history
Taiwanese President Speaks on Campus
Tsai Ing-wen visited Columbia this summer, meeting with students and faculty and participating in a wide-ranging conversation about global politics
Top Faculty Honored
Eight faculty members in the Arts and Sciences began this semester as new recipients of Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards
Law-School Donors Endow Fifty New Scholarships
Each of the $100,000 gifts will go to student aid
Biotech Incubator Receives $1M Boost from Engineering Alum
The gift will provide financial backing and support services to promising ventures in the organization's pipeline
Melissa Begg Named Dean of School of Social Work
The population-health scientist and academic administrator started her new role on September 1
Rare Finds
Mad Magazine Folded, But Its History Lives on at Columbia
Looking back at Harvey Kurtzman’s design for the 1952 cover of the first issue