For eons, sailors have told tales of frighteningly freakish, humongous waves emerging out of the blue. They have described completely calm ocean waters seconds before a “rogue” wave suddenly rises steeply at a height six or more times greater than usual waves.
Two decades ago, the government in West Bangal, India, encouraged people to drink groundwater instead of contaminated surface water. Over time, the groundwater drinkers began to show signs of arsenic poisoning, including discoloration of their hands and feet and higher than normal rates of certain cancers.
Hormones from plastics, pesticides and even common prescription drugs are seeping into waterways and having unintended consequences on wildlife, says environmental studies professor John McLachlan.
The Tulane Museum of Natural History received a grant of nearly $1.2 million from the National Science Foundation to redesign a leading computer program it developed to help researchers around the world catalog natural history collections. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
"Daytime or nighttime, rain or shine, the river is always rushing through the front door of our city, and it's something that can be part of our energy security and energy independence," says Doug Meffert, project director of RiverSphere. (Photo by Ryan Rivet)
Staff members from the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research look at a potential site for a new environmental laboratory. They are, from left, Douglas Meffert, Giselle McKinney, Yannis Vassilopoulos and Charles Allen. (Photo by Yannis Vassilopoulos)
Seepage caused by underground flow of water is the likely cause of the network of channels scouring the levees along the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal, a Tulane scientist says. (Photos from Kyle M. Straub)
Mark Fox, a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane, studies plant stress and diversity of insect life in Bayou Sauvage. (Photo by Sally Asher)
With rising sea levels and diminishing wetlands, new ways of thinking are crucial to preserving New Orleans and Louisiana, say Torbjörn E. Törnqvist and Douglas J. Meffert of Tulane. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Törnqvist, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences and director of the National Institute for Climatic Change Research Coastal Center at Tulane, is studying subsidence of the Mississippi River Delta. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
A study led by Jeffrey Chambers, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, examines the relations between global warming and damage to forests caused by intensifying weather systems. (Photo by George Long)
Tulane researchers recently published findings that may explain why continued use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers reduces agricultural crop yields. (Photo by Getty Images)
Just how many people could live above sea level in New Orleans?
Professor Thomas Sherry examines Katrina's impact on birds at study-sites.
Tulane University has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science as the host university for its new National Institute for Climatic Change Research Coastal Center. The center, established through a nearly $1.7 million per year cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy, will solicit, review and make recommendations to the department regarding funding research projects.
School of Science and Engineering, 201 Lindy Boggs Center, New Orleans, LA 70118 504-865-5764 sse@tulane.edu