From a young age, Yushu Xia was keenly aware of the importance of environmental health-a passion sparked by her grandfather, a geology professor and author of popular science books who inspired her love for science and education. Today, Xia combines these interests as an assistant research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School. Xia's niche: the intersection of soil and agricultural science with modeling and data science, all of which are essential in "truly understand[ing] how soils function," she says.
This recognition is really a testament of the power of the public school system in the U.S. that takes people like me with a major disadvantaged background, a refugee background and allows you to work hard and distinguish yourself, Yaghi said. Especially UC Berkeley, where the faculty are given full freedom to explore, fail and succeed.
It is good news but it is qualified good news, said Prof Oliver Phillips from the University of Leeds. Our results apply only to intact, mature forests, which is where we are watching closely. They suggest the Amazon forest is remarkably resilient to climate change. My fear is that may count for little, unless we can stop the deforestation itself.