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A look at how Duke experts are thinking about the less visible impacts of natural disaster on our health, both mind and body.

A team of 91�������� students snagged the $20,000 Geothermal Technologies Office Bonus Prize during the 2025 EnergyTech University Prize Competition organized by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Commercialization. The national competition challenges student teams to showcase creative ways to bring energy technology to market.

Named for a 20th-century geochemist who determined the age of Earth and the solar system, and who conducted foundational analyses of lead contamination in the environment, the annual award recognizes innovative contributions to environmental geochemistry, particularly in service to society, within the last decade.

Some 390 million years ago in the ancient ocean, marine animals began colonizing depths previously uninhabited. New research indicates this underwater migration occurred in response to a permanent increase in deep-ocean oxygen, driven by the aboveground spread of woody plants — precursors to Earth’s first forests.

The findings could inform planetary health assessments, enhance ecosystem management, and guide climate change projections and mitigation strategies.

The Plastic Pollution Working Group is Duke’s central hub for sharing work by faculty, staff and students related to plastic debris.

The imprints, preserved for about 380 million years, may hold clues to how animals first began moving on land.

Duke and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have signed an agreement to establish a five-year initiative to support small-scale fisheries worldwide through research, knowledge sharing and capacity building. John Virdin will lead Duke’s efforts.

A new economic analysis found that developing countries pay less for the nutrition in seafood imports than developed countries, largely because developed countries pay a premium for non-nutritional attributes like convenience. The findings suggest that disruptions to the global seafood trade could affect food and nutritional security in countries that depend on seafood imports for meeting their dietary needs.

Ocean waters are getting greener at the poles and bluer toward the equator, according to a new study. The change reflects shifting concentrations of a green pigment called chlorophyll made by photosynthetic algae at the base of the ocean food chain.

The Duke Critical Minerals Hub was one of three faculty collaborations selected for support through a new internal funding opportunity. The project brings together experts from engineering and the natural and social sciences to establish an interdisciplinary platform for research and education on lithium and other critical minerals.

Much of the world’s lithium occurs in salty waters with fundamentally different chemistry than other naturally saline waters like the ocean, according to a new study published in Science Advances. The finding has implications for lithium mining technologies and wastewater assessment and management.

Duke researchers published the first evidence that genetic variation contributes to susceptibility to the harmful effects of PFAS, synthetic chemicals widely used in consumer goods.

Because most seafood is imported, tariffs will cause Americans to eat less heart-healthy seafood and more heart-unhealthy red meat.

So-called “forever chemicals” show up everywhere: in drinking water, food and clothing – causing a range of health issues. Lee Ferguson is at the forefront of efforts to keep these pollutants out of state drinking water.