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UnDisciplined: How does carbon behave at different elevations and in different biomes?

New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project project map with biomes
Litvak Lab
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New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project
Teens and guides from Aspiro hike across the desert in Southern Utah in 2008 during an adventure therapy program for troubled teens. Aspiro announced last April it was closing due to “recessionary and economic factors." It was the first of four Utah wilderness therapy programs to close in the last year.

Hyper-regional climate prediction is very hard, especially in areas with extremely variable topography — like much of the American West. But Marcy Litvak says it’s vital that we try to sort out how carbon behaves in different areas of the world, and research efforts like the New Mexico Elevation Gradient Project are helping do just that.

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Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling <i>Lifespan</i> with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning <i>Longevity Plan</i> with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, <i>Superlative</i>, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.<br/>