Geophysicist Hiroo Kanamori has been awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure Gold and Silver Star by the government of Japan.

Don L. Anderson, the Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus, passed away on December 2, 2014. He was 81 years old.

A team of researchers has discovered an ancient, deep canyon buried along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in south Tibet. The geologists say that the ancient canyon—thousands of feet deep in places—effectively rules out a popular model used to explain how the massive and picturesque gorges of the Himalayas became so steep, so fast.

The new Center for Data-Driven Discovery makes advanced computational tools available to researchers from all six Caltech divisions, plus JPL researchers.

Two and a half billion years ago, single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria harnessed sunlight to split water molecules, producing energy to power their cells and releasing oxygen into an atmosphere that had previously had none. These early environmental engineers are responsible for the life we see around us today, and much more besides. At 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19, in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium, Professor of Geobiology Woodward "Woody" Fischer will describe how they transformed the planet. Admission is free.

Caltech researchers use robotic ocean gliders to study how warm water is making its way to Antarctic ice sheets—and how this warming ultimately leads to rising ocean levels.

Using a new analytical technique, Caltech researchers studying the rock record uncover new information about the sulfur cycle on early Earth and what that could mean for the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere.

Caltech oceanographer Andrew Thompson, who uses autonomous underwater instruments and numerical models to study ocean currents and eddies, has been awarded a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering.