Global Poverty
MAPPING POVERTY: THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL CORRELATES OF HUNGER AND INFANT MORTALITY
It is difficult to design programs to reduce poverty unless you understand where and why that poverty occurs. De Sherbinin and colleagues present recent efforts to integrate global spatial datasets and survey microdata to investigate worldwide drivers of hunger and infant mortality. Data specialists at Columbia's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) are mapping poverty indicators as part of a United Nations-led effort to improve ability to diagnose the causes of poverty and hunger around the world. Alexander M. de Sherbinin, Senior Staff Associate, CIESIN, (adesherbinin@ciesin.columbia.edu, 845-365-8936)

This paper is presented as part of the AGU Special Session on Earth science, human wellbeing, and the alleviation of global poverty. Convened by: John Mutter, Arthur Lerner-Lam, and Daniel Schrag

Paleoclimate
IMPROVED TECHNIQUE TO REVOLUTIONIZE RADIOCARBON DATING
Chiu and Fairbanks present new research that has doubled the timeline over which radiocarbon dating can be performed, and shown a flaw in current radiocarbon dating techniques that has skewed previous fossil dating hundreds to thousands of years in the past. The research shows that a new type of mass sectrometer, combined with an adjustment to the pretreatment and screening of fossil corals, an excellent archive for extending calibration beyond the tree ring records, makes dating much more accurate and precise. Scientists applying radiocarbon dating
'"/>

Contact: Mary Tobin
mtobin@ldeo.columbia.edu
845-365-8607
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
13-Dec-2004