In our latest edition of Beyond the Lab, we talked to Dr. @kristinwestdal , the vice president of science at @Oceans_North . The Moore Foundation supports Oceans North’s work to develop solutions for marine conservation through our Arctic Ocean Initiative.
🐳 Kristin has extensive experience studying marine mammals, such as belugas, narwhals, and killer whales in Canada’s Eastern Arctic through projects such as an acoustic monitoring program. These projects are carried out in close collaboration with local communities, organizations, and governments.
📌 She discusses the importance of balancing economic growth with sustainability as development is progressing alongside conservation work.
“We have a real opportunity, especially in the Canadian Arctic, to get things right the first time.”
Learn more about Kristin's work with Oceans North on .
#EnvironmentalConservation #ArcticOcean #Philanthropy #WomenInScience #OceanConservation
The first step to building wildfire resilience is knowing where you stand. The newly launched Wildfire Resilience Index makes that possible. The Index - created by @nceas.ucsb , and supported by the Moore Foundation - is a free, open access tool to measure wildfire resilience holistically, across both people and ecosystems, at a scale where decisions are made.
With this tool you can look up your location and get a resilience score. It is broken down by eight socio-ecological domains: Infrastructure, Communities, Livelihoods, Sense of Place, Species, Habitats, Water, and Air.
With the Wildfire Resilience Index, you can:
🔹 Look up any place, for example: census tract, county, or congressional district
🔹Identify where to invest, low domain scores identify where interventions will have the most impact
🔹Compare across geographies with a consistent framework
🔹Download the data and methods for free on the website
Check out the Wildfire Resilience Index at
#WildfireResilience #EnvironmentalConservation
Recent peer-reviewed research from our partners at @worldforestid pointed to a systemic problem in farmed shrimp supply chains, that undermines market incentives for responsible producers.
A recent report, supported by the Moore Foundation, found that:
🔹84% of retail products did not match their declared origin
🔹95% of certified products also did not match
Traceability is the necessary first step to fixing these problems, which is an area of focus for our Conservation and Markets Initiative team.
Visit for the full report.
#SeafoodTraceability #EnvironmentalConservation
Cost remains an important consideration when organizations evaluate green chemistry innovation. While there is a perception that upfront investments could be higher, many leaders believe the long-term outlook may be different. Survey findings show that 72% of leaders across research and development and technology say green chemistry innovations could save money and resources over time, and 76% believe investing now could create long-term advantages for companies, the economy, and consumers.
💡Why green chemistry matters.
These perspectives point to expectations about green chemistry’s future benefits to business and society while highlighting why continued research and evaluation are critical.
Link in bio for the full report on how green chemistry can unlock the next American industrial boom.
#GreenChemistry #ChemicalSciences #SciencePhilanthropy
In our Wildfire Resilience Initiative we support work to test and de-risk innovative solutions and technological breakthroughs that will improve our ability to manage fire, and increase the pace and scale of mitigation and stewardship.
🔥💡What are the key factors that will influence the future of invention and investment in wildfire risk management? The latest update of the State of FireTech report (from Wonder Labs: Catalyzing Disaster Resilience), that was released in December, highlights emerging trends highlighted in three sections:
1️⃣ Year in Review - summarizing key wildfire trends in 2025 and examining emerging themes from international-to-local scale efforts.
2️⃣ Insights from previous reports (2023-2025) - collectively, these perspectives reiterate the growing importance of public-private-people partnerships for accelerating the development and adoption of relevant, equitable and interoperable FireTech solutions.
3️⃣ The Responsible FireTech Framework - introduces a rigorous, field-tested approach to guide, evaluate, and validate innovation in a maturing market.
Explore The State of FireTech Annual Update 2025 — a comprehensive look at progress, gaps, and opportunities shaping the future of wildfire-risk technologies: /static/68b34ff395fa051726450586/t/6940d6ae18db8559ee3171b6/1765856942867/stateoffiretech_2025_v6.pdf
Developed with the Wildfire Technology Funders Group and Wonder Labs, with input from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and , this report helps funders, researchers, and innovators identify where investments can drive the greatest impact.
#FireTech #stateoffiretech #EnvironmentalConservation #Philanthropy #FireManagement
📸 Jessica Christian (Unsplash photos), The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), Discover Savsat (Unsplash), Columbia Southern University, Josh Edelson (AFP/Getty Images), Thomas Werneken (Unsplash)
“Our findings redefine the phase diagram of this class of iron-containing compounds,” said physicist Cui-Zu Chang. “Understanding the role of disorder may help uncover hidden superconducting states in other materials.”
Research led by Chang, a 2019 Materials Synthesis Investigator in the Moore Foundation’s Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative, shows that a material once thought to be purely magnetic can conduct electricity with no resistance when structural disorder is removed—and that this behavior can be tuned using layered materials.
Support from the Moore Foundation helped enable this work, which may offer new insights into how quantum states can be uncovered and controlled.
Explore the findings:
https://www.psu.edu/news/eberly-college-science/story/superconductivity-switched-material-once-thought-only-magnetic
#MoorePhysics #SciencePhilanthropy
Peru’s Natural Legacy has secured $37.5 million from the Green Climate Fund — part of a $74.5 million effort to strengthen long-term protection of the Peruvian Amazon.
This milestone reflects years of collaboration among the Government of Peru, Indigenous organizations and conservation partners working to improve how protected areas are managed and financed across more than 15 million hectares.
Through its Andes-Amazon Initiative, the Moore Foundation has supported Patrimonio Natural del Peru from the beginning, helping advance a model that pairs durable financing with strong local stewardship.
Congratulations to all the partners involved in reaching this milestone.
#Environmentalconservation #philanthropy
Awareness of green chemistry varies, but it can influence how companies are viewed. Survey results show that 70% of consumers say they would view a company more positively if they knew it invested in green chemistry.
💡Why green chemistry matters.
As understanding of the green chemistry field grows, consumer perceptions may play a larger role in how companies are viewed. These perspectives and expectations can impact how corporations approach transparency, trust, and long-term brand value.
Read the full report on how green chemistry can unlock the next American industrial boom on . Link in bio.
#GreenChemistry #SciencePhilanthropy #ChemicalSciences
Theodore Hodapp has received the American Physical Society’s Excellence in Physics Education Award.
Over nearly two decades, his work has helped expand access to physics and improve how it’s taught— from supporting undergraduates in physics to strengthening departments and creating pathways for students underrepresented in physics.
A recognition of sustained effort to make physics education more inclusive and effective.
Hodapp leads the Moore Foundation’s Experimental Physics Investigator Initiative.
#Moorephysics #APSSummit26 #SciencePhilanthropy #ScienceResearch
Scientists and Indigenous experts worked together to study one of the western Amazon’s most remote landscapes.
A new rapid biological and social inventory of the upper Rio Içá, led by the @fieldmuseum of Natural History, combines Indigenous knowledge with biological and social research to document the region’s ecosystems and cultural history. The team recorded remarkable biodiversity and evidence of long-standing Indigenous stewardship across forests, rivers and floodplains.
The findings provide important data to inform land-use decisions in the Putumayo-Içá watershed, helping support conservation and connectivity across western Amazon ecosystems and communities.
Research supported by the Moore Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative.
📸 Fernando Lessa
We were happy to lend our support to our partners at @postlandtrust to secure the acquisition of Mead Ranch in Santa Clara County. The ranch will be preserved as open space and is the latest property in recent years to be set aside for wildlife, farming or open space in and around Coyote Valley.
🌻 Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, said the purchase is the latest example of a wider strategy to provide places to roam for mountain lions, deer and other wildlife that are increasingly isolated by freeways and development across California.
#BayArea #Conservation #OpenSpaces
📸 Dan Winterson
Capturing light across the electromagnetic spectrum requires new approaches to sensing and imaging. Moore Inventor Fellow Maiken Mikkelsen and colleagues at Duke University have developed an ultrathin thermal photodetector that traps light using nanoscale silver structures. The device detects light across the electromagnetic spectrum and operates far faster than typical thermal detectors.
“Commercial pyroelectric detectors aren’t very responsive… which naturally makes them slow because heat doesn’t move that fast,” said Mikkelsen. “Our approach cleverly integrates near-perfect absorbers and super-thin pyroelectrics to achieve a response time of 125 picoseconds.”
💡Tools like this could expand how scientists capture multispectral images, with potential applications ranging from medical diagnostics to environmental monitoring.
Launched in 2016, Moore Inventor Fellows program set out to support 50 early-career academic inventors developing tools and technologies with the potential to make significant advances in science, environmental conservation, and patient care. The fellowship provided flexible funding for proof-of-concept development, entrepreneurial training, and visibility — helping fellows bridge the gap between research and pre-commercial innovation. The last Moore Inventor Fellow’s cohort was awarded in 2025.
#MooreInventors #ScienceResearch #Inventions #SciencePhilanthropy #Physics #ScienceInnovation
