Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

MAAP #238: Gold Mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Southern Sector – Morona Santiago Province - MAAP This is the third in a series of reports documenting the expansion of gold mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Previous reports (MAAP #227 and MAAP #230) analyzed the progress of this activity in the nor...

Satellite analysis shows gold mining in Ecuador’s Morona Santiago province doubled between 2020–2024 and continued expanding through 2025. MAAP’s monitoring helps track deforestation and mining activity across the Amazon.
www.maapprogram.org/mining-ecuad...

New research from Moore Inventor Fellow Grace Han (UC Santa Barbara) shows how a bio-inspired molecule can capture sunlight, store it in chemical bonds and release it later as heat — advancing molecular solar thermal energy storage. science.ucsb.edu/news/bottlin...

Season 11 of The Climate Conversation podcast is officially underway!

EESI sat down with Genny Biggs, who oversees the Wildfire Resilience Initiative at @moorefound.bsky.social. Sound on 📢 to hear her explain the importance of ecologically beneficial fire.

🎧 Full episode: ow.ly/3lma50YlUle

Sustaining innovation requires steady investment in people, ideas and institutions. Our latest newsletter highlights opportunities in green chemistry and quantum materials research, the value of interdisciplinary inquiry & efforts to maintain the scientific talent pipeline. mailchi.mp/moore/feb2026

Now open: Materials Synthesis Investigators and Fellows call from the Moore Foundation’s Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative. 6 year, fully unconstrained grants support researchers creating new quantum and hybrid materials. Apply now. #MoorePhysics epiqs.smapply.io/prog/2026_sy...

Expansion Microscopy Has Transformed How We See the Cellular World | Quanta Magazine How physically magnifying objects using a key ingredient in diapers has opened an unprecedented view of the microbial world.

Funded through our Science Program, this technique expands the scientific toolkit in ways that can reshape what researchers are able to ask and answer. New research – #ExpansionMicroscopy enlarges cells up to 60x by embedding them in a water-absorbing gel www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...

Durable conservation moves more like the tortoise than the hare. Andes-Amazon Initiative program officer Maria DiGiano rethinks innovation in conservation. Not as speed alone but as the patient work of building governance, trust and lasting stewardship over generations www.moore.org/article-deta...

Seeking synthesis, experimental and theory investigators to advance the frontiers of quantum materials science www.moore.org/article-deta...

Graphic data card displaying wildfire's toll on water through the years, across Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Alberta, Canada.

Screenshot of the article published on moore.org: Investments in wildfire resilience are essential for water safety and security

"Across the West and beyond, catastrophic wildfires are directly threatening watersheds and water supplies that sustain our lives and livelihoods. The questions is no longer whether landscapes will burn, but how, where, and with what consequences." #WildfireResilience www.moore.org/article-deta...

Long before water reaches the faucet, it is shaped by the environment. Marion Wittmann, Wildfire Resilience Initiative program officer in collaboration with Walton Family Foundation, share thoughts about water and how it ties people to the natural world #Philanthropy www.moore.org/article-deta...

We will launch 3 investigator calls in 2026 to support materials synthesis, experimental, and theory researchers through the Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative. 6 year, fully unconstrained grants will support bold, high-risk ideas in quantum materials. #MoorePhysics

Science is driven by the people who conduct research. To sustain the scientific enterprise, we invested $55 million to support postdoctoral fellowships across 30 universities. 🔬🌟 moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=strengthening-the-u.s.-scientific-talent-pipeline-through-postdoctoral-fellowships

Terahertz microscope reveals the motion of superconducting electrons Scientists developed a terahertz microscope that compresses terahertz light down to microscopic dimensions. This pinpoint of terahertz light can resolve quantum details in materials that were previous...

A new terahertz microscope let physicists observe terahertz “jiggles” in a superconducting fluid inside bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide. Nature paper from Moore Foundation grantee Nuh Gedik opens new paths for understanding emergent quantum matter. #MoorePhysics news.mit.edu/2026/teraher...

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells - BMC Biology Background Cercozoa are single-celled eukaryotes (protists) and are part of the supergroup Rhizaria. Cercozoans have vastly different morphologies and are defined by their phylogenetic affinity. While...

...expanding taxon sampling of the environment by more than 300% and resulting in identification of multiple previously unknown major eukaryotic lineages. 2/2

Read the study: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#aquaticsymbiosis #evolution #discoveryscience #sciencephilanthropy

Phylogenomic tree of Cercozoa based on single-cell transcriptomes from 100 uncultured cells - BMC Biology Background Cercozoa are single-celled eukaryotes (protists) and are part of the supergroup Rhizaria. Cercozoans have vastly different morphologies and are defined by their phylogenetic affinity. While...

New study co-authored by Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative Investigator Dr. Patrick Keeling used single-cell gene expression analysis to broadly sample uncultured Cercozoa (part of the supergroup Rhizaria)... 1/2 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#aquaticsymbiosis #evolution #discoveryscience

Screenshot of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation January 2026 newsletter: Convening and collaboration. [text + group photo of Experimental Physics Investigators]

Our latest newsletter looks at how bringing people together across disciplines, institutions, and perspectives helps sustain long-term progress — from stewarding landscapes to how Bay Area science museums are engaging communities, and why convenings matter.
mailchi.mp/moore/jan2026
#philanthropy

Probing quantum mechanics with nanoparticle matter-wave interferometry - Nature Quantum interference of sodium nanoparticles, which can each contain more than 7,000 atoms at masses greater than 170,000 Da, is demonstrated.

Research from grantee Markus Arndt shows that quantum wave-like behavior persists even in metallic nanoparticles made of thousands of atoms—placing strong new constraints on theories that quantum mechanics breaks down at larger scales www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@univie.ac.at #SciencePhilanthropy

Learn about the future of the Arctic Ocean and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the @moorefound.bsky.social

Wed, Feb 11 / 6 PM in downtown San Francisco

Free program; details & tickets; www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-...

Interested in working in nonprofit and foundation law? Applications are open for the 2026–2027 Nonprofit Law Fellowship with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
🔗 ncpl.law.nyu.edu/gordon-and-b...

#NonprofitLaw #FoundationLaw #LegalFellowship #JDJobs #CareersInPhilanthropy

📚💻The Computer History Museum launched OpenCHM, a new digital portal expanding public access to its computing history collections. OpenCHM helps connect learners, researchers and the public to the people and ideas behind modern technology. computerhistory.org/press-releas... #ScienceMuseums

Our new 2026 report on #greenchemistry shows R&D and technology leaders see it as a driver of long-term economic growth and competitiveness. Read more: www.moore.org/article-deta....

Doug McConnell, interpreter of Northern California, has died, aged 80 Doug McConnell spent much of his adult life doing something that sounds simple and is not: he helped people look closely at the places where they lived. For decades he turned Northern California’s ope...

Remembering Doug McConnell — a storyteller who loved nature and the people who care for it. Doug helped preserve the Moore Foundation’s early history and captured stories across the Bay Area and the world. We're grateful for his legacy. news.mongabay.com/2026/01/doug...

Coho Salmon Return to Jenner Headlands! » The Wildlands Conservancy For the first time in decades, something truly special is happening at Russian Gulch Creek in Jenner Headlands Preserve — juvenile coho salmon have returned. These tiny, silvery fish are making their ...

Nature’s recovery is possible when we invest for the long term. Return of Coho salmon in Sonoma County marks an important milestone in regional ecosystem restoration & years of coordinated effort by scientists, public agencies, community partners and funders. wildlandsconservancy.org/stories/coho...

🌿 The Integrated Legacy of the Amazonian Region (LIRA) project aims to secure long-term conservation gains in the Brazilian Amazon while ensuring its communities and ecosystems can thrive together.

Learn more about LIRA’s positive impacts in the Amazon ➡️ www.moore.org/article-deta...

#Moore25

Celebrating the Stories Behind Community Science Thanks to a generous grant for the Moore Foundation, AGU Thriving Earth Exchange commissioned four videos about recent community science projects. Each video shares the people, stories…

Thanks to a generous @moorefound.bsky.social grant, @agu.org Thriving Earth Exchange created 4 short videos showcasing recent community science projects. 📽️🌎💫

We hope you will join us in celebrating and sharing these videos.
thrivingearthexchange.org/blog/celebra...

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's 2025 Community Fund list of names

Through our 2025 Community Fund, the Moore Foundation supported local nonprofit orgs in Santa Clara & San Mateo counties whose work addresses essential community needs and contributes to long-term community resilience. ➡️ Learn about the 2025 Community Fund recipients:
www.moore.org/article-deta...

⚛️ With Moore Foundation support, M. Zahid Hasan and his team identified materials that host the elusive Weyl fermions — massless, free-flowing quasiparticles — a breakthrough that helped launch a new direction in quantum materials research.

Learn more ➡️ www.moore.org/article-deta...

#Moore25

🌿 Moore Foundation grantees are driving transformative conservation across the Amazon through innovative Project Finance for Permanence initiatives in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. These efforts are securing the future of the Amazon rainforest.

Learn more ➡️ www.moore.org/article-deta...

#Moore25

In 2002, we invested $9.1 million in grant funding to establish the Laboratory for Adaptive Optics at @ucsantacruz.bsky.social — an investment that helped strengthen UCSC’s position as a national center for advancing astronomy research.

Learn more ➡️ www.moore.org/article-deta...

#Moore25 #Science

🛰️ In 2013, with our support, Greg Asner and his team at the Global Airborne Observatory launched CLASlite Classroom, a collection of free and open-to-the-public advanced forest monitoring tools — enabling people to monitor forests globally. 🌳

Learn more about the tools ➡️ tr.ee/7M90Lb

#Moore25