Columbia

After the Gulf War, sanctions prohibited Americans from sending money to Iraq. Iraqi-American Shakir Hamoodi broke those rules, however, when he found out his family in Iraq had miscarried, because they couldn’t afford $10 antibiotics. Now he’s in jail — almost 20 years after the fact.

Tuesday’s launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket marks the first commercial flight for a spacecraft bound to the International Space Station, perhaps the opening salvo of a new, private era of space exploration.

May is National Bike Month, a month promoting cycling as a transportation alternative. New data show dramatic increases in bicycle use over the past decade in cities across the country. The data also revealed economic savings from bike commuting.

It’s not every day that someone employed as a janitor can graduate with a degree from Columbia University. But Gac Filipaj, a refugee who fled war-torn Yugoslavia in the 1990s, became that guy this month. He earned a degree in Classics from Columbia after spending 12 years as both a college janitor and a college student.

Scientists at Columbia University have concluded that the Earth’s oceans are becoming more acidic at an unprecedented rate — increasing more quickly than in the Earth’s history, based on a review of oceanic fossils. It could bring disaster for marine life.