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UrduIrvine, Calif., Sept. 25, 2023 — Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there’s a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite.
Tag: Environment
The Smart Suit that Saves Forest Fires Firefighters’ Lives – An International Award-Winning Design by Chula’s Engineering Students
Students of the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University have been awarded an MGA Award in recognition of their innovative design for their fire-resistant Smart Suit which uses IoT technology for connections and online activations to store data therefore reducing the risks and increasing the safety for firefighters at work in real time.
Greenwashing a threat to a ‘nature positive’ world
Researchers have identified the threat greenwashing poses to a ‘nature positive’ world, one where environmental decline halts and biodiversity outcomes improve.
Scientists call for a tree planting drive to help tackle heatwaves
Adding more natural areas across our towns and cities could cool them by up to 6°C during heatwaves, according to new research from the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE).
Eureka Baby! Groundbreaking Study Uncovers Origin of ‘Conscious Awareness’
Fundamental questions of agency – acting with purpose – have perplexed some of the greatest minds in history including Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Now, human babies provide groundbreaking insight into the origins of agency.
‘Canary’ documentary featuring Ohio State scientist delivers climate message
Lonnie Thompson has perhaps spent more time at the top of the world than anyone else on the planet.
UC Irvine launches climate action innovation hub with $1 million state grant
Irvine, Calif., Sept. 14, 2023 — The State of California, through the University of California Office of Research and Innovation, has granted $1 million to the University of California, Irvine for the establishment of a broad, collaborative initiative to accelerate the growth of companies focused on climate goals.
Ohio’s droughts are worse than often recognized, study finds
A new type of analysis suggests that droughts in Ohio were more severe from 2000 to 2019 than standard measurements have suggested.
Q&A: New book examines intersection between climate and information crises
Adrienne Russell, professor of communication at the University of Washington, examines in her new book how journalism, activism, corporations and Big Tech battle to influence the public about climate change.
Bit by bit, microplastics from tyres are polluting our waterways
Urban stormwater particles from tyre wear were the most prevalent microplastic a new Griffith-led study has found.
Researchers find Antarctic ice shelves thinner than previously thought
As global ice dams begin to weaken due to warming temperatures, a new study suggests that prior attempts to evaluate the mass of the huge floating ice shelves that line the Antarctic ice sheet may have overestimated their thickness.
Do artificial roosts help bats? Illinois experts say more research needed
Artificial roosts for bats come in many forms, but a new conservation practice and policy article from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests the structures haven’t been studied rigorously enough and may harm bats in some scenarios.
How local communities depend on the ivory palm tree in coastal Ecuador
The ivory palm tree, also known as tagua, is endemic to the Chocó-Darien region on the Pacific coast of South America. Two studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE) explore the ecosystem services provided by tagua in coastal Ecuador.
GW Experts Available: Japan releasing treated water from Fukushima nuclear plant
Japan started discharging treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. According to The Washington Post, the move comes amid fierce opposition from neighboring countries and after a two-year review by the International Atomic Energy Agency,…
‘Coastal Squeeze:’ Massive Loss of U.S. Coastline Tidal Flats Over 31 Years
The entire contiguous U.S. has experienced massive urban expansions and the Atlantic Coast shows outstandingly high rates. Urban expansion has substantially squeezed the space of tidal flats and affected surrounding environments. In new urban areas, tidal flats have undergone considerable degeneration with more significant patterns as they get closer to new urban locations. Tidal flats protect against the ocean’s destructive powers such as hurricanes. Without some inland spaces to move around, they will likely disappear, which will have dire consequences for beachfront communities.
Microalgae vs. mercury
In the search for ways to fight methylmercury pollution in global waterways, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discovered that some forms of phytoplankton are good at degrading the substance.
New survey reveals British public generally think disruptive, non-violent protesters should not be imprisoned
In the wake of UK government plans to grant new North Sea oil and gas licences, a survey has shown the vast majority of the British public consider climate change and the environment to be key issues. But most people frown upon the Just Stop Oil campaign group, according to the poll.
Curbing waste improves global food security but has limited environmental benefits
Reducing waste is one way to help combat hunger around the world, but stricter control over food loss and waste does not lead to better environmental outcomes, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Colorado Boulder. In a paper published recently in Nature Food, the scientists stress that curbing food spoilage increases the amount of produce in markets, which leads to lower costs.
These Foods Can Help You Live Longer and Protect the Planet
Eating more planet-friendly foods could help you live a longer, healthier life, according to new research.
Wildlife crossing guards
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers developed a model framework that identifies ways to ensure wildlife can safely navigate their habitats while not unduly affecting infrastructure.
Canadian wildfires and air quality: MSU experts can comment on public health, climate change impacts, pets and wildlife
Contact: Emilie Lorditch, University Communications, [email protected]; Nardy Baeza Bickel, MSU Health Sciences: [email protected]; EAST LANSING, Mich. – Wildfires in Canada are creating hazy skies and prompting air quality concerns from the Midwest to the East Coast of the United States. Michigan…
Boom! Detecting Gregarious Goliath Groupers Using Their Low-frequency Pulse Sounds
From growls to booms, whales, fish and crustaceans all produce sounds. Selecting the gregarious Goliath grouper, researchers deployed a novel automated detector and localization model to find underwater marine organisms using their low-frequency pulse sounds.
UC Irvine receives grant to study lead exposure effects on children’s learning, behavior
The Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine has received a five-year, $2.7 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to research the connection between low-level lead exposure during pregnancy and early childhood and children’s school performance and behavior in Santa Ana, California.
Human-caused climate change to blame for increase in California’s wildfires
In the quarter century between 1996 and 2020, wildfires in California consumed five times more area than they did from 1971 to 1995. Researchers at the University of California and other international institutions have concluded that nearly all of the increase in scorched terrain can be blamed on human-caused climate change.
Chula’s Department of Nuclear Engineering Offers In-depth Radiation Measurement and Explains the Dangers Associated with Caesium-137
Lecturers of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Chulalongkorn University have found no contamination or spreading of Caesium-137 to the environment in the area of Prachin Buri Province as reported in the news. The Department aims to provide academic services and radiation measurements by a team of experts with in-depth measurement equipment.
The UN Holds Sessions on World Oceans Week
Word-renowned marine scientists like Stony Brook University’s Ellen Pikitch come together to talk conservation, ocean sustainability, and new technologies to enhance marine research Ellen Pikitch, PhD, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at the School of Marine and Atmospheric…
Susan and Henry Samueli give $50 million to UC Irvine’s engineering school
The creation of three new multidisciplinary research institutes in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering is being made possible by a $50 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to the University of California, Irvine. Unified under the banner “Engineering+,” the Engineering+Health Institute, Engineering+Society Institute and Engineering+Environment Institute will allow researchers from diverse disciplines to conduct transformational research addressing the most important issues facing humanity today.
Crushed Clams, Roaming Rays: Acoustic Tags Reveal Predator Interactions
Inspired by clam fishermen reports, researchers used passive acoustic telemetry to gauge the interactions between two highly mobile rays. They monitored the tagged rays in the wild over two years to see how often and when they visited clam leases. Results provide both good news and bad news for clammers. Rays spent even more time in these clam lease sites than clammers reported or suspected, but it’s not necessarily where they prefer hanging out.
Smartphone Use Goes Up in City Parks, But Down in Forests
New research shows that smartphone activity actually increases during visits outdoors to city parks—a finding that contradicts popular notions. Thanks to two years of unparalleled access to 700 study participants’ smartphone data, the study is the first to show that young adults now spend far more time on their smartphone screens than in nature. The study finds that people who visit forests or nature preserves experience significant declines in screen time, compared to visits to urban locations for the same duration.
GW Experts: EPA Announces its Proposal Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants
WASHINGTON (May 11, 2023) – The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing today new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants. According to the Associated Press, it’s the most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution. GW faculty…
Shining a light on dark web wildlife trade
Using a database of more than 50 dark web marketplaces, a research team from the University of Adelaide identified 153 species of wildlife being traded on the dark web.
Decade of Student-Led Efforts Helping to Create a Sustainable Culture on Campus
Hundreds of UNC students have shared the same passion as Caltrider over the years, prompting the development of a Sustainability minor in 1970, a bachelor’s degree in 2011 and the creation of LEAF in 2012, which was originally proposed by students as part of a senior seminar class.
FAU, Virtual Planet and City of West Palm Beach Unveil Groundbreaking Virtual Reality Experience
The multidisciplinary team created a virtual simulation of the devastation that a Category 5 hurricane and sea level rise could have on West Palm Beach. The simulation, produced with 3D technology, reveals the destruction that could occur in Osprey Park and the surrounding communities, highlighting the threat to the coastline and potential solutions for coastal areas.
Q&A: Two ways UW researchers are studying marine microplastics
Two University of Washington researchers are using very different methods to investigate the issue of marine microplastics. For Earth Day, UW News asked them to discuss their research.
A once-stable glacier in Greenland is now rapidly disappearing
As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, one of Greenland’s previously most stable glaciers is now retreating at an unprecedented rate, according to a new study.
GW Expert Available to Discuss Youth Climate Activism During Earth Week
This week, people across the globe are organizing events around sustainability, green living and climate change to mark the annual celebration of Earth Day. Often leading the charge is young people, who one faculty expert at the George Washington University…
Recycled Aluminum Offers Energy, Emissions and Electric Vehicle Battery Range Savings
Scrap aluminum can now be collected and transformed directly into new vehicle parts using an innovative process being developed by the automotive industry, in particular for electric vehicles.
A movement to reclaim urban waters? River Seine cleanup shows perks
Paris is embarking on a costly cleanup of its iconic, yet long toxic, River Seine — aiming to make it suitable for swimming ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. French officials hope the Seine cleanup will inspire other cities to…
Scientists discover a way Earth’s atmosphere cleans itself
Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2023 — Human activities emit many kinds of pollutants into the air, and without a molecule called hydroxide (OH), many of these pollutants would keep aggregating in the atmosphere. How OH itself forms in the atmosphere was viewed as a complete story, but in new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team that includes Sergey Nizkorodov, a University of California, Irvine professor of chemistry, report that a strong electric field that exists at the surface between airborne water droplets and the surrounding air can create OH by a previously unknown mechanism.
Costs of Natural Disasters Set To Spiral with Continued Rise in CO2 and Global Temperature, Study Shows
Researchers estimated that climate change-related natural disasters have increased since 1980 and have already cost the United States more than $2 trillion in recovery costs. Their analysis also suggests that as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the global temperature continue to rise, the frequency and severity of disasters will increase, with recovery costs potentially rising exponentially.
FAU Developed AUTOHOLO Shows Potential as Red Tide Warning System
Current methods to monitor red tide are limited. Using AUTOHOLO, a new autonomous, submersible, 3D holographic microscope and imaging system, a study is the first to characterize red tide in the field and breaks new ground for monitoring harmful algal blooms.
Honeybee Hives May Reveal the Microbial Signatures of Urban Aerobiomes, Researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering Find
Elizabeth Hénaff, Assistant Professor in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) and in the Department of Technology, Culture and Society, along with colleagues from MIT, Pratt Institute and Weill Cornell Medicine, conducted a pilot study by sampling various materials from three hives in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. They found diverse genetic information in the debris accumulated at the bottom of the hives, including genetic data from environmental bacteria.
Could Changes in Fed’s Interest Rates Affect Pollution and the Environment?
Can monetary policy such as the United States Federal Reserve raising interest rates affect the environment? According to a new study, it can. Results suggest that the impact of monetary policy on pollution is basically domestic: a monetary contraction or reduction in a region reduces its own emissions, but this does not seem to spread out to other economies. However, the findings do not imply that the international economy is irrelevant to determining one region’s emissions level.
Turn off porch light to aid caterpillars — and safeguard backyard ecosystems
Moderate levels of artificial light at night – like the fixture illuminating your backyard – bring more caterpillar predators and reduce the chance that these lepidoptera larvae grow up to become moths and serve as food for larger prey.
Pesticide Contaminants in Water Test Kit, an Innovation from Chula for Safe and Sustainable Agriculture
Farmers in Thailand still largely use chemical herbicides, especially paraquat and atrazine, to control weeds on their farms. According to research by the Office of Agricultural Economics, in 2019, Thailand imported almost 10 million kilograms of paraquat and close to 3.5 million kilograms of atrazine. The residues of these herbicides cause harm to the environment, living creatures, and our health.
FAU New Home to Award-winning Website ‘The Invading Sea’
The Invading Sea, an award-winning website featuring content on climate change in Florida, now has a new home at FAU. The Invading Sea was founded in 2018 as a collaboration among the editorial boards of the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post and Sun Sentinel, with Miami-based public radio station WLRN serving as a news partner. The site will continue to be a nonpartisan source for news and opinion pieces about climate change and other environmental issues in Florida at FAU, while expanding its focus to include more educational content.
TAKING CHARGE OF OUR FUTURE: NEW FEDERAL PROGRAM ENHANCES NATIONWIDE ELECTRIC VEHICLE INFRASTRUCTURE
A series of federal recommendations announced last week aims to make electric vehicle charging more accessible. The announcement paved the way for NEVI to begin implementing these recommendations.
Exposure to green space linked to reduced risk of postpartum depression
In an analysis of more than 415,00 electronic health records of healthy, full-term births in Southern California, a team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine determined that exposure to green space and tree coverage was associated with a decreased risk of postpartum depression among mothers.
Unique hybrid reefs deployed off Miami Beach
The 18-foot-long structures, including fascinating honeycomb-shaped tubes, are part of an effort by University of Miami researchers and scientists to help restore damaged coral reefs and protect coastal environments.
Children and researchers envision a sustainable world
What might life in a circular economy look like? Empa and the St. Gallen University of Teacher Education (PHSG) are collaborating with gifted children to develop visions for a sustainable future and to compile them into an illustrated children’s book. The visions will combine the creativity of children with the expert knowledge of researchers.