The Future of Energy and the Environment
May 20, 2020
On April 7, global carbon dioxide emissions plummeted to levels not seen since 2006, according to a study released yesterday that suggests the coronavirus pandemic might have led to the largest reduction in CO2 ever recorded.
May 20, 2020
Scientists who normally study how human activities impact the planet have been given a rare opportunity over the past few months to observe what happens when industry, transportation and other sources of carbon emissions are curtailed.
May 10, 2020
In January, UCI chemistry doctoral student Brenna Biggs visited a dairy farm in Visalia, California where there are lagoons churning with cow manure. Biggs drove around the farm in a white Sprinter van owned by the University of California, Riverside, and the van had nothing in its trunk but empty space and lab equipment. Biggs used two-liter stainless steel canisters to capture samples of the air that hovered around the farm, and she stored the samples in the back of the van, which she calls a…
May 7, 2020
Every summer since 2009, the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) has brought about 30 undergraduate STEM students from across the United States to California for an internship experience with NASA Earth Science research that includes flights on a research aircraft. This year with COVID-19 travel and social distancing restrictions in place, SARP might be grounded but the internship continues with new at-home data collection as well as the analysis of previously collected aircraft,…
Apr 24, 2020
Arthur Charles used to start each day with a morning walk with his wife. The loop around his neighborhood in Bakersfield, California wasn’t usually difficult for the 50-year-old to complete. Then one day, two years ago, Charles could barely reach the corner of his street. The routine walk felt like he was running a marathon.
Apr 22, 2020
Katherine Mackey studies the boundary between the living and the nonliving worlds. She wants to know how those two worlds define one other, as things like aquatic microorganisms can alter the chemistry of the water they live in, and the chemistry of the water can then affect the kinds of organisms able to live there.
Mar 17, 2020
California’s strict environmental regulations have long concerned some farmers, who say that restrictions around things such as water use are at odds with the agricultural industry. The state’s air pollution standards, though, which are among the strictest in the country, are a boon to farmers: The reductions in ground ozone resulted in $600 million worth of increased crop production annually.
Dec 16, 2019
California’s 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive ever recorded: At least 100 people were killed, more than 24,000 structures were consumed and nearly 2 million acres were burned, according to the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection.
Dec 7, 2019
Nearly 50 years ago, three chemists named Mario Molina, Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen found evidence that chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals known as CFCs and released from aerosol sprays, were weakening the ozone layer that functions as the earth’s natural sunscreen protecting humans, animals and plants from harmful radiation.
Nov 22, 2019
CO2 capture technology could decrease atmospheric CO2 to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Oct 21, 2019
(CNN)-- While the ozone hole over Antarctica typically grows in September and October, scientists observed the smallest ozone hole since they first began observing it in 1982, according to a joint release by NASA and NOAA.
Oct 9, 2019
Irvine, Calif., Oct. 9, 2019 — Researchers at the University of California, Irvine are leading a new project with three other UC campuses to study the impact of coastal flooding on disadvantaged communities in California.