News – Page 23

Droughtbusters

Written on October 3, 2011.

Anita Hamilton, Time Magazine Record droughts have parched the earth’s crust from Somalia to Texas this year. The effects on the world’s drinking-water supply have been enormous. The level of China’s Yangtze River, the third largest in the world, sank so low this spring that about 400,000 people along its shores were stuck without a local drinking-water source until the government opened the gates of its massive Three Gorges dam to help counteract the crisis. In East Africa,...

Wastewater Recycling Actually Increases Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Written on September 29, 2011.

ClickGreen Staff, Click Green Wastewater recycling processes may generate more greenhouse gases than traditional water-treatment processes, a new study has found. Despite this finding, the report suggests there are good reasons to continue keep wastewater recycling among the water-resource tools for urban areas. Author Amy Townsend-Small, assistant professor of geology and geography at the University of Cincinnati, and a team of researchers from the University of California,...

Tracking the Movement of Ice Across Antarctica

Written on September 22, 2011.

Sindya N. Bhanoo, The New York Times A new map of Antarctica illustrates for the first time how ice moves across the continent. The map’s creators believe it may be a crucial tool in helping researchers understand how a warming climate is changing the continent. The creation of the digital map was supported by NASA and combines data gathered from 2007 to 2009 by satellites belonging to the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. “It’s...

Bacteria Responsible for Missing ‘Atmospheric Brooms’ That Sweep the Sky Clean

Written on September 19, 2011.

James Mitchell Crow, RSC: Advancing the Chemical Sciences Hydroxyl radicals play a central role in cleaning pollutants from our atmosphere – but the ultimate source of Earth’s ‘atmospheric brooms’ has proven difficult to track down. An international team of researchers have now found that the answer could lie not in the air above us, but in the ground beneath our feet. Previous research has established that up to one third of the hydroxyl radicals formed in the lower...

Waste not, want not

Written on August 22, 2011.

UCI invents way to turn sewage into hydrogen power. Janet Wilson, University Communications Imagine being able to get the equivalent of 70 miles per gallon in your car, keep your home cool and power your computer – all from sewage. Thanks to technology developed by UC Irvine’s National Fuel Cell Research Center and partners, that’s now possible. Ten years of hard work, led by center associate director Jack Brouwer, has paid off in a cutting-edge project at the Orange County Sanitation...

Mapping Antarctic Ice In Motion

Written on August 18, 2011.

Felicity Barringer, The New York Times Put the arguments over how fast Antarctic ice is melting to one side for the moment. The latest study of the southern continent, by a group of scientists led by Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, shows how fast the ice rivers are moving and where they are going. The map of ice in motion, which traces parts of the eastern Antarctic region that have previously been hard to see, offers a new and powerful tool for...

After 2 Studies, Methane Puzzle Persists

Written on August 12, 2011.

Joanna M. Foster, The New York Times One climate-science conundrum, two research teams, two independent approaches, two seemingly conflicting conclusions. The unsolved mystery, or perhaps now, twice-solved mystery: Why did atmospheric methane levels, steadily on the rise since record-keeping began, abruptly level off and stabilize in the last three decades? Methane, which is primarily found deep within the earth and deep within the guts of microbes, is one of the most potent greenhouse...

Groundwater Depletion Is Detected From Space

Written on May 30, 2011.

Felicity Barringer, The New York Times Irvine, Calif. — Scientists have been using small variations in the Earth’s gravity to identify trouble spots around the globe where people are making unsustainable demands on groundwater, one of the planet’s main sources of fresh water. They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, northeastern China and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley in California, heartland of that state’s $30 billion agricultural industry. Jay...

Building an eco-friendly Empire

Written on May 12, 2011.

New student sustainable science team makes its mark in Western Riverside. Janet Wilson, University Communications Breakneck growth followed by a realestate crash just over the mountains from Orange Countyis giving UC Irvine doctoral students a chance to grapple with issues liketraffic, open space and energy consumption. Those elements are closely linked inthe Inland Empire, as Riverside and San Bernardino countiesare called. Almost half the 860,000 homes there are now worth less than...

UCI to honor activist Alexandra Cousteau

Written on April 26, 2011.

Granddaughter of famed undersea explorer will receive Human Security Award for work on global water issues. Nearly a billion people on the planet lack access to clean and safe drinking water, according to the World Health Organization. To raise awareness of the global water crisis and inspire others to take action, UC Irvine’s Center for Unconventional Security Affairs is honoring environmentalist Alexandra Cousteau with its 2011 Human Security Award. The award recognizes individuals and...