air pollution

Manufacturing, global trade impair health of people with no stake in either

Written on March 29, 2017.

UCI expert helps map migration of air pollution risk to regions far from factories Irvine, Calif., March 29, 2017 – The latest products may bring joy to people around the globe, but academic researchers this week are highlighting the heightened health risks experienced by people in regions far downwind of the factories that produce these goods and on the other side of the world from where they’re consumed. In a study published in the journal Nature, scientists quantify and map the shift of...

Concurrent heat waves, air pollution exacerbate negative health effects of each

Written on March 1, 2017.

Future may bring more overlap of synergistic weather factors, UCI researchers warn Irvine, Calif., March 1, 2017 – The combination of prolonged hot spells with poor air quality greatly compounds the negative effects of each and can pose a major risk to human health, according to new research from the University of California, Irvine. “The weather factors that drive heat waves also contribute to intensified surface ozone and air pollution episodes,” said UCI professor of Earth system science...

Grad Student Wins MIT Contest

Written on November 12, 2015.

Nov. 12, 2015 – Environmental engineering graduate student Daniel Howard won MIT’s Energy Solutions for Latin America contest, hosted by MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence, with a project that analyzes which mix of energy sources provides the lowest total commercial, environmental and health costs for society. This approach allows countries to focus on development while minimizing climate change, air pollution and health impacts. Howard presented his work, “Electricity at the lowest...

Something in the air

Written on February 27, 2012.

UCI-led team makes key discovery about smog in their innovative lab. Janet Wilson, University Communications Clutching a large, perforated disc dubbed “the showerhead,” chemist Veronique Perraud perches beside what appears to be a huge, hissing missile. So it goes at UC Irvine’s Atmospheric Integrated Research unit, one of the world’s leading air pollution laboratories. Situated in a suburb of smoggy Los Angeles, AirUCI’s innovative experts are making news again, providing...

Scientists Find New Dangers in Tiny but Pervasive Particles in Air Pollution

Written on February 18, 2012.

Felicity Barringer, New York Times Fine atmospheric particles — smaller than one-thirtieth of the diameter of a human hair — were identified more than 20 years ago as the most lethal of the widely dispersed air pollutants in the United States. Linked to both heart and lung disease, they kill an estimated 50,000 Americans each year. But more recently, scientists have been puzzled to learn that a subset of these particles, called secondary organic aerosols, has a greater total mass, and is thus...

Using water to predict fire

Written on January 17, 2012.

UCI researchers can forecast wildfires using sea surface temperatures. Janet Wilson, University Communications As a boy in coastal San Diego in the 1980s, Jim Randerson loved the exotic fish, birds and even tides of red crustaceans that washed ashore during storms created by temperature changes in far-off seas. Across the globe, Yang Chen was a child in rural southeast China witnessing the pollution created by new manufacturing and power plants. “I actually grew up at the same time that...

No day at the beach

Written on November 21, 2011.

Global warming could cut into mental health benefits of beaches. Janet Wilson, University Communications It’s 67 degrees and sunny on a November afternoon at Crystal Cove State Park. Waves crash gently into transparent tide pools and fan out over empty golden sands. “This is ideal: cool temperatures, no crowds. I love the sound of the waves; that’s the most calming sound in the world to me,” says UC Irvine public health professor Oladele Ogunseitan. He glances down. “This beach seems...

AirUCI gets teachers pumped up about chemistry

Written on July 22, 2010.

AirUCI summer workshop aims to inspire seventh- to 12th-grade science teachers so they can inspire their own students. Mickey Laux, Ph.D. ’96, a chemistry professor at Orange Coast College,is so good at teaching he makes even the inner workings of a quadrupolemass spectrometer sound interesting. To demonstrate how a positivelycharged ion moves inside the spectrometer’s positively and negativelycharged rods, for instance, he draws on his best “Titanic” imitation,frantically steering the doomed...

AirUCI expands horizons

Written on September 29, 2008.

UCI is ramping up its focus on air quality and climate change research in an effort to tackle some of today’s most pressing environmental challenges. Jennifer Fitzenberger, University Communications UCI is ramping up its focus on air quality and climate change research in an effort to tackle some of today’s most pressing environmental challenges. AirUCI, the group that explores atmospheric issues, has become an official organized research unit, nearly tripling the number of scientists...

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