And a team at the University of California, Irvine, discovered that music could be used to trigger a deadly pathogen release from a negative-pressure room used for biological research. They noted that someone familiar with how pressure controls are used for such rooms could embed a tone in a song playing on a smartphone that would change how the pressure-control fans operate in the room, and thus affect air flow, potentially blowing air out instead of keeping it in.

Inspired by the small but deadly blue-ringed octopus, [UCI] researchers have created a novel technology that rapidly changes color and appearance under various kinds of light, enabling camouflaging and signaling. The tech has potential applications in fields like the military, medicine, and robotics. … “We are fascinated by the mechanisms underpinning the blue-ringed octopus’ ability to rapidly switch its skin markings between hidden and exposed states,” said Alon Gorodetsky, corresponding author of the study.

Amir AghaKouchak, an environmental expert and civil engineer at the University of California, Irvine, said years of drought had compounded poor government decision-making — such as draining groundwater for farming or piping water into central desert regions to support water-intensive industries like steel production. “Water and energy are closely related, often forming a vicious cycle,” he said, as heat waves increase demand for water and power, while drought and low reservoir levels reduce hydroelectric power, causing blackouts.

“A thoroughgoing research, funding and treatment ecosystem exists for the relief of osteoarthritis and other ailments of the knee, but a similar infrastructure for the temporomandibular joint is comparatively lacking,” said senior co-author Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, UCI Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering.