Sea levels are rising, threatening coastal areas, including cities, around the world. … A new research grant is looking at the idea of reflooding lowland depressions to alleviate the problem on the coasts, starting with the Qattara Depression, a massive low-lying desert area in western Egypt.

The beetle study is part of an $8 million project funded by the U.S. Air Force to explore how the biology of creatures such as mantis shrimp and bighorn sheep could help develop impact-resistant materials. “We’re trying to go beyond what nature has done,” said study co-author David Kisailus, a materials scientist and engineer at the University of California, Irvine. Read More

The recent decades-long surge in catastrophic wildfires in California is almost entirely due to climate change

Among the competitors this year is the first from Orange County since the Solar Decathlon began. Team Orange, as it’s called, consists of a core group of 20 students from UC Irvine, Chapman University, Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College, all of whom have collaborated with another 100 students on the home they call Casa Del Sol, or House of the Sun.

In the heart of California, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, are pioneering a technological marvel that could revolutionize environmental monitoring and energy management. Led by Efrain Mendez-Flores from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the team has developed a solar-powered wire-traversing robot, aptly named RaccoonBot, designed to operate autonomously in remote areas for extended periods.