Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have shown E.coli can do more than keep you sick in bed for days. In a new study, researchers demonstrated that the bacterium can detect heavy metal contamination in water. … “This new water monitoring method is highly sensitive, fast and versatile,” said co-author Regina Ragan, UCI professor of materials science and engineering. “It allowed the algorithms to determine if drinking water was within U.S.

“This process achieves two goals at the same time,” said co-author David Kisailus, UC Irvine professor of materials science and engineering. “On the one hand, it helps remove human urine from wastewater streams, mitigating environmental pollution and the buildup of unwanted nutrients; and on the other hand, it produces a material that can be commercially marketed for use in a variety of settings.” Read More

In a similar vein, University of California, Irvine researchers developed an open-source codebase for a QR code–based app called TrackCOVID, which alerts people if they’ve interacted with infected people. The QR codes will be posted in high-traffic areas, such as university campuses, grocery stores and public transportation hubs. “If you went to the same place as someone who was exposed within a certain time frame, you will be notified that you may have been exposed,” says Tyler Yasaka, co-developer of the app.

Environmental engineers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new framework for characterizing snow droughts around the world. Using this tool to analyze conditions from 1980 to 2018, the researchers found a 28-percent increase in the length of intensified snow-water deficits in the Western United States during the second half of the study period. Read More