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Had enough of winter weather? Sorry SoCal, atmospheric rivers bringing more rain
But with snow from the last storm still piled high in the mountains, concerns are growing about the rain combining with snowmelt to generate flooding, especially in the mountain canyons with creeks that could overflow. "Those collector creeks that are capturing all that snowmelt and rainfall at the same time are going to be seeing some of the highest flows we've seen in some time," said [Professor] Brett Sanders, a climate engineering expert at University of California, Irvine.
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How this uncrushable beetle can survive being run over by a car
The scientists who made this discovery—a team from Purdue University and the University of California, Irvine—say the unique strategy employed by the diabolical ironclad beetle could inspire the creation of innovative materials, namely components capable of dissipating energy to prevent catastrophic breakage. David Kisailus, a professor of materials science and engineering at Purdue, led the new research. Read More
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High School Outreach
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Human cells help researchers understand squid camouflage
For many years, [associate professor] Alon Gorodetsky, Ph.D., and his research group have been working on materials inspired by squid.
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How Hydrogen Could Help Clean Up the Global Shipping Industry
Scott Samuelsen, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, sees electricity produced from hydrogen as the inevitable choice of the shipping industry for three reasons ... “It will be an evolution and a changeover in the population of ships over many decades,” Samuelsen said.
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How Do Squids Camouflage?
“The properties of [reflectins’] unusual amino acid content give them a high refractive index,” explained Alon Gorodetsky, a biomolecular engineer at University of California, Irvine, who develops materials inspired by the optical properties of reflectins. … The squids’ color-changing system also motivated Gorodetsky’s team to develop materials with adjustable infrared reflectivity. Gorodetsky noted that this material could coat objects and hide them from infrared cameras, with potential applications in the military.
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How the diabolical ironclad beetle survives getting run over by a car
What makes the diabolical ironclad beetle (the insect's actual common name) so indestructible? To find out, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and their colleagues repeatedly drove over them with their cars. Yes, the creepy crawlers survived the tire test and countless other more exacting compression tests in the laboratory. After years of research, materials scientist David Kisailus and grad student Jesus Rivera determined that it’s the combination of the material and structure of the beetle's exoskeleton which is different than other beetles.
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Heart Imaging
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Human cells help researchers understand squid camouflage
For many years, Alon Gorodetsky, Ph.D., and his research group have been working on materials inspired by squid. In past work, they developed "invisibility stickers," which consisted of bacterially produced squid reflectin proteins that were adhered onto sticky tape. "So then, we had this crazy idea to see whether we could capture some aspect of the ability of squid skin tissues to change transparency within human cell cultures," says Gorodetsky, who is the principal investigator on the project.
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How cow poop could power the emissions-free hydrogen car of the future
But who’s going to make sure all the equipment is working properly and negotiate with the gas companies? … “In this day and age, it’s all case by case,” says Scott Samuelsen, a professor and director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center and the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine.
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Heart valve for young children shines in early-stage preclinical testing
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have successfully performed preclinical laboratory testing of a replacement heart valve intended for toddlers and young children with congenital cardiac defects, a key step toward obtaining approval for human use.
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How studying a nearly indestructible beetle could improve aircraft construction
The diabolical ironclad beetle can withstand enormous forces, protecting it from predators — and potentially providing scientists with new designs for materials. … Three different types of supports on the sides of the beetle, where the elytra and the shell on the insect's underside meet, allow the beetle to be compliant so it can squeeze into rocks without crushing its organs, says David Kisailus, a [UCI] materials scientist …. Read More
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Hydrogen may help replace fossil fuels in California — but it’s still a greenhouse gas
DWP is hardly the only Californian institution rushing to commit to hydrogen. SoCalGas, one of the state’s largest natural gas utilities, hopes to blend hydrogen into the gas network that supplies homes and businesses across Southern California.
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How scientists learn from the masters of invisibility: Octopus
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Hydrogen replacing fossil fuels and becoming new source of power
Jack Brouwer, Professor of Engineering at UC Irvine is ecstatic to see the change. "It's exciting to have this happening in our backyard. It's exciting also to be one of the first in the world to actually adopt this platform," he says. Professor Brouwer says green hydrogen can be used to power not only buildings and cars, but also jets, ships, trains and long haul trucks and its emissions won't harm people or the environment. … “The only emission is water," he says. Read More
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Human cells hacked to act like squid skin cells could unlock key to camouflage
"In general, there's two ways you can achieve transparency," UC Irvine's Alon Gorodetsky, associate professor, chemical & biomolecular engineering], who has been fascinated by squid camouflage for the last decade or so, said during a media briefing at the ACS meeting.