Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have created a novel, high-tech sort of material that foreshadows a future in which clothing gadgets may “talk” to one other and purchases can be made with a high-five or a wave of the arm. … “You’ve used near-field signaling applied sciences if you’ve held your smartphone or credit card near a reader to pay for a purchase order,” says co-author Peter Tseng [assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science].

 “How is the wind channelized in the gap between two trees? Believe it or not, that actually matters a lot,” says UC Irvine atmospheric scientist [and associate professor of civil & environmental engineering] Tirtha Banerjee, who studies how wind influences wildfire.

“The common denominator here is rising temperatures,” says Amir AghaKouchak, a professor at University of California, Irvine who has studied the future risk of compound events. “Temperature has increased significantly, and it’s contributing to all of [the disasters] and it’s intensifying maybe the relationship between different hazards.” Read More