Media Watch
‘Expect More’: Climate Change Raises Risk of Dam Failures
The New York Times -
“We should expect more of these down the road,” said Amir AghaKouchak, a professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Irvine. “It’s unfortunate but this is what the trend is going to be.” Overall, he and others say, dams in the United States and elsewhere are unprepared for the changes coming in a warming world. [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: AccessNYT.com] Read More
SoCal Sewage Study to Track COVID-19
CBS2 -
Dr. Sunny Jiang, professor and chair of civil & environmental engineering discusses UC Irvine studying wastewater as a possible early warning for COVID-19. Read More
First-of-its-kind clean hydrogen plant planned for Los Angeles County
Los Angeles Times -
If the firm can produce hydrogen at the low price point it’s claiming — reliably enough to attract investors, and without generating noxious byproducts — it would be a big deal, said Jeffrey Reed, a renewable fuels expert at the University of California, Irvine. “Gasification is potentially quite cost effective for producing hydrogen,” he said. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More
ACE Member Institutions Lead the Way in Research and Technology to Fight COVID-19
ACE -
Likewise, two doctors at University of California, Irvine (UCI) have joined with the Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic to build a “bridge" ventilator—a device that can be sold inexpensively, made quickly, and help relieve some of the pressure on intensive care units. “It's a once-in-a-generation call to arms that we all must respond to," said UCI surgeon Brian Wong. “Our designs are different. We're building 'bridge' devices that can be easily made to serve as stopgaps when medical-grade ventilators are not in full supply." Read More
How extreme bacteria squeeze water from a stone
Chemical & Engineering News -
Johns Hopkins University microbiologist Jocelyne DiRuggiero wanted to find out how it’s possible for a microbe to carry out photosynthesis in an environment where there is essentially no water available. So she collaborated with University of California, Irvine, materials scientist David Kisailus, who probed the biogeochemical relationship between microbe and rock using a battery of analytical tools usually reserved for studying nonliving materials. Using X-ray imaging, electron microscopy, and spectroscopy to examine Atacama rocks, Kisailus and DiRuggiero got a close look at what the bacteria are doing. Read More
Extreme microbes survive the desert by dissolving rocks with acid
Massive Science -
“How the heck could these organisms live in this extreme environment?” says David Kisailus, who led the work published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Kisailus, a materials scientist at the University of California Irvine fittingly likens the water extraction to “getting blood from a stone.” Read More
Microorganisms in Parched Regions Extract Needed Water From Colonized Rocks
Environmental News Network -
In Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, microorganisms are able to eke out an existence by extracting water from the very rocks they colonize. Through work in the field and laboratory experiments, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, as well as Johns Hopkins University and UC Riverside, gained an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which some cyanobacteria survive in harsh surroundings. Read More
Survival in the Atacama Desert
COSMOS Magazine -
The cyanobacteria "didn't need water from the rock, they got it from their surroundings", says David Kisailus, from UC Irvine. "But when they were put under stressed conditions, the microbes had no alternative but to extract water from the gypsum, inducing this phase transformation in the material." Read More
Thirsty Microbes In Peru's Atacama Desert Extract Their Water From Rocks
IFL Science -
Microorganisms living in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile – one of the driest locations on Earth – have developed a unique method of extracting life-sustaining water from their environment. … "When they were put under stressed conditions, the microbes had no alternative but to extract water from the gypsum, inducing this phase transformation in the material,” said study author David Kisailus, University of California, Irvine professor, in a statement. Read More
Life on the rocks
HUB -
A report authored by scientists from Johns Hopkins University; the University of California, Irvine; and the University of California, Riverside; was published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Findings show how life can flourish in places without much water—including Mars, which has an environment similar to the Atacama—and how people living in arid regions may someday be able to procure hydration from available minerals. Read More