Media Watch
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
UC Irvine physicians and local fabric cutting business team up to produce new type of mask
Daily Pilot -
Aditi Sharma, a resident physician in the UC Irvine Health dermatology department, said the sterilization wraps can be used in masks that filter up to 87% of particles, which is almost as effective as N95 masks, which have a filtration efficiency of 95%. … To design the mask, the physicians received help from several of the engineering groups on the UCI campus, including the Michelle Khine lab, Elliot Hui lab, and the Ben Dolan lab. UCI medical students have also helped cut wire for the masks. … To produce the masks, Sharma is partnering with UCI alumna Jenny Farrell, owner of OC Cutworks. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More
UCI Team Develops App For Coronavirus Tracing
Orange County Business Journal -
University of California, Irvine researchers said they have developed a way to digitally track the spread of the coronavirus, providing a means to keep track of the COVID-19 pandemic and aiding the reopening the state’s economy. TrackCOVID is a free open-source smart phone app ….. “It’s completely voluntary, said lead author Tyler Yasaka, a software engineer and junior specialist in otolaryngology at the UCI School of Medicine. “We’re actually just tracking the point where transmission could occur.” … The UICI researchers say their app preserves privacy.[Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email tocommunications@uci.edu.] Read More
Turning Kitchen Mixers into Ventilators
Orange County Business Journal -
Irvine-based Aria Group … and a group including two doctors from University of California, Irvine have come up with a plan to turn household mixers into emergency ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic. … The call to action was put out by the Bridge Ventilator Consortium whose founders include Dr. Govind Rajan, an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist at UCI, and UCI surgeon Dr. Brian Wong. Meanwhile, Ranjan and UCI colleagues are working to validate the design with mannequin testing and secure necessary approvals from the FDA to deploy the solution in U.S. hospitals. [Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email tocommunications@uci.edu.] Read More
Coronavirus: Virgin Orbit in Long Beach will soon deploy ventilators nationwide
Long Beach Press Telegram -
To design the ventilators, the folks at Virgin Orbit worked with the Bridge Ventilator Consortium — a group of doctors, medical researchers, and medical device engineers that UC Irvine established to help meet the current demand for the medical equipment. Read More
UC Irvine researchers develop app to help track COVID-19, but will people use it?
Daily Pilot -
UC Irvine researchers have developed a phone application that could potentially help stem the spread of COVID-19 by tracking and isolating people who may have been exposed to the deadly virus. But activist groups and legal experts are warning of potential privacy encroachments that could occur if tracking technology is widely adopted. … Tyler Yasaka, the project’s lead author, said privacy was a significant consideration for the group as they developed the tool.[Subscription required, you can request an electronic copy of the article by sending an email to communications@uci.edu.] Read More
New App Uses QR Codes to Trace Coronavirus Exposure
Nextgov -
TrackCOVID could be instrumental in this effort. The project appears in a paper published recently in JMIR mHealth and uHealth. “Contact tracing is the process of tracking down and isolating people who may have been exposed to an infectious disease after someone has tested positive,” says lead author Tyler Yasaka, a software engineer and junior specialist in otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. … TrackCOVID works in a different way, he says, by creating an anonymous graph of interactions. Read More