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News Archive - Environment

‘Gone With the Waves’ Project Documents Puerto Rico’s Coastline and Cultural Heritage

September 19, 2017

Just ahead of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, a UC San Diego research team was able to map and document various underwater and coastal features along Puerto Rico’s coast last month, providing baseline measurements of a number of important archaeological sites that are vulnerable to coastal erosion, particularly due to climate change.

SPOILER ALERT: Computer Simulations Provide Preview of Next Week’s Eclipse

August 17, 2017

On August 21, 2017, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible across the U.S. Using massive supercomputers, including Comet at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California San Diego, researchers from Predictive Science Inc. (PSI) in San Diego completed a series highly-detailed solar simulations timed to the moment of the eclipse.

New Study Reveals Public Resistance to Use of Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes for Disease Control

August 15, 2017

The study -- led by QI affiliate Cinnamon Bloss -- was published in today's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association and suggests a strong resistance to the use of genetically engineered mosquitoes for controlling disease.

Engineers Harness the Power of 3D Printing to Help Train Surgeons, Shorten Surgery Times

August 2, 2017

A team of engineers and pediatric orthopedic surgeons are using 3D printing to help train surgeons and shorten surgeries for the most common hip disorder found in children ages 9 to 16. In a recent study, researchers showed that allowing surgeons to prep on a 3D-printed model of the patient’s hip joint cut by about 25 percent the amount of time needed for surgery when compared to a control group.

Engineers talk VR, AI and nanotechnology at San Diego Comic-Con

July 21, 2017

It’s not every day that engineers get to speak side by side with the people behind hit movies and TV series. But that is exactly what two engineering faculty members are doing this week at Comic-Con in San Diego.

Nanoengineer Receives Award from Energy Department to Advance Solar Power Technologies

July 14, 2017

University of California San Diego nanoengineering professor David Fenning has received an award from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative to lead a new project aimed at advancing research in solar photovoltaic technologies. The project will focus on developing a high resolution tool that can detect moisture in photovoltaic modules and predict how it will affect the modules’ performance.

A Wave’s “Sweet Spot” Revealed

June 29, 2017

For surfers, finding the “sweet spot,” the most powerful part of the wave, is part of the thrill and the challenge. Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California postdoctoral researcher Nick Pizzo has found the exact location on the wave where a surfer gains the greatest speed to get the best ride.

SDSC’s Comet is a Key Resource in New Global Dark Matter Experiment

June 20, 2017

The petascale Comet supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) on the UC San Diego campus has emerged as a key resource in the Xenon Collaboration, considered to be the most advanced dark matter research quest to-date, with a group of international researchers recently announcing promising results after only one month of operation with a new detector.

Electrolytes Made from Liquefied Gas Enable Batteries to Run at Ultra-low Temperatures

June 15, 2017

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed new electrolytes that enable lithium batteries to run at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius with excellent performance -- in comparison, today's lithium-ion batteries stop working at -20 degrees Celsius. The new electrolytes also enable electrochemical capacitors to run as cold as -80 degrees Celsius -- their current limit is -40 degrees Celsius.

Scientists Report Large-Scale Surface Melting Event in Antarctica during 2015-16 El Niño

June 15, 2017

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, a landbound mass of ice larger than Mexico, experienced substantial surface melt through the austral summer of 2015-2016 during one of the largest El Niño events of the past 50 years. The finding is of interest, because El Niño events are expected to become more common if planetary warming trends continue.
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