In controversial move, LADWP says it will shift its largest gas power plant to hydrogen
Los Angeles Times -
“It’s a good plan,” Jack Brouwer, director of the Clean Energy Institute at UC Irvine who served on the advisory board for the L.A. 100 study, said in a phone call ahead of Tuesday’s vote. “The Scattergood facility and some of the other coastal plants are part of the required infrastructure to enable L.A. 100 to become completely decarbonized and depolluted. It’s not even possible to do this without something there.” Read More
The Man Who Wants Your Car to Power Your Home—and Save the Grid
The Wall Street Journal -
“Real-world deployment of bidirectional charging is essential for gathering the data, and the technical and customer adaptation insights needed to scale V2H deployment across the grid,” said Prof. Scott Samuelsen, project director and founding director of the UCI Advanced Power and Energy Program. Read More
Shrinking beaches, shrinking revenue: Sand erosion a concern for businesses, economy
The Orange County Register -
Brett Sanders, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine, gave an overview to the group at Marina Park, detailing which beaches have plenty of sand and others that are struggling, many in south Orange County. Sanders spoke about developments and man-made structures that impede sand supply from naturally making its way to the coast, one of the main reasons beaches are shrinking. Read More
Miniature bioelectronic 3D human colon brings lifelike precision to cancer research
Interesting Engineering -
“The three-dimensional shapes, curves and crypts in our 3D-IVM-HC model are central to maintaining more realistic cell behavior even at a scaled-down size,” said senior author Rahim Esfandyar-pour, UC Irvine assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “And because our model more closely reproduces human colon biology, it could potentially be used to screen drugs or test treatments in a way that better predicts patient responses than animal models or simple cell cultures.” Read More
New Mic-E-Mouse Attack Shows Computer Mice Can Capture Conversations
Hack Read -
A team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, has discovered a security risk right on your desk. It turns out that your high-performance computer mouse, an item you probably trust completely, can be turned into a hidden listening device. This new type of attack is called Mic-E-Mouse, and it has the potential to change our understanding of what computer privacy means. Read More
Lab-Made Mini Organs Could Transform Female Reproductive Medicine
Scientific American -
Shallow invasion can also impact the mother’s health. … “It’s a very serious pregnancy complication that goes silent and undetected until very late into pregnancy,” says Quinton Smith, a chemical engineer at the University of California, Irvine. The only way to cure the condition is to deliver the baby, even if that means a preterm birth. Read More
California Beaches Could Disappear In The Next Century (Here's What It Means For Tourists)
Islands -
Beach replenishment projects in California date back to the 1930s …. reshaping shorelines in ways that require repeated and possibly perpetual replenishment. The consequences of modifying these beaches beyond their natural formations now burden local communities with costly projects and growing threats to beachfront infrastructure and housing. "It was like we put a bunch of money in the bank, and now our balance is running low," said Brett Sanders, leader of Flood Lab at UC Irvine, in a University of California article. Read More
Green Tea and Vitamin B3 Combo Shows Promise for Improving Brain Health
Verywell Health -
Gregory J. Brewer, PhD, lead author of the new study and a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, had found that oral B3 supplements were ineffective against early Alzheimer's in a recent trial. He explained that vitamin B3 gets destroyed by the gut bacteria before it can reach the brain. Read More
Drinking Green Tea With This Vitamin May Help Protect the Brain From Alzheimer’s
Food & Wine -
“As people age, their brains show a decline in neuronal energy levels, which limits the ability to remove unwanted proteins and damaged components,” Gregory Brewer, the lead author and adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at UC Irvine, shared in a statement. “We found that restoring energy levels helps neurons regain this critical cleanup function.” Read More
How Marine Mollusks are Teaching Us to Build Better Batteries
Supply Chain Brain -
“Chiton grow new teeth every few days that are superior to materials used in industrial cutting tools, grinding media, dental implants, surgical implants and protective coatings, yet they are made at room temperature and with nanoscale precision," says David Kisailus, UC Irvine professor of materials and engineering, and the head of the school's Biomimetic and Nanostructured Materials Laboratory. "We can learn a lot from these biological designs and processes.” Read More