Media Watch Archives

“If you’ve held your smartphone or charge card close to a reader to pay for a purchase, you have taken advantage of near-field signaling technologies," explains co-author Peter Tseng, [UCI assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science]. "Our fabrics work on the same principle ….” … “With our fabric, electronics establish signaling as soon as you hover your clothes over a wireless reader, so you can share information with a simple high-five or handshake,” says lead author Amirhossein Hajiaghajani. “You would no longer need to manually unlock your car with a key or separate wireless device, and your body would become the badge to open facility gates.” Read More

Amir AghaKouchak, UCI professor of civil & environmental engineering and Earth system science writes, “I study cascading hazards like this, in which consecutive events lead to human disasters. Studies show climate change is raising the risk of multiple compound disasters, and it’s clear that communities and government agencies aren’t prepared. … With compound and cascading events likely to become more common in a warming world, being able to prepare for and manage multiple hazards will be increasingly essential.” Read More

UC Irvine Civil and Environmental Engineering professor Brett Sanders said coastal communities are thinking more about new ways to keep sand on the beaches, an important buffer between waves and infrastructure. … As a region, we’ve prioritized development over shoreline protection. One of the consequences of how we’ve developed land and drainage systems, we no longer transport sand to the coast the way it once was.” Coastal towns should also be working together to find solutions, Sanders said. [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: https://guides.lib.uci.edu/news/ocregister] Read More

Jack Brouwer, director of the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine, where he conducts research on a broad range of hydrogen applications, told Grist that commercially available power plant technology can currently burn a blend of up to 30 percent hydrogen gas and 70 percent methane. … For Brouwer, blending green hydrogen into the natural gas system, whether for power plants or homes, is still very much worth doing — not so much for the greenhouse gas benefits, but to create a new market for solar and wind power. Read More