October 24, 2023 – TIME selected the University of California ALERTCalifornia program, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and industry partner Digital Path’s AI fire detection tool as one of the best inventions of 2023. The annual list features 200 extraordinary inventions that change lives. ALERTCalifornia and CAL FIRE created the […]
UC San Diego
Posted inSci/Tech
How Could a Piece of the Moon Become a Near-Earth Asteroid? Researchers Have an Answer
October 23, 2023 – A team of astronomers has found a new clue that a recently discovered near-Earth asteroid, Kamo`oalewa, might be a chunk of the moon. They hypothesized that the asteroid was ejected from the lunar surface during a meteorite strike–and they found that a rare pathway could have allowed Kamo`oalewa to get into […]
Posted inEnviro
Dynamic Pricing by Grocers Superior to Organic Waste Bans in Preventing Climate Change
July 25, 2023 – While composting and organic waste ban policies are gaining popularity across the United States, a new study from the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management finds dynamic pricing could be the most effective way for grocery chains to keep perishables out of landfills, reducing food waste by 21% […]
Posted inUS
Black Households Suffer the Most from Rising Inflation Rates
Black households in the U.S. faced higher and more volatile inflation compared to white households from 2004 to 2020, reveals new research from the University of California San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. The study, published today by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, finds that Black families experienced slightly higher inflation and 13 […]
Posted inCalifornia
Unprecedented increase in number of border wall falls and trauma with raised wall at U.S.-Mexico border
April 29, 2022 – Since 2019, there has been a five-time increase in the number of high-severity injuries occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Southern San Diego. Trauma physicians at UC San Diego Health attribute the rise in injuries to a height increase of the border wall from a range of eight and 17 […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Who’s got your mail? Google and Microsoft, mostly
December 13, 2021 – Who really sends, receives and, most importantly perhaps, stores your business’ email? Most likely Google and Microsoft, unless you live in China or Russia. And the market share for these two companies keeps growing. That’s the conclusion reached by a group of computer scientists at the University of California San Diego, […]
Posted inCalifornia
How to double voter turnout and increase representation during local elections
Low and uneven turnout is a serious problem for local democracy. However, simply moving off-cycle, local elections to be held on the same day as statewide and national contests doubles voter turnout and leads to an electorate that is considerably more representative in terms of race, age, class and partisanship, according to new University of […]
Posted inCalifornia
Scientists Map “Pulse” of Groundwater Flow through California’s Central Valley
Groundwater is a key resource for water users in California’s Central Valley, a major agricultural hub with an economic output of tens of billions of dollars annually. Surface deformation in the Central Valley has long been linked to changes in groundwater storage, but the timing and movement of water flow beneath the surface has been […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Green Revolution Saved Over 100 Million Infant Lives in Developing World, Yet Could Go Further
December 17, 2020 – New research from the University of California San Diego shows that since modern crop varieties were introduced in the developing world starting in 1961, they have substantially reduced infant mortality, especially for male babies and among poor households. The study assessed mortality rates of more 600,000 children across 37 developing countries, […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Researchers discover a new superhighway system in the Solar System
December 14, 2020 – Researchers have discovered a new superhighway network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was previously possible. Such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune’s distance in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century. They could be used to send […]
Posted inUS
Women’s Incomes Improve When Democrats Hold Public Office, Study Finds
October 8, 2020 – New research from the University of California San Diego reveals that Democratic control of state houses leads to substantial improvement in women’s incomes, wages and unemployment relative to men. The study, to be published in Legislative Studies Quarterly, finds that especially in the recent period of pronounced partisan polarization, Democratic house control […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Researchers Use Satellite Imaging to Map Groundwater Use in California’s Central Valley
October 1, 2020 – Researchers at the University of California San Diego report in a new study a way to improve groundwater monitoring by using a remote sensing technology (known as InSAR), in conjunction with climate and land cover data, to bridge gaps in the understanding of sustainable groundwater in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Their […]
Posted inWorld
How stimulus dollars are spent will affect emissions for decades
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have led to a record crash in emissions. But it will be emission levels during the recovery–in the months and years after the pandemic recedes–that matter most for how global warming plays out, according to a new Nature commentary from researchers at the University of California San Diego. While the skies have […]
Posted inCalifornia
What does drought mean for endangered California salmon?
May 19, 2020 – Increased frequency and severity of droughts threatens California’s endangered salmon population—but pools that serve as drought refuges could make the difference between life and death for these vulnerable fish, according to a study by researchers from UC Berkeley and California Sea Grant. The research could help resource managers strategically protect and […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Surf and turf: Green new deal should be a ‘teal new deal’
May 6, 2020 – Debates around the Green New Deal have largely centered around climate change concerns on land. But a group of scientists are calling on policymakers to include oceans in the deal. The Green New Deal is a legislative proposal to tackle climate change and boost the economy, while also supporting equity and […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Loss of smell and taste validated as COVID-19 symptoms in patients with high recovery rate
April 14, 2020 – Loss of smell and taste has been anecdotally linked to COVID-19 infections. In a study published April 12, 2020 in the journal International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, researchers at UC San Diego Health report the first empirical findings that strongly associate sensory loss with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the […]
Posted inUS
A Nation Dangerously Divided: Race Shapes Who Wins and Who Loses in U.S. Democracy
Feb. 10, 2020 – Race is shown to be the single most important factor in American democracy, determining which candidates win elections, which voters win at the polls, and who is on the losing end of policy. These conclusions are at the center of a new book entitled Dangerously Divided: How Race and Class Shape Winning […]
Posted inUS
New Report: Nearly 19,000 Asylum Seekers Await U.S. Entry in Mexican Border Cities
May 23, 2018 – The number of asylum seekers on wait lists in Mexican border cities or those waiting to get on these lists has grown to 18,700, according to a new report. The report produced by the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies and the […]
Posted inCalifornia
UC San Diego’s HPWREN Workshop Attracts First Responders, Scientists, Educators
April 25, 2019 – On August 6, 2018, first responders received a 911 call reporting a fire. A quick check of a set of recently deployed fixed field of view cameras confirmed the presence of smoke, immediately followed by pointing the new ALERTWildfire PTZ cameras on Santiago Peak to confirm the fire’s location within the Cleveland […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Switching to a home battery won’t help save the world from climate change
Dec. 12, 2018 – Home energy storage systems might save you money, but under current policies, they would also often increase carbon emissions. That is the conclusion reached by a team of researchers at the University of California San Diego in a study published recently in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Conventional wisdom may suggest […]