ERG Professor of the Graduate School John Harte is featured in this Sonoma Index-Tribune article on his climate change research in the Rocky Mountains, which has been running for 27 years. What the experiment has shown is that the warmer plots of meadow are losing their wildflowers and turning into sagebrush, after years of being only four degrees warmer than their neighboring control plots. The soil is getting drier, and even losing carbon that is absorbed into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, the “greenhouse gas.” Even the unheated parts of his study area are showing signs of a warming climate – drier soil, carbon release, and the slow decline in wildflower habitat.
Greentech Media | August 15, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this Greentech Media article on nuclear power projects, especially in regards to South Carolina's recently abandoned plans for the VC Summer Nuclear Station. Kammen notes that there must be fundamental shifts in innovative technology or affordability for the nuclear power market to recover, pointing to technologies like molten-salt and pebble-bed reactors as possibly opportunities for the industry.
WIRED | August 11, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen is featured in this WIRED article on the removal of IPCC support from the US's 2017 and 2018 budgets, which could leave US scientists out of many important scientific discussions—and leave the US underprepared as climate change progresses. Kammen, who's been working with the IPCC since 1999, notes "the topics we are mostly concerned about, like climate change and drying soils, and the impacts of that on US farmers, will get less attention.” The US only accounts for 2 percent of the Earth’s surface, so it makes a big difference when US scientists are present to stand up for domestic interests.
East Bay Times | August 08, 2017
ESPM CE specialist emeritus Vernard Lewis is profiled in this East Bay Times article on his extraordinary career as an entomologist with UC Cooperative Extension and UC Berkeley. During a colorful 35-year-career, the 66-year-old Hayward resident has taken the war against termites to the slums of Pakistan and Chile, tangled with bedbugs and mass murderer Charles Manson in San Quentin, chomped on Rice Krispies treats made with mealworms, and built a state-of-the-art “villa” where insects can check in but never leave.
Climate Central | August 01, 2017
ESPM professor Scott Stephens is quoted in this Climate Central article on the western US's wildfire season. More than 37,000 fires have burned more than 5.2 million acres nationally since the beginning of the year, with 47 large fires burning across nine states as of Friday. Bouts of hot, dry weather are coming earlier and earlier, setting the stage for prime fire conditions. Southern California already has a nearly year-round fire season, Stephens said. With those hot periods likely coming earlier and earlier in spring and summer as global temperatures continue to rise, “you’re going to have a longer period where fire can ignite and move,” Stephens said.
Berkeleyside | August 01, 2017
PMB alum Kulika Chomvong (Ph.D. '16) is featured in this Berkeleyside article on Sugarlogix, a new startup cultivating prebiotic sugars. These prebiotics can have a positive impact on gut health by promoting the growth of good bacteria. Chomvong, who cofounded Sugarlogix, is optimistic that prebiotics could most benefit individuals with depleted levels of gut bacteria, such as those needing to repopulate their gut with good bacteria after a regimen of antibiotics.
New York Times | July 25, 2017
This is the study they reference and link to: http://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/abstract/S2451-9456(16)30474-3
Capital & Main | July 24, 2017
ESPM Ph.D. candidate Freyja Knapp is quoted in this Capital & Main article on Silicon Valley's electronic waste dilemma. “One growing problem is cathode ray tubes [which are commonly found in television and computer monitors from previous decades],” says Knapp. “The leaded glass is a real problem. The barium in them is a problem. [The] markets have declined for” many of the facilities that process CRTs, “and you see a lot of abandoned facilities with big piles of leaded glass just laying there.”