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Raging Waves Batter California's Coast and Its Beloved Piers
Michael W. Beck, the director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said that big wave events have increased significantly over the past few decades. Daily exposure to stronger waves — which strike multiple times a minute — also causes wear that California’s sea structures weren’t designed to…
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You don't look a day over 4.35 billion! Here's the moon's anti-aging secret
"We think that the Moon went through a period when it looked like Io, and for the same reason," says Francis Nimmo, a planetary scientist with the University of California, Santa Cruz, and lead author of the paper. "There would have been volcanoes jetting off all over the place," he says. "It would have been very…
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The business case for saving coral reefs
“It’s kind of a selfish way to look at these ecosystems. We need to maintain them because they’re protecting people,” said Borja G. Reguero, a coastal engineer and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz who’s co-authored much of the relevant science. Such logic is compelling to the emergency authorities and insurance companies that…
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Study focuses on effect of climate change on California's grasslands
Several UC Santa Cruz researchers contributed to a recent study that combined long-term observational data with results from global change experiments in the region to show that, climate change is causing species that prefer hotter and drier conditions to become more dominant in regional grassland communities. "(We need to) understand what's happening so that we…
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China Is Ready to Take Advantage of Trump Trashing Clean Energy
Environmental Studies Professor Sikina Jinnah discussed how backtracking on climate change affects America's standing with Europe and the rest of the world. “They’re probably thinking, ‘Oh god. Not again,’” she said. “[Trump’s win] signals to not only Europe but the rest of the world that we’re an unreliable partner in multilateral negotiations — not only in…
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Wind energy jobs are taking off, but so are risks
President-elect Trump has threatened to rescind all unspent IRA money, and the Treasury Department could reopen and rewrite the tax credit rules. Without federal funds and leadership, unionization rates in the wind industry will likely continue to vary across states. Going forward, Mijin Cha, who studies just transition at the University of California, Santa Cruz,…
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Research by UC Santa Cruz professor, others yields gruesome discovery
New research by an anthropology professor at UC Santa Cruz and other experts revealed a startling twist on the human sacrifice traditions of an ancient people of Peru.“Most of what we know about human sacrifices with the Moche relates to very public and gruesome forms of human sacrifice,” said Lars Fehren-Schmitz, an archaeogeneticist at UC…
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Utah’s coal mines can’t find enough workers
Miners describe eroding benefits as unionized coal mines have closed down. Some former union mines may eventually reopen, but it will be with new names, new owners and no union contracts. Mijin Cha, a just transition researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said that this is a common trend across the nation.
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Three-quarters of the world’s land is drying out, ‘redefining life on Earth’
Climate change has made great swaths of the planet drier and soils saltier, jeopardizing food production and water access for billions. We can look to current geopolitical and ecological events that are playing out currently to understand what we can expect in the future,” said Hannah Waterhouse, a soil and water scientist at the University…
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A haze of institutional weakness
In an opinion article, Distinguished Professor of Economics Nirvikar Singh argues that the standard approach of localized and reactive policies will not India’s air pollution problems.