A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment. Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven materials instead of conventional electromagnetic motors to power […]
New Jersey Kids Care About the Planet — But Don’t Connect It to What’s on Their Plates
Ask a New Jersey middle schooler what they think about when choosing what to eat, and you’ll probably hear: taste, texture, and whether it’ll upset their stomach. Ask them what they do to help the planet, and they’ll mention picking up litter or recycling. What most won’t mention? The connection between the two. A new […]
Coral Killer: Scientists Uncover New Clues About a Disease Devastating Caribbean Reefs
A mysterious disease has been quietly destroying coral reefs across the Caribbean for over a decade. Stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, causes coral tissue to simply fall away, killing entire colonies — and no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what causes it. Now, new research is offering some of the clearest […]
When Drought Hits, Do Dams and Groundwater Soften the Blow?
Droughts are the world’s most widespread natural disaster, and climate change is making them longer, more intense, and possibly more frequent. But how much do droughts actually hurt local economies and can water storage help cushion that blow? A new study tackles these questions on a global scale. Hilary Sigman, affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and […]
Wind Turbines and Fish: Can the East Coast Have Both?
Miles off the coast of New Jersey and New England, two major forces are converging: the rapid expansion of offshore wind energy and some of the most valuable fisheries in the United States. A new editorial published in Fisheries Oceanography takes stock of what we know — and what we urgently need to find out […]
China’s Green City Gap: Why Some Urban Areas Are Racing Ahead While Others Fall Behind
Cities across China are transforming to become more environmentally sustainable, but this “green transition” is happening very unevenly—and new research reveals that the biggest gaps aren’t between provinces, but between cities within the same province. A study published in the journal Habitat International examined nearly 300 Chinese cities from 2004 to 2021 to understand why […]
One Size Fits All? Testing Coating Thickness for Solar Panels
As the world races to reduce fossil fuel use and combat climate change, solar energy has become the fastest-growing renewable energy source globally. But not all solar panels are set up the same way. Some are fixed in place, tilted toward the sun. Others track the sun’s movement throughout the day. And a newer type, […]
New Forecasting Model Could Help Unlock the Power of Large Offshore Wind Turbines
As wind turbines grow taller to capture stronger and steadier winds over the ocean, predicting how much electricity they’ll generate becomes more complex. A new study published in the journal Technometrics, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in statistics and data science, introduces a powerful forecasting method designed specifically for these next-generation, ultra-scale turbines. The […]
Scientists Develop New Catalyst That Turns Polluted Water Into Valuable Ammonia
Ammonia is essential for making fertilizers that help feed the world, but producing it typically requires massive amounts of energy and releases significant greenhouse gases. Now, researchers have found a promising new way to create ammonia while simultaneously cleaning polluted water. Tewodros (Teddy) Asefa, affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, and professor in the […]
A Surprising Ice Age from Three Million Years Ago Shows Lessons for Today
About 3.3 million years ago, during a period called the Pliocene epoch when Earth’s atmosphere contained CO₂ levels similar to today’s, a short but intense cooling event occurred that scientists call Marine Isotope Stage M2. Understanding what happened during this 25,000-year period matters today because it reveals how sensitive ice sheets are to changes in […]
