For beverage coolers to keep drinks cold on a hot summer day, manufacturers rely on polyurethane foam, which is made from raw chemicals that are hazardous to handle before processing. To reduce health and environmental risks associated with this material, a University of Maine graduate student is designing an insulation component for coolers from an […]
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Beneath Maine’s salt marshes, an invisible transformation is constantly underway. Water moves through soil and rock. Chemicals react. Tiny microbes living underground help determine whether minerals dissolve or form, how fluids move and whether pollutants break down or spread. Existing computer models used to guide decisions about energy infrastructure and contamination often treat microbes as […]
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The University of Maine is a lead partner in a new $15 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engine that will strengthen New England’s seafood industry through cutting-edge research, technology innovation and workforce development. The NSF Seafood Engine in New England is led by the Portsmouth-based nonprofit Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing […]
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American woodcock, short, plump shorebirds with long, thin beaks, are widely known for their bobbing stride and nasally “peent” calls, but not for being aggressive. Yet one April afternoon, when a deer sniffed around a woodcock hen’s ground nest looking for food, the hen lunged at it, scaring it away. University of Maine researchers captured […]
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When low-level flames spread across five acres of forestland in Old Town one June afternoon, University of Maine students Logan Quinn of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Mar Wiltz of Bloomington, Indiana, helped keep them under control while gaining hands-on experience that could shape their future forestry careers. The two-hour prescribed burn at UMaine’s Dwight B. Demeritt […]
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Mehdi Tajvidi, a professor of renewable nanomaterials at the University of Maine, has been named the 2026 recipient of the FiberLean Distinguished Scientist Award from the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) Advanced Renewable Materials division. The award recognizes individuals whose work has significantly advanced scientific and engineering knowledge within the renewable […]
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The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) today announced $3 million in new PFAS Fund research grants to support Maine farms impacted by PFAS. While the vast majority of Maine farms are not impacted, DACF is currently working with 127 sites, ranging from small properties to large, diversified farms, to provide testing, financial […]
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Photosynthesis is the oldest carbon-capture technology on Earth. For eons, plants have pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locked carbon — the building block of life on our planet — into their bodies and roots. In young forests, the widespread consensus is that this process rapidly pulls, or sequesters, carbon from the atmosphere. As […]
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Moose are an essential part of Maine’s ecosystems, cultural identity and outdoor economy. As ecosystems rapidly change, moose face an increased risk of infection by parasites and disease. Researchers at the University of Maine are researching new ways to study and monitor the parasites that plague Maine’s moose in order to best help and manage […]
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The Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee (WBAC) is a group of 7 industry representatives appointed by the Commission to set research, development, and Extension priorities and recommend funding allocations for the UMaine wild blueberry research and Extension projects. All WBAC award funding is derived from the wild blueberry tax. After hearing research and Extension faculty present their proposals in February, […]
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