West Greenland is home to tens of thousands of blue lakes that provide residents drinking water and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Yet after two months of record heat and precipitation in fall 2022, an estimated 7,500 lakes turned brown, began emitting carbon and decreased in water quality, according to a new study. Led by […]
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The Portland Press Herald featured University of Maine researchers who are developing Firefighting Biogel, an alternative to traditional firefighting foam that’s free from a group of chemicals known as PFAS. The gel is expected to be both safer for the environment and for those fighting fires. James Anderson, an engineer at UMaine’s Advanced Structures and […]
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The Bangor Daily News and News Center Maine highlighted a research project from the University of Maine that aims to understand how invasive forest plants impact tick populations. Researchers secured a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation to test if controlling unwelcome forest plants also reduces densities of ticks, and how landowners can […]
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Maine’s lobster fishery — one that supports thousands of jobs statewide — is extensively monitored. Management efforts are informed by biological monitoring surveys observing changes in abundance and distribution of the lobster population, and dealer and harvester reporting from the industry. Yet these statistics don’t tell the whole story of an industry shaken by supply […]
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Students at the University of Maine are using physics to fight the flu. A group of undergraduate and graduate students, led by physics professor Sam Hess, is doing single molecule microscopy combined with molecular simulations to learn about how influenza viruses mutate and hijack the cells of their host. Their discoveries could lead to the […]
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Following the recent announcement by Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s Congressional delegation that Maine’s Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub will receive an additional $22 million to position Maine as a global leader in forest-based biomaterial production and manufacturing, the University of Maine is advancing plans to launch its Forest Bioproducts Technology Maturation Program, a […]
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Ask anyone who frequents the forests of New England and they will likely speak of unwelcome companions — ticks. Blacklegged ticks are expanding their range and rising in numbers, infecting people with pathogens that cause conditions like Lyme disease and babesiosis. Climate change is frequently blamed, but researchers have noticed another man-made problem may be […]
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Conservation is a multi-dimensional issue that goes beyond preserving the environment. Conservationists not only need ecological expertise, but also have to understand the impact of conservation on the economics and culture of an area, be able to interact with the public about issues of conservation and so much more. Through a program funded by the […]
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The Portland Press Herald and WABI (Channel 5) interviewed Angela Mech, assistant professor of forest entomology at the University of Maine, on the possibility for Mainers to see smaller browntail moth populations this spring than in previous years. Mech said she is “cautiously optimistic,” and that a fungus devastated populations this past summer. She and […]
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USA Today cited a data visualization from the University of Maine Climate Change Institute Climate Reanalyzer that showed how the temperature of air 6.5 feet above the sea surface has increased since 1979.
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