Making Headlines
The following articles reflect our commitment to share sustainability-related accomplishments across the university — representing its colleges, departments, institutes, centers and other units — in the areas of research, student engagement, campus stewardship and collaborations with the public and private sectors.
Energy News Network, July 2, 2019
Ohio universities are expanding degree programs related to clean energy in response to growing interest from students and employers. …Ohio State University in Columbus is looking to establish a training center for students interested in smart grid and sustainability jobs. ...
Featured expert(s): Noah Dormady
John Glenn College of Public Affairs; SI affiliated faculty
Ohio's Country Journal and Ag Net, July 1, 2019
Farmers do not enjoy spending money on nutrients to have them float down the creek. They also do not enjoy being the subject of the blame for water quality issues in Lake Erie. For years, Ohio agriculture has seen trends of decreasing phosphorus (P) application and increased conservation tillage, yet the water quality problems persist and in some cases seem to be getting worse. Why? ...
Featured expert(s): Jay Martin
ecological engineering; SI faculty advisory board research co-lead, healthy land, water and air systems
Dark Daily.com – Laboratory News, July 1, 2019
Virologists and microbiologists will be intrigued to learn that scientists at Ohio State University (OSU) have identified nearly 200,000 previously unknown viruses living deep in the oceans. The catalog of 195,728 viruses could serve as a “road map” to a better understanding of ecosystems within the world’s oceans and the role they play in maintaining the health of the planet. ...
Featured expert(s): Matthew Sullivan
microbiology and civil, environmental and geodetic engineering
Columbus Dispatch, June 27, 2019
Changes made by the Ohio Senate Wednesday to a proposed bailout of two nuclear power plants make a bad bill slightly better. But the substitute version of House Bill 6 still does too little for Ohio’s energy future to justify saddling ratepayers with the mistakes of the past. ...
Featured expert(s): Ned Hill
John Glenn College of Public Affairs; SI affiliated faculty
Columbus Dispatch, June 25, 2019
The Senate’s version of legislation to bail out the state’s two nuclear power plants remains in flux even as the deadline set by the plants’ owner looms. ...
Featured expert(s): Ned Hill
John Glenn College of Public Affairs; SI affiliated faculty
The National , June 24, 2019
My neighbourhood recently got new bins. The ones with black tops are for regular waste, while the ones with green tops are for recyclables. A few days ago, I was furious when I noticed that someone on my street had been putting regular rubbish in the recycling bins. Given current global concerns about the environment, who could be so thoughtless? Shaking my head, I deposited my rubbish in the correct receptacle, and momentarily dismissed the modern world as a lost cause. However, it turns out that the trials of urban living are not so modern at all. An archaeological research study – published last week in the ponderously named Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and reported on by newspapers including The National – describes life in Çatalhöyük, one of the world’s earliest proto-urban communities. ...
Featured expert(s): Clark Larsen
anthropology
Popular Mechanics, June 21, 2019
Nobody’s really sure how many times the Cuyahoga River has caught fire.The consensus is 13, but there are estimates as high as 15, dating back to the days immediately following the Civil War. Those are the major blazes, and don’t include the fires on tributaries where the city’s factories, refineries, and mills set up nearby. What everyone can agree on—and what most people remember—is the last one, 50 years ago, on June 22, 1969. At 11:56 a.m., a train passing over one of the bridges that spanned the crooked river threw a spark, which ignited detritus that had accumulated on the river’s surface. ...
Featured expert(s): Jeff Reutter
retired, Ohio Sea Grant
WBUR Here and Now, June 19, 2019
Argentina was plunged into darkness that affected 44 million people Sunday. And Target says its stores are operating normally after glitches prevented customers from paying with some credit cards over the weekend. These are some of the latest examples of complex systems failing catastrophically, which has become a fixture of modern life. But David Woods, a professor in integrated systems engineering at Ohio State University, says the news media often misses the point when it comes to the reason behind these failures. ...
Featured expert(s): David Woods
integrated systems engineering
Gizmodo, June 18, 2019
New archaeological evidence suggests the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük, an ancient city founded over 9,000 years ago in what is now Turkey, were subject to many urban problems we’re familiar with today, including overcrowding, interpersonal violence, and sanitation issues. (Also published in Gizmodo Australia) ...
Featured expert(s): Clark Larsen
anthropology
Earth.com, June 17, 2019
About 9,000 years ago, a group of ancient humans were some of the first to discover the trials and tribulations of modern urban living such as diseases, overcrowding, violence, and environmental issues. Scientists studying the ancient settlement of Çatalhöyük, located in modern Turkey, have discovered that the large farming community of about 3,500 to 8,000 people came face-to-face with issues that still plague urban communities today. ALSO PUBLISHED IN:Newsweek, June 17, 2019inews.co.uk, June 17, 2018Inside Science, June 17, 2018The National, June 18, 2018XinhuaNet, June 18, 2019 ...
Featured expert(s): Clark Larsen
anthropology