UMass Amherst

How can we protect vital coastal #ecosystems? The answer: sediment! Professor Brian Yellen and a team of #UMass researchers used data from an 1898 #Massachusetts storm to gain vital insight into how salt marshes might respond to sea level rise and worsening weather.
https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/593988-Sediment-is-Key-to-Weathering-Rapid-Sea-level-Rise/

Does it seem warm in here to you? New data from the #UMassAmherst Climate System Research Center shows that this January in Massachusetts was 9.3 degrees warmer than Januaries between 1991 and 2020. #climatechange 🌡️ https://www.recorder.com/Record-warmth-in-January-raises-concerns-of-environmental-impacts-49996666

Red Maple, #UMassAmherst. #ThickTrunkTuesday #sustainability

Some people would like to return to nature when they pass away. Now, the work of #UMass alum and soil scientist Katrina Spade
might make that possible in Connecticut. 🌱 https://www.milfordmirror.com/news/article/CT-human-composting-bill-17729046.php

This Saturday #UMassAmherst granted #PentagonPapers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg an honorary degree. Chancellor Subbaswamy: “We honor you for a lifetime of truth-telling that demonstrates how dissent can be the highest form of patriotism and citizenship.” https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/22/metro/pentagon-papers-whistleblower-daniel-ellsberg-receives-honorary-degree-umass-amherst/

Digital Equity & Inclusion Week starts today!

Learn how podcasts, 3D printing, and assistive tech tools enhance equity and inclusion in tech! Explore new concepts with advocates, like our keynote speaker, as well as each other!

Visit http://umass.edu/it/deiw to learn more.

How much #airpollution is hanging around your local elementary school? There's a good chance that PERI at UMass knows - and they just updated their tracking tool! Check out the link in the article! https://www.umass.edu/news/article/umass-amherst-political-economy-research-institute-updates-tool-tracking-air-pollution

It was a catastrophe for thousands: when Flint, MI changed its water supply in 2014, its citizens suffered #lead exposure. Now, #UMassAmherst researcher David Keiser and his co-authors show that Flint's #economy didn't recover even after the water did. https://www.umass.edu/news/article/keiser-co-authors-paper-published-american-economic-journal

Welcome, new PVTA
drivers! UMass Transit has been hard at work recruiting new operators over the winter. #PublicTransit 🚌 👉 https://www.umass.edu/news/article/umass-transit-begin-restoring-some-service

Right now, body sensor #technology doesn't work well when it gets squished. That's about to change! Trisha Andrews and her team at UMass #Chemistry have found a way to make #sensors that work even under pressure. 👩‍🔬 https://t.co/TPDxUHl3qW

Get ready to like broccoli! Alice Cheung and Hen-Ming Wu of #UMass Biochemistry
join colleagues around the world on a noble task: augment desirable features in crops. In other words: tastier (and hardier, healthier, more nutritious) #veggies! 🥦 https://t.co/cfr9JJCQMb

@researchbuzz@researchbuzz.masto.host We encourage people to check out their site! They already have a ton of great stuff online. The university is lucky to have them. http://scua.library.umass.edu/

What if farms made food AND energy? 🤯 #UMass joins Cornell and Rutgers in researching ways to co-produce food from the Earth and energy from the sun on farms supported by an exciting new idea: #agrivoltaic #technology. https://t.co/eIlfe56fYF

Could conspiracy-generating #AI be the key to stopping misinformation? Maybe, says #UMassAmherst's @ethanz@octodon.social! When it comes to predicting harmful conspiracy theories, #artificalintelligence could someday be a policymaker's best friend. 🤖 https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/stress-test-future-policies-by-modelling-conspiracy-theories-before-they-take-hold

A new study from Youngmin Yi and her team at
UMass Sociology finds that Black families deal with #incarceration at a disproportionately high rate. It's important data that could help lawmakers solve problems with the #justicesystem. https://t.co/Z2gSE4atM2

Healthy salt marshes support healthy #ecosystems and make coastlines resilient. One #UMass team, led by Brian Yellen of UMass Earth, Geographic, & #ClimateSciences, may have found the secret key to making them thrive. #conservation https://www.umass.edu/news/article/key-weathering-rapid-sea-level-rise-may-lie-massachusetts-salt-marsh

Even if #inflation keeps falling, high heat fuel prices could hit Bostonians hard this year. Mark Melnik pf the #UMass Donahue Institute explains how good economic news might be cold comfort in a region that can't opt out of winter #heatingcosts, no matter how expensive.🌡️ https://www.axios.com/local/boston/2023/01/23/inflation-heat-bills-boston

In the 80s, Dale Monette's advisor at #UMassAmherst suggested he help bring #baldeagles back to Massachusetts. Dale agreed, and got to watch MA Wildlife reintroduce young #birds to Quabbin Reservoir. Today, as a result of that program, eagles soar through our skies again. 🦅 https://connectingpoint.nepm.org/capturing-the-quabbin-with-wildlife-photographer-dale-monette/

Of all the emergency room visits in the U.S., 1/8 involve #mentalhealth or #substanceabuse. But many ERs aren't set up for this type of crisis. New research by #UMassAmherst researcher Linda Isbell breaks down the issue for both providers and patients. https://www.umass.edu/news/article/research-describes-challenges-er-care-mental-health-and-substance-use-disorder

"It just makes life harder," says UMass Professor Emerita and psychologist Susan Whitbourne. "Things take longer to do, you lose things, you break things, you're slowed down." If you want to #declutter this spring, @axios@mastodon.social has tips for getting started when the mess is overwhelming. https://www.axios.com/2023/01/18/mess-clutter-clean-tips-mental-health-anxiety