Welcome back to The Environmental Review Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re diving into a fascinating intersection of fluid dynamics, biomimicry, and robotic design. New research from the University of Michigan introduces a golf-ball-inspired prototype with dynamically adjustable dimples that can drastically reduce drag and even steer itself—no fins, no rudders, just smart surface control. To unpack the science behind this innovation, we’re joined by Dr. Anchal Sareen, assistant professor of naval architecture and mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, and lead author of two new studies published in Flow and Physics of Fluids.
Today, I’m joined by Dr. Andrea Loayza, a leading Chilean ecologist and Associate Professor at the University of La Serena. Her research focuses on plant–animal interactions, seed dispersal, and biodiversity in arid ecosystems. From desert rodents to extinct megafauna, her work uncovers how life adapts in some of Earth’s harshest environments.
Welcome to the environmental review, where we bring environmental research and policy to light. Today we’re joined by one of the most respected voices in forest and fire ecology—Dr. Hugh D. Safford. With decades of experience leading research across the Sierra Nevada and beyond, Dr. Safford has shaped how we understand wildfire, climate change, and the role of traditional ecological knowledge in land stewardship. He’s the Chief Scientist at Vibrant Planet, a former US Forest Service regional ecologist, and a professor at Uni cali Davis. Whether he’s restoring resilient forests or hiking high-altitude mountains, his work bridges science, policy, and people.
Today’s episode is all about rain — but not the kind that ruins your beach day. Instead, we’re looking at how raindrops themselves could become tiny power plants.
A 2025 study from the National University of Singapore, published in ACS Central Science, has shown that water droplets can be used to generate clean, renewable electricity using a brand-new method. It's called plug flow, and it might just change how we think about everyday rain.
I’m your host, and today we’re talking about a new study that brings together two things we all encounter daily—air pollution and city lights—and links them to something unexpected and alarming: thyroid cancer in children.
This study, titled “Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer,” was just published in Environmental Health Perspectives on April 7, 2025. It’s led by Dr. Nicole Deziel of Yale University, along with a large team of researchers from Yale, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, and the American Cancer Society (Deziel et al., 2025).
Their work investigates how exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and artificial light at night—during the earliest stages of life—might raise the risk of thyroid cancer in children and teens.
Let’s dive into what this means, how the study was done, and what we can all do in response.
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Nicole C. Deziel, Rong Wang, Joshua L. Warren, Catherine Dinauer, Jennifer Ogilvie, Cassandra J. Clark, Charlie Zhong, Joseph L. Wiemels, Libby Morimoto, Catherine Metayer, Xiaomei Ma. Perinatal Exposures to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Outdoor Artificial Light at Night and Risk of Pediatric Papillary Thyroid Cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2025; DOI: 10.1289/EHP14849
Today, we’re diving into one of the most exciting breakthroughs in genetic science—an expansion of the CRISPR-Cas9 toolbox that could change medicine, agriculture, and environmental protection. CRISPR is a gene editing technology that can edit humans, plants and more. It might just be the key in our fight against the warming climate.
Scientists from Duke University, led by Gabriel L. Butterfield, Dahlia Rohm, Avery Roberts, and Charles A. Gersbach, have discovered new versions of the Cas9 enzyme, which could make gene editing even more powerful. This research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was contributed by Rodolphe Barrangou and reviewed by Luciano A. Marraffini and Feng Zhang. But what does this all mean for us? Let’s break it down in a way that’s easy to understand.
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Citations
Gabriel L. Butterfield, Dahlia Rohm, Avery Roberts, Matthew A. Nethery, Anthony J. Rizzo, Daniel J. Morone, Lisa Garnier, Nahid Iglesias, Rodolphe Barrangou, Charles A. Gersbach. Characterization of diverse Cas9 orthologs for genome and epigenome editing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025; 122 (11) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2417674122
Today, we’re diving into a breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology—one that could bring us closer to a future powered by clean, limitless energy. This breakthrough comes from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where physicists have developed a new computer code called QUADCOIL. This innovation could simplify and reduce the costs of stellarators, a promising type of fusion reactor. We’ll break down the science, the impact, and what this means for the future of fusion power.
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Citations
Lanke Fu, Elizabeth J. Paul, Alan A. Kaptanoglu, Amitava Bhattacharjee. Global stellarator coil optimization with quadratic constraints and objectives. Nuclear Fusion, 2025; 65 (2): 026045 DOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/ada810
Welcome to The Environmental Review! Today, we’re joined by Dr. Andrea Grottoli, a leading marine scientist and professor at The Ohio State University. A global expert in coral resilience and climate change, she has led groundbreaking research on coral bleaching and ecosystem adaptation. She also developed UZELA, an innovative technology that enhances coral feeding to support reef restoration. As a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, former president of the International Coral Reef Society, and a lot more, her work is shaping the future of marine conservation.
Contact Dr. Andrea Grottoli: grottoli.1@osu.edu
Dr. Andrea Grottoli's Website: https://u.osu.edu/grottoli.1/
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Coral reefs, often considered the rainforests of the sea, are among the most diverse and vital ecosystems on our planet. They provide habitat for approximately 25% of all marine species and offer critical ecosystem services, including coastal protection, fisheries, and tourism, with an estimated global economic value of nearly $10 trillion USD. However, these invaluable ecosystems face unprecedented threats due to climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction. Scientists are working tirelessly to develop innovative solutions to enhance coral resilience. One such groundbreaking development is the Underwater Zooplankton Enhancement Light Array, or UZELA. In today’s episode, we will explore the research behind this remarkable technology, the scientists who pioneered it, and its implications for coral conservation.
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Citations:
Andréa G. Grottoli, Shannon L. Dixon, Ann Marie Hulver, Claire E. Bardin, Claire J. Lewis, Christopher R. Suchocki, Robert J. Toonen. Underwater Zooplankton Enhancement Light Array (UZELA): A technology solution to enhance zooplankton abundance and coral feeding in bleached and non‐bleached corals. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 2025; DOI: 10.1002/lom3.10669
As humanity’s ventures into space become more ambitious, an unexpected challenge has emerged: the increasing risk posed by re-entering space debris to our planet’s busy airspaces. This episode explores a groundbreaking study that sheds light on this issue, examining its findings and discussing the broader implications for aviation safety and environmental policy.
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Citation: Wright, E., Boley, A. & Byers, M. Airspace closures due to reentering space objects. Sci Rep 15, 2966 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84001-2
Note, as a podcast, we stand for factual information (any bias should be backed with claims although we tried not to be biased except for at the very end of the pod) - everything here has been factually collected to the best of our knowledge. We support climate improvements and the use of green tech, though we do not necessarily align with any political party. The little 'two cents' at the end was based on online data to look at the potential power of green tech in killing two birds with one stone, not any direct criticism to the global leaders.
Today we’re looking at Donald Trump’s 2025 withdrawal from the Paris Agreement—what it means, why it happened, and how different stakeholders are reacting.
This marks the second time the U.S. has left the Paris Agreement under Trump. He first pulled the country out in 2017, only for the U.S. to rejoin under President Joe Biden in 2021. Now, under Trump’s second presidency, the U.S. has once again withdrawn.
Why did he make this decision again? How are businesses, world leaders, and environmental groups responding? And what does this mean for global climate efforts? We'll look at these questions in todays episode.
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In this episode, we’re diving into a groundbreaking study published in Climate Resilience and Sustainability. Led by Dr. John Redhead from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, along with researchers from the University of East Anglia, this study provides an in-depth analysis of how climate change could radically transform UK agriculture by the year 2080.
With global temperatures projected to rise by 2°C or even 4°C above pre-industrial levels, the future of British farming is at a crossroad. The research paints a fascinating picture of a UK where crops like chickpeas, soybeans, and even citrus fruits could thrive while traditional staples like wheat and strawberries face serious declines.
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Link to Study: https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cli2.70007
Citations:
John W. Redhead, Matt Brown, Jeff Price, Emma Robinson, Robert J. Nicholls, Rachel Warren, Richard F. Pywell. National Horizon Scanning for Future Crops Under a Changing UK Climate. Climate Resilience and Sustainability, 2025; 4 (1) DOI: 10.1002/cli2.70007
In today's episode, we’re exploring the incredible story of the Brazil Nut tree—a true giant of the Amazon rainforest.
This towering tree is more than just a source of nuts. It’s a key player in the rainforest’s ecosystem, a symbol of how humans have shaped nature, and now, thanks to groundbreaking research, it’s a genetic marvel that’s giving us new insights into biodiversity and conservation. Special credit goes to Dr. Victor Caetano-Andrade and his team at the Max Planck Institutes for their pioneering research, which forms the foundation of today’s episode.
Contact me!
Email: theenvironmentalreview@gmail.com
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Citations:
Hua Wang, Victor Caetano-Andrade, Nicole Boivin, Charles R. Clement, Wellyngton Espindola Ayala, Ramiro Dario Melinski, Francislaide da Silva Costa, Detlef Weigel, Patrick Roberts. Long-term human influence on the demography and genetic diversity of the hyperdominant Bertholletia excelsa in the Amazon Basin. Current Biology, 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.023
Road salt pollution is an extremely secretive weapon that damages our organisms, our land, and even our human health. Led by Professors from Virginia Tech, we look today at the promising potential of cattail plants to fight pollution, and additionally analyse alternatives used by individuals in New Hampshire and Scandanavia.
Contacts - feel free to reach out!
Gmail: theenvironmentalreview@gmail.com
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Citation:
S. Long, M.A. Rippy, L. Krauss, M. Stacey, K. Fausey,
The impact of deicer and anti-icer use on plant communities in stormwater detention basins: Characterizing salt stress and phytoremediation potential,
Science of The Total Environment,
2025,
178310,
ISSN 0048-9697,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178310.
In this podcast episode. we look at the groundbreaking research from Elisabeth Van Roijen (University of California, Davis), Sabbie Miller (University of California, David) and Steve Davis (Stanford University) as they look at the potential for concrete to lock carbon away for good.
By adding concrete with bio-synthesised alternatives, our buildings could sequester carbon for billions of years, reducing emissions and temperatures.
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In January 2025, a variety of wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles Area have broken out, putting more than 180,000 people at risk. In this episode, we cover what they are, California's extensive battle with wildfires, and the surprising impacts of AC in response to these wars.
Our hearts go out to the people faced with the wildfires. Stay safe, and stay informed.
(note - the Maria in the podcast is not Maria - we have not provided the actual name due to privacy reasons)
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Northvolt, a large green battery producer in Sweden, has recently filed for Bankruptcy in the United States, accumulating over $5.8 Billion in debt. We cover the story of it's collapse, and it's significance in Europe's sustainability industry.
While this is a huge loss, there is still hope for the future.
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Today, we looked at the carbon footprint - a popular buzzword that actually has significant scientific meaning. We look at Carbon Dioxide Equivalents (CO2e), and look at the implications of watching Netflix and sending emails on your environmental footprint.
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What are microplastics? In our first episode, we cover microplastics, what they are, how they affect the environment, and what is being done to resolve it's widespread glitter-like effect. In the future, we hope to get some researchers to deep dive into the problem!
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