Perhaps the biggest issue is the plant’s power supply, said USC Viterbi Professor Najmedin Meshkati: If off-site power is cut off, the plant could be forced to rely on unreliable emergency generators that could fail or run out of fuel. That could result in a blackout that would stop the water circulation needed to cool the spent fuel pool.
USC student Sasha Hederstrom has been composting in university housing, and shares her tips.
Not everyone experiences inflation the same way, notes USC Marshall Professor Rodney Ramcharan: Higher-income Americans can scale back more easily, but if you’re already shopping at Walmart or Dollar General, there may not be a cheaper alternative.
A cutoff of Russian natural gas could force European countries to turn to petroleum-based fuels. That could send gasoline prices up another 10%, says USC Marshall Associate Professor Shon Hiatt.
Some experts think that student fathers’ graduation problems are cultural. Families often pressure men — especially young dads — to be providers, says Adrian Huerta, a USC Rossier assistant professor: “That’s where education becomes a second or third or fourth priority to everything else.”
History shows that anti-porn laws become weapons against LGBTQ Americans, feminists and others, writes USC Dornsife doctoral candidate Quinn Anex-Ries. (The Washington Post)
The staggering increase highlights the shifting dynamics and focus of the opioid crisis, long considered a white, rural issue. A key contributor is the rise of fentanyl as a replacement for heroin in most of the nation’s largest drug markets, notes Ricky Bluthenthal of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Hip-hop finally came to the Super Bowl on Sunday when USC Iovine and Young Academy co-founder Andre “Dr. Dre” Young led a team of his closest collaborators in a festive, funky, thoroughly trunk-rattling halftime show.
Moves to ban oil and gas extraction in the city and county are welcomed by researchers such as USC’s Jill Johnston. Her work shows that people living near oil operations suffer high rates of asthma, wheezing, eye irritation and sore throats.
Most tsunamis that strike California’s coast — 150 since 1880 — come from earthquakes, not volcanic eruptions like the one on Jan. 15. The waves that eruption generated may have come from the sonic boom of the blast — a new pheomenon, USC coastal engineer Patrick Lynett notes.
Children love the song for the same reason parents hate it: the repetition. “Parents get sick and tired of it, but [kids] don’t,” USC Thornton’s Beatriz Ilari says.
The health effects from secondhand vapor are similar to those associated with cigarettes, USC’s Talat Islam says — and the effects were much greater for people who don’t vape or smoke.
Four COVID-19 experts agree: There’s no real upside to exposing your child to the omicron variant — and plenty of potential downsides.
Every disaster movie — including Netflix’s newest hit — seems to open with a scientist being ignored. But exactly why do people deny scientific facts? USC Rossier’s Gale Sinatra and a colleague take a look.
“We are cautiously optimistic that this is going to spread like wildfire, but it’s going to be short, sharp and fast,” says Paula Cannon of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. COVID, she says, may be moving from pandemic status to “endemic,” like many other viruses for which we have effective vaccines, like measles or mumps.
In California, Latinos ages 20 to 54 have died from COVID-19 at a rate more than eight times higher than that of white people in the same age group, according to a USC study. Many died before vaccines were widely available.
More older people are considering retirement a temporary stage, lasting until a financial need arises, says Emma Aguila of the USC Price School of Public Policy.
The most important thing you can do before traveling: Make sure you are vaccinated and have had a booster shot, says Paula Cannon of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She also recommends turning on the air vents to direct air away from you while sitting on the plane — although that could make for a pretty cold flight.
A wage hike in San José seemed to improve customers’ perceptions of wait staffs’ friendliness and courteousness, USC Marshall’s Dinesh Puranam says.
The U.S. president needs to make sure that Mexico continues to cooperate on migration, notes USC international relations expert Pamela Starr: “He doesn’t want to call Mexico out.”
Two primary factors: the talented workforce and the supportive culture around clean technology, says USC Marshall’s Shon Hiatt.
It’s difficult to predict how air pollution from idling ships affects port-area residents, says Ed Avol of the Keck School of Medicine of USC — but for people who suffer from asthma and other respiratory or cardiac problems, a monthslong increase in pollution could “push them over the edge.”
Algorithms tend to be good at making fine-grained, short-term predictions, but there isn’t enough data for an algorithm to learn about longer busts and booms, USC Marshall’s Nikhil Malik says. Zillow learned that the hard way: It’s unloading thousands of homes it bought after AI indicated it could profit from buying them.
The U.S. decline was fueled by more than disease, notes Bryan Tysinger of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Homicides and drug overdose deaths also rose, suggesting that the pandemic’s effects on social structures played a role. (NBC News)