Discovery

A large group of Chinese migrants stand in line

Chinese migration to US is nothing new – but the reasons for recent surge at Southern border are

/ 6 minutes of reading

The brief closure of the Darien Gap – a perilous 66-mile jungle journey linking South American and Central America – in February 2024 temporarily halted one of the Western Hemisphere’s busiest migration routes, explains Meredity Oyen, assistant professor of history at UMBC. It also highlighted its importance to a small but growing group of people that depend on that pass to make it to the U.S.: Chinese migrants. Continue Reading Chinese migration to US is nothing new – but the reasons for recent surge at Southern border are

cars driving on New York City's Queensboro Bridge

New York City greenlights congestion pricing – here’s how this toll plan is expected to improve traffic, air quality and public transit

/ 6 minutes of reading

New York City is poised to launch the first congestion pricing plan to reduce traffic in a major U.S. metropolitan area. The Congestion Relief Zone, which covers Manhattan south of 60th Street, large trucks will pay $36, small trucks $24, passenger vehicles $15 and motorcycles $7.50, explains John Rennie Short, professor emeritus of public policy. Ride-share vehicles and taxis will pay $2.50 and $1.25, respectively. Peak hours run from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends; overnight tolls are discounted by 75%. Continue Reading New York City greenlights congestion pricing – here’s how this toll plan is expected to improve traffic, air quality and public transit

Thousands of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, are in this 2022 photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Could a telescope ever see the beginning of time? An astronomer explains

/ 6 minutes of reading

By Adi Foord, Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UMBC Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. If the James Webb telescope was 10 times more powerful, could we see the beginning of time? – Sam H., age 12, Prosper, Texas The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST for short, is one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. Planning for JWST began over 25 years ago, and construction efforts spanned over a decade. It was launched into space on Dec. 25,… Continue Reading Could a telescope ever see the beginning of time? An astronomer explains

Television celebrities walking across a black carpet with the word Shōgun written in gold

James Clavell’s ‘Shōgun’ is reimagined for a new generation of TV viewers

/ 7 minutes of reading

Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, professor of history, a historian of Japan who specializes in the history of the Tokugawa, or early modern era – a period from 1603 to 1868, during which the bulk of the action in FX’s new television miniseries“Shōgun” takes place. “American viewers today apparently don’t need to be slowly introduced to Japanese culture by a European guide,” says Vaporis. Continue Reading James Clavell’s ‘Shōgun’ is reimagined for a new generation of TV viewers

A black and white photograph of city roof tops filled with smokestacks. Anthropocene geography environmental systems

The Anthropocene is not an epoch − but the age of humans is most definitely underway

/ 5 minutes of reading

UMBC’s Erle Ellis, professor of geography and environmental systems, explains the Anthropocene and the vote of the Subcommission on Quarterly Stratigraphy rejected that proposal to mark the Anthropocene as an epoch, with 12 of 18 members voting no. These are the scientists most expert at reconstructing Earth’s history from the evidence in rocks. They determined that adding an Anthropocene Epoch – and terminating the Holocene Epoch – was not supported by the standards used to define epochs. Continue Reading The Anthropocene is not an epoch − but the age of humans is most definitely underway

A person wearing a coat walks through a mall in the evening.

The US invented shopping malls, but China is writing their next chapter

/ 6 minutes of reading

Like their U.S. counterparts, many Chinese malls have fallen on hard times. Professor emeritus of public policy at UMBC explains how the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online shopping have devastated foot traffic, leaving the nation with a huge overhang of retail space and how they are re-imagining it. Continue Reading The US invented shopping malls, but China is writing their next chapter

A young child works in a glass factory in a 1909 black and white historical photo by lewis hine

Historical lens—3 stories that scratch the surface of a 5,400 image archive

/ 3 minutes of reading

One of the most influential sets of historical photos in UMBC’s Special Collections is an archive of more than 5,400 images documenting the harsh conditions of child laborers in early 20th-century America. Recently the team in Special Collections—which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year—undertook a massive project to digitize and rehouse the photos in more protective sheaths to help safeguard the images and the hand-written details on them. The preservation effort gave UMBC student workers hands-on practice with handling the delicate photographs and allowed staff to dive deep into these historical records in order to comment on timely issues around… Continue Reading Historical lens—3 stories that scratch the surface of a 5,400 image archive

Smoky skies and an orange sun backdrop skyscrapers near a harbor.

As summer wildfire smoke choked Baltimore, UMBC air pollution researchers leapt into action

/ 4 minutes of reading

Starting this May, a series of wildfires in Eastern Canada sent enormous smoke clouds wafting into the U.S., triggering air quality warnings in cities from the Midwest to the Northeast. As a resident of the Baltimore area—which was blanketed with particularly bad smoke in both early and late June—UMBC Professor Chris Hennigan looked at the haze with dismay. But as an environmental engineer who studies air pollution, he had an additional thought: “We were looking at the air quality forecasts, and we thought ‘We have to gather data,’” he says. Continue Reading As summer wildfire smoke choked Baltimore, UMBC air pollution researchers leapt into action

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