Aerospace & Engineering
Taylor Hill
Writer, Editor, Communications
United States
I have covered Aerospace and Engineering, Conservation Efforts, the Environment, Renewable Energy, Technology, Wildlife, Harbors, Beaches, Boats, and more.
United States
I have covered Aerospace and Engineering, Conservation Efforts, the Environment, Renewable Energy, Technology, Wildlife, Harbors, Beaches, Boats, and more.
Aerospace & Engineering
On April 30, the Food and Drug Administration approved VITAL for a ventilator Emergency Use Authorization. Developed in just 37 days by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in response to the coronavirus pandemic, VITAL (short for Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally) wouldn't replace current hospital ventilators, which can treat a broader range of medical issues.
Created at NASA's JPL, the open-source flight software called F Prime isn't just powering humanity's first interplanetary helicopter; it's also powering inspiration at multiple universities. When NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter hovered above the Red Planet April 19 on its maiden voyage, the moment was hailed as the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet.
Five years in, a JPL initiative forging relationships with students and faculty at historically Black colleges and universities continues expanding its reach, hosting 48 interns this year. Brandon Ethridge, a flight systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, has had a year to remember.
Environment
LOS GATOS, California-I'm dangling 180 feet off the ground in a harness, held by a single rope tied to a redwood tree named Joe. After a moment, I resume my ascent toward the canopy, a unique and largely unexplored ecosystem of mosses, lichen, and wildlife rarely glimpsed from the ground far below.
UPDATED Sept. 15, 2016-4:03 p.m. PT: This article has been updated with the news of the approval of Phase I of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. DESERT CENTER, California-Dec. 18, 2014, was supposed to be a day of triumph for Donna and Larry Charpied.
HEREFORD, Texas-"See? We've been expecting you," says John Josserand, pointing at an op-ed from a local newspaper left conspicuously on a table in a wood-paneled hallway of the AzTx Cattle Company's headquarters. "Global Warming Agenda Is About Control " -a catchy headline, so I read on.
Wildlife
CRYSTAL RIVER, Florida-Stuffed in a wet suit and armed with a fluorescent-green pool noodle, I climb down the short swim ladder into 78-degree water when a manatee blocks my way. It's a baby, but at about three months old, the chubby gray manatee is already five feet long and apparently has me beat in the weight category.
North Carolina legislators last week tried to pass a bill demanding that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service abandon efforts to save the critically endangered red wolf and declare the species extinct in the wild. The legislation failed, but it is just one of many attempts to rid North Carolina of the red wolf.
LOS ANGELES-As we set off for our destination off the Southern California coast, Captain Rex Levi weaves Mr. Barker's LegaSea, a 55-foot Chris Craft yacht, between the massive cargo ships plying Los Angeles Harbor.
Design and Technology
NEWPORT BEACH, California-As a lifelong surfer, Louis Pazos has had an up-close look at the world's plastics problem. Just about every time he has paddled out at any of his favorite breaks in Southern California, he has ended up swimming among trash bags and other rubbish. But the floating garbage isn't just offshore.
Plastic surrounds us. From grocery bags and water bottles to gas caps and furniture, the petroleum-based products are ubiquitous, but the planet-warming emissions from their creation doesn't have to be. Our chairs, bottle caps, and even laptop computer cases could all be part of the carbon emissions solution, capturing greenhouse gases within the plastic they're made out of.
Environmental watchdog group Basel Action Network wanted to find out what happens when discarded computers, televisions, and other electronic devices are sent to recycling centers in the United States. So Jim Puckett, executive director of BAN, and his team planted GPS devices on 205 electronic products and dropped them off at recycling centers and charities.
People
Cindy Abbott pushed a button, and a year's worth hard exercise, training dogs and refining mushing skills came to an abrupt end."It was a moment of weakness," Cindy Abbott said Tuesday, only days after she quit Alaska's Iditarod mid-course and watched another competitor become the first person to cross the finish line at one of the world's toughest races.After what she'd done settled in, the impact of her snap decision hit especially hard.
Tony Burica had been running his boat repair shop in Costa Mesa for three decades, and was sitting on a story to tell. "It was one fateful lunch that I sat down with him, and he told me quite a tale," said Bob Yates, a Lido Isle resident who began bringing boats to Burica in the late 1980s.
In 1994, peering out across the channel from his dock, Lenny Arkinstall didn't like the view. From his boat at Alamitos Bay's Bahia Cerritos Marina, he could see a field of oil derricks lazily undulating like slow-motion cuckoo clock birds.
Covering Media
News publishers will remember 2016 for many reasons-not least of which was the outright attacks from a new administration on U.S. newsrooms' qualifications for disseminating information. While the jury's still out on whether a nearly 200-year-old industry has forgotten how to publish news, one thing that was cemented this year was the takeover of mobile.
In 2016, disruptors of the newspaper-publishing model-from digital distribution, mobile platforms, and social media networks-contributed to what has culminated in the most disruptive year in American mainstream media in some time. And while the rise of "fake news" captured headlines, it's not a 21st Century phenomenon.
Between voter fraud allegations against Hillary Clinton, increasing concerns over ties to Russia, and a rescinded “immigration ban” executive order, the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency have been a headline-generating bonanza. A Google search brings up more than 206 million results for “Trump,” and the deluge of content generated during the 2016 political campaign has newspapers eyeing ways to turn the increased digital traffic into long-term readership.
Video Reporting / Voice Over Work