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College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

Latest CNAS in the Media

A plague of pests is coming for California. Here’s how to stop it.

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Back in the late 1880s, California citrus farmers found themselves dealing with a crisis caused by a fat bug covered in a shieldlike, granular white wax. Known as the cottony cushion scale, this insect, which had hitchhiked aboard ships from Australia, usually spends its entire life with its mouth affixed...
By Andrew Zaleski | The New York Times |

Physicists solve a 50-year mystery about a critically important molecule

GIZMODO - After relying on an educated guess for decades, scientists have finally confirmed the dipole moment of aluminum monochloride (AlCl), an elusive but important molecule known to sneak around the interiors of ancient galaxies. An electric dipole moment is a measure of polarity—a crucial determinant for many physical properties of any system, such as...
By Gayoung Lee | Gizmodo |

A Mysterious Blob of Cold Water Defies Ocean Heat – Now We Know Why

SCIENCE ALERT - Over the last decade, Earth's oceans have been warming at unprecedented rates, yet one mysterious blob of water, just south of Greenland, has defied this trend. It has stubbornly remained colder than its surrounding waters for over a century now. "People have been asking why this cold spot exists," says University of...

By Tessa Koumoundouros | Science Alert |

Meet the tomatoes that are evolving backwards – with a toxic twist

NEW ATLAS - The evolutionary ladder is meant to be climbed one rung at a time with an organism shedding some traits and gaining others on the way up. However, in a very surprising twist, some tomatoes on the Galapagos islands are inching back down the ladder. When they found the backwards-reaching plants, researchers from...
By Michael Franco | New Atlas |

Reverse evolution? These wild tomatoes are turning back time

EARTH.COM - Evolution is taking an unexpected turn on the volcanic islands of the western Galápagos. Wild tomato plants are producing a toxic blend of chemicals that hasn’t existed in their species for millions of years. Somehow, these plants have started making molecules more like eggplants than the modern tomato. This bizarre twist in evolution...
By Rodielon Putol | Earth.com |

Mystery behind cold blob in the Atlantic Ocean finally solved

LIVE SCIENCE - Researchers have finally answered a longstanding question about a giant patch of cold water in the Atlantic Ocean, blaming a change in ocean currents for the unexpected cooling. The anomaly, located just south of Greenland, is — perhaps counterintuitively — called the North Atlantic Warming Hole, and it has been stumping scientists...
By Perri Thaler | Live Science |

Evolution Running Backwards? Thats What This Unlikely Organism Appears To Be Doing

IFL SCIENCE - We typically think of evolution as progressing in one direction, with a species getting “better” and “better” as it goes. But evolution is far more complex than that, as has recently been illustrated by an unusual organism: Galápagos tomatoes. These wild-growing fruits are shedding millions of years of evolution in order to...
By Dr. Russell Moul | IFLScience |

One fruit may be evolving in reverse

NEWSWEEK - Wild tomatoes on the Galápagos Islands are rewinding millions of years of evolution, according to a new study. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside found that these tomatoes—descended from South American ancestors likely brought to the Pacific archipelago by birds—are producing a toxic molecular cocktail not seen in millions of years. Biologists...
By Daniella Gray | Newsweek |

The self-preserving reason queen bees take small breaks

A-Z ANIMALS - In chess, the queen is the most valuable piece for a player. She’s capable of making any move, which also makes her the most protected after the king. In a bee colony, the queen holds the same rank. She plays the role of a worker bee, mother, and a leader. Without her...
By Lianna Tedesco | A-Z Animals |

Cold spot discovered in the Atlantic Ocean could signal big trouble for global climate

EARTH.COM - For over 100 years, the North Atlantic has hosted an anomaly. South of Greenland lies a patch of cool ocean water. This region, called the North Atlantic Warming Hole (NAWH), defies global warming. Scientists long debated its cause. A new study now shows that the weakening of a vital ocean current – the...
By Sanjana Gajbhiye | Earth.com |

Scientists are trying to explain a mysterious ‘cold spot’ south of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean

THE DEBRIEF - University of California-Riverside (UCR) scientists studying a massive, mysterious cold spot south of Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean have determined the most likely cause is the slowing of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which delivers warmer, saltier waters from the tropical latitudes to northern latitudes. “People have been asking why this...
By Christopher Plain | The Debrief |

Scientists warn the Gulf Stream is on the verge of collapse with apocalyptic consequences

LAD BIBLE - Scientists have warned that the Gulf Stream could collapse altogether, having weakened significantly over the past 100 years. Without it, you've got the possibility of rising sea levels, climate change, and unliveable temperatures. What is the Gulf Stream? The Gulf Stream is often described as the world's 'conveyor belt' as it transports...
By Anish Vij | LAD Bible |

The Gulf Stream is on the verge of COLLAPSING, scientists warn

THE DAILY MAIL - Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, have warned that the Gulf Stream has been weakening for more than 100 years - and could soon collapse altogether. The Gulf Stream is only a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Described...
By Jonathan Chadwick | DailyMail.com |

Nanoparticles are threatening the stability of plant cells

EARTH.COM - Nanoparticles – microscopic specks released by cars, factories, forest fires, and volcanoes – float through every ecosystem on Earth. Scientists are also designing these particles to precisely deliver fertilizers to crop roots, target pests with pesticides, or serve as tiny sensors that detect plant stress. But new research, led by the University of...
By Andrei Ionescu | Earth.com |

Covering poop lagoons with a tarp could cut 80% of methane emissions from dairy farms

LIVE SCIENCE - Dairy farms produce huge amounts of potent greenhouse gases. But now, scientists say these farms can slash their methane emissions by covering cow-poop ponds with a giant tarp. Scientists recorded an 80% reduction in the methane emissions of a dairy farm in California after its owners installed a "digester" — a system...
By Sascha Pare | Live Science |

Dairy Farm Captures and Cleans Over 80 Percent of Methane Emissions

DISCOVER MAGAZINE - Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, capable of trapping more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Indeed, it is thought that between 20 and 30 percent of global warming since 1750 can be pinned on methane emissions alone, and agriculture is one of the...
By Rosie McCall | Discover Magazine |

Dairy farms can join the climate fight by trapping methane

EARTH.COM - A year-long experiment on a Central Valley dairy farm has confirmed that sealing manure lagoons under gas-tight tarps can trap roughly 80 percent of the methane they would otherwise release. By capturing the gas and sending it to fuel markets, the system turns a potent climate threat into a usable resource. Led by...
By Andrei Ionescu | Earth.com |

California dairy digesters slash methane emissions by 80% in major agriculture trial

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is over 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide when trapping heat over a 20-year period. It accelerates global warming much faster than CO2. In California, dairy farms are among the largest sources of methane, especially through how they handle manure. A new study from the...
By Aamir Khollam | Interesting Engineering |

Reforestation can’t undo global warming, but it could help, study says

THE WASHINGTON POST - Completely reforesting Earth might help cool the planet more than expected but still not enough to offset the warming that has occurred since industrial times, a recent analysis finds. The scientists modeled what might happen if humans reached the planet’s reforestation potential, adding about 4.6 million square miles of trees and...
By Erin Blakemore | The Washington Post |

Trees are part of the climate solution - but not the whole answer

EARTH.COM - Replanting the world’s forests could significantly reduce global warming, particularly in tropical regions, according to a new modeling study. But even if every tree lost since the 19th century were replaced, the cooling impact would still fall short of reversing the full effects of human-caused climate change. Emissions cuts, the authors stress, remain...
By Andrei Ionescu | Earth.com |
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