ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - During his Ph.D. work at the University of California, Riverside, Jake Cecala, Ph.D., conducted a project looking at the effects of irrigation and pesticide use in ornamental plants on solitary bee reproduction. The project comprised 20 mesh flight cages set up in a field at the campus agricultural station. Each cage had...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - More than 7,000 UC Riverside graduates are celebrating their accomplishments, many at commencements this week. Most ceremonies had a change of venue this year. For the first time, many UCR graduations are being staged at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, rather than on campus, because of amenities such as air conditioning and...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - Jacaranda trees are hard to miss. The trees that bloom lavender-blue flowers and can be seen in front yards and parks appear to be blooming late this year. So why are jacaranda trees late to bloom? Andrew C. Sanders, UC Riverside’s Herbarium curator and museum scientist, said the blooms seems normal to...
EARTH.COM - In an unprecedented machine learning study, the most effective drug combinations to prevent COVID-19 from returning, following initial infection, have been discovered. However, these combinations are not universally effective, but vary between patients. The research was led by experts at the University of California, Riverside, utilizing real-world data from a Chinese hospital. “That...
EARTH.COM - We often find ourselves racing against the clock to squeeze all our tasks into a 24-hour day. However, had we been residents of Earth billions of years ago, the struggle would have been even more pronounced. Surprisingly, our planet’s day length wasn’t always this long. A study led by Ross Mitchell, a geophysicist...
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - A few weeks ago, I arrived hungry to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City, ready for a unique culinary experience. Finalists of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge had come from all across the planet to demonstrate how future astronauts might grow their own food. I...
SCIENCE - For the first astronauts to visit Mars, what to eat on their 3-year mission will be one of the most critical questions. It’s not just a matter of taste. According to one recent estimate, a crew of six would require an estimated 10,000 kilograms of food for the trip. NASA—which plans to send...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Northwestern scientists have discovered a new method for helping aging hair regrow in mice. The method relies on hair follicle stem cells getting stiff as they age, making it harder for them to grow hair. But if the hair follicle’s stem cells are softened, they are more likely to produce hair. Northwestern...
By Loukia Papadopoulos | Interesting Engineering |
NBC 7 - The Salton Sea was once a famed desert oasis. Southern Californians would flock to the Imperial Valley to soak up the sun and spend time with family and friends. Now it could see renewed prosperity. “I’m optimistic of the outcome,” UC Riverside Professor Michael McKibben, Ph.D. said. Companies like Energy Source Minerals...
CNN - Is it the new California Goldrush? This time lithium though - a critical metal set to be extracted from underneath California's Salton Sea. Lithium is key for electric car batteries. As demand skyrockets for electric vehicles, a new lithium rush could save the dying Salton Sea and supercharge America's EV industry. Michael McKibben...
THE DAILY MAIL - In an industrial wasteland in Los Angeles, Kreigh Hampel is uprooting California buckwheat with a pitchfork to find out how much lead it has absorbed. The plant's delicate white and pink flowers belie an astonishing cleaning power, which scientists think could be harnessed to get rid of dangerous pollutants -- and...
ABC 7 - It's something a lot of people have noticed around Southern California lately: bugs. Bugs, bugs and more bugs, everywhere you look. "All of those rains have resulted in more water, specifically more stagnant water in areas throughout the state and Southern California," said Dr. Alec Gerry, an entomologist at the University of...
FORBES - Thousands of honey bees leave a cluster of wooden boxes and rush towards a vast grove of almond trees bursting with white flowers. It’s sweet-smelling springtime in California’s Central Valley, and the bees are about to cross-pollinate one of the country’s top cash crops. The bee colony, and the orchard, are owned by...
CNN - Astronomers have found an Earth-size planet that isn’t like Earth at all. Instead, the exoplanet, called LP 791-18 d, is likely covered in volcanoes and may experience eruptions with the same frequency as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active place in our solar system, according to researchers. “On Venus, volcanic carbon dioxide...
NEW YORK POST - Now-viral footage captured the retch-worthy moment that seemingly thousands of “white worms rained down from the sky” in India like some kind of bizarro biblical plague. In the alarming clip — filmed Tuesday in Bihar, an East India state bordering Nepal — the creepy-crawlies can be seen hailing down until the...
LIVE SCIENCE - Spiders are common critters. And, as almost all of Earth's 43,000 known spider species are venomous, it is likely that most people have encountered a venomous spider at one point or another. So that's the bad news. The good news, however, is that of these, only 25 species are known to have...
THE DESERT SUN - From pinyon pines to ocotillos, plants in the Sonoran Desert are shifting where they grow in response to climate change, and many of the plants aren’t thriving in their new ranges, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside. The study, published in the journal Functional...
THE HUFFINGTON POST - You’ve probably heard of Lyme disease, the tick-borne illness that is known to infect people and dogs who spend time outside. But Lyme disease is only one of a number of tick-borne diseases that can infect humans. Cases of Lyme disease are rising in the United States, along with cases of...
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - In the mid-20th century, geologist Reg Sprigg made a stunning discovery in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. Under the searing outback sun, he unearthed delicate impressions made by animals that lived some 550 million years ago—the missing piece in our understanding of evolution that had long eluded naturalist Charles Darwin. Called the Ediacaran...
NEW SCIENTIST - A bug improves its hunting success by slathering itself in the sticky resin of a grass, in a rare example of tool use by insects. Australian assassin bugs, from the genus Gorareduvius, are often seen resting on the blades of spinifex grass. This grass, a characteristic feature of dry regions of Australia...