College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

POPULAR MECHANICS - Scientists have combined a powerful simulator with data about the universe to explain a large discrepancy in our understanding. The simulation suite, called PRIYA, debuted last year and is helping scientists study a special phenomenon of hydrogen atoms in deep outer space. Now, in a new study, PRIYA has enabled scientists from...

IFLSCIENCE - A team of astrophysicists have mapped the “Lyman-Alpha Forest", and provided further supporting evidence that galaxy and galaxy cluster formations are better explained by dark matter than alternative theories. While observing the universe, astronomers found that galaxies and galaxy clusters don't behave in the way we would expect. In short, stars at the...

YAHOO UK - Dark matter, the invisible substance believed to account for over 80 percent of the universe's mass, is not an easy thing to detect. We can see its gravitational pull on visible matter, however — which makes hydrogen, as the most common element out there, a prime candidate to watch for those interactions...

GIZMODO - Using a supercomputer, a team of physicists has confirmed a discrepancy between observations of the universe and theoretical predictions about its structure. The team used PRIYA, a suite of simulations that takes optical light data from two surveys to refine cosmological parameters, to determine constraints on measurements of the universe and its evolution...

UNIVERSE TODAY - Universe Today has had some incredible discussions with a wide array of scientists regarding impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, planetary atmospheres, planetary geophysics, cosmochemistry, meteorites, radio astronomy, extremophiles, organic chemistry, black holes, cryovolcanism, and planetary protection, and how these intriguing fields contribute to our understanding regarding our place...

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - UC Riverside will salute physicist and Nobel laureate Barry Barish for winning the 2023 National Medal of Science in October. Barish, a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at UCR, joined the university in 2018. The National Medal of Science is the highest recognition in the nation for scientists and engineers. The...

LIVE SCIENCE - Researchers may have solved the mystery of why a distant galaxy surrounded by an eerily perfect "Einstein ring" is denser than it should be: The hefty galaxy, which was discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is being compressed by a massive halo of dark matter. In a new study, published...

SPACE.COM - A fresh analysis of a remarkably massive yet compact galaxy from the early universe suggests that dark matter interacts with itself. The galaxy, JWST-ER1, which formed just 3.4 billion years after the Big Bang, was first spotted last October in images snapped by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). At over 17 billion...

EARTH.COM - A team of researchers led by Hai-Bo Yu, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, has shed new light on the enigmatic nature of dark matter through the lens of an ancient galaxy. The study focuses on JWST-ER1g, a massive ancient galaxy discovered by the James Webb Space...