News

Ellen Reese, professor of Society, Environment and Health Equity at UCR and co-author of the book Unsustainable: Amazon, Warehousing, and the Politics of Exploitation, says the sources of the gifts we purchase deserve more consideration.

Bodil Cass with the UC riverside Entomology department says the current infestation of the Oriental Fruit Fly (Bactrocera dorsali) in Riverside and San Bernardino counties is both large and serious.  These flies lay their eggs in the fruit that is growing in the trees and the maggots eat the fruit before it’s ready to harvest. 

Four decades ago, fruit flies threatened to destroy California's agricultural economy. Today, the threat has returned. UCR entomology professor Bodil Cass joins the California Report to discuss statewide quarantines. 

Scientists use the term “luxury effect” to refer to the fact that the wealthier and whiter your neighborhood becomes, the likelier your block is to be green. UCR botanists Dion Kucera and Darrel Jenerette authored a new study showing for the first time that effect is declining due to climate change. It is getting hotter faster than plants are able to cool their surroundings. 

Distinguished Professor of Psychology Sonja Lyubomirsky describes happiness as “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.” And there is a set amount of money that a majority of Americans believe can buy them just that, a new study shows.

The mineral-rich stew bubbling thousands of feet beneath the shores of Southern California’s Salton Sea contains enough lithium to make batteries for more than 375 million electric vehicles, according to a long-awaited analysis published Tuesday.  “It’s pretty exciting how much is there,” said Michael McKibben, a geology research professor from UCR who worked on the 371-page report commissioned by the Department of Energy.

A 2019 UCR study by Shana Welles and Norman Ellstrand found that a new species of gigantic tumbleweeds — Salsola ryanii — can grow up to 6 feet tall. It is also likely to keep expanding its territory as a result of climate change.

UC Riverside professor Nigel Hughes and his former graduate student Shelly Wernette discovered 10 new species of a strange type of marine animal that lived around 490 million years ago.