COVID-19 and return to campus information.
New strategies to save the world’s most indispensable grain
A UC Riverside-led team has learned what happens to the roots of rice plants when they’re confronted with two types of stressful scenarios: too much water, or too little. These observations form the basis of new protective strategies.
Remembering ‘isotope queen’ Marilyn Fogel, pioneering scientist, beloved mentor
Marilyn Fogel, endowed geoecology professor at UC Riverside, died on May 11 in Mariposa, Calif. She was 69. She pioneered the use of isotopes to understand the life history of organisms, both modern and ancient. In so doing, she helped develop biogeochemistry as a new field of science and earned...
New technology offers fighting chance against grapevine killer
Scientists at UC Riverside have a shot at eradicating a deadly threat to vineyards posed by the glassy-winged sharpshooter, just as its resistance to insecticide has been growing.
Meet the forest microbes that can survive megafires
New UC Riverside research shows fungi and bacteria able to survive redwood tanoak forest megafires are microbial “cousins” that often increase in abundance after feeling the flames.
Lesser known ozone layer’s outsized role in planet warming
New UC Riverside-led research has identified a lesser-known form of ozone playing a big role in heating the Southern Ocean — one of Earth’s main cooling systems.
To mask, or not to mask?
To gauge whether scientists agree with popular sentiment around mask wearing, we check in here with three UC Riverside virologists and epidemiologists.
Why Venus rotates, slowly, despite sun’s powerful grip
If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth’s sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth. The gravity of a large object in space can keep a smaller...
With dwindling water supplies, the timing of rainfall matters
A new UC Riverside study shows it’s not how much extra water you give your plants, but when you give it that counts.
How mountain streams signal climate change
A new tool designed by UC Riverside researchers can better assess an overlooked indicator of global warming: the variety of bugs, worms, and snails living in high mountain streams.
UC Riverside hunts for COVID-19 variants in California
Genetic analysis of COVID-19 samples at UC Riverside is helping state officials prepare for potential infection surges caused by new variants of the disease.
Why doesn’t fire kill some bacteria and fungi?
UC Riverside scientists will spend the next three years studying the traits that allow soil microbes to respond to fire, as well as the role those microbes play in storing or emitting powerful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide.
No Thanksgiving for bacteria or fungus
UC Riverside scientists have developed a technique for solving a decades-old mystery involving the chemical in turkey that makes people sleepy. Their new ability to map the atoms involved in the production of tryptophan opens the door to new antibiotic and antifungal drugs.
Following rain, desert microbes exhale potent greenhouse gas
New UC Riverside research shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another — laughing gas.
From the streets to the stratosphere: clean driving technology enables cleaner rocket fuel
A chemical used in electric vehicle batteries could also give us carbon-free fuel for space flight, according to new UC Riverside research.
Can the Salton Sea geothermal field prevent the coming lithium shortage?
University of California, Riverside scientists will join a first-of-its-kind effort to map out California’s so-called “Lithium Valley,” and learn whether it can meet America’s urgent demand for lithium in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way.
Who’s responsible for roadside rubbish?
New UC Riverside research reveals that items in litter typically originate less than two miles from where they’re found — and unless humans remove them, most of these items will never leave the environment.
New research bites holes into theories about Megalodons
A new study leaves large tooth marks in previous conclusions about the body shape of the Megalodon, one of the largest sharks that ever lived.
Human gut bacteria have sex to share vitamin B12
Your gut bacteria need vitamin B12 just as much as you do. Though DNA is usually passed from parent to child, new research shows gut bacteria transfer genes through “sex” in order to take their vitamins.
Cleaning your car may not protect you from this carcinogen
It is unlikely that a cancer-causing chemical inside your car can be dusted or wiped way, according to new UC Riverside research.
Black eyed peas could help eliminate need for fertilizer
Black eyed peas’ ability to attract beneficial bacteria isn’t diminished by modern farming practices, new UC Riverside research shows. Planting it in rotation with other crops could help growers avoid the need for costly, environmentally damaging fertilizers.