College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

wild male and female guppies. Credit: Harold Olsen

Guppies teach us why evolution happens

Guppies, a perennial pet store favorite, have helped a UC Riverside scientist unlock a key question about evolution: Do animals evolve in response to the risk of being eaten, or to the environment that they create in the absence of predators? Turns out, it’s the latter. Guppies swim near the...

By Jules Bernstein | September 17, 2019 | Science / Technology

Climate change: a dirt-y business

Groundwater is essential for growing crops, but new research shows climate change is making it harder for soil to absorb rainfall. While the idea that soil particles rearrange themselves in response to environmental conditions is not new, scientists once thought these shifts in the ground happened slowly. Not anymore. Scientists...

By Jules Bernstein | September 10, 2019 | Science / Technology

Buzzkill?

They say love is blind, but if you’re a queen honeybee it could mean true loss of sight. New research finds male honeybees inject toxins during sex that cause temporary blindness. All sexual activity occurs during a brief early period in a honeybee’s life, during which males die and queens...

By Jules Bernstein | September 9, 2019 | Science / Technology

tumbleweed invasion in Clovis, New Mexico

Monster tumbleweed: Invasive new species is here to stay

A new species of gigantic tumbleweed once predicted to go extinct is not only here to stay — it’s likely to expand its territory. The species, Salsola ryanii, is significantly larger than either of its parent plants, which can grow up to 6 feet tall. A new study from UC...

By Jules Bernstein | August 23, 2019 | Science / Technology

Making sense of a ‘7.1’

Abhijit Ghosh, UCR associate professor of geophysics, is racing to understand everything he can about the fault that was unknown until it produced a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5. Ghosh's work could help officials prepare for the next big shake.

By Jules Bernstein | August 14, 2019 | Science / Technology

An alternate theory for what causes Alzheimer's disease

A UC Riverside study points to lysosomal storage observed in all brains afflicted with the disease; finding could open up new avenues for treatment and prevention

By Iqbal Pittalwala | August 12, 2019 | Science / Technology, Health

Out of this world: An alumna’s dream comes true

Brittany Seto ’16, who studied computer science at UC Riverside, interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where a record number of UCR undergraduates are spending the summer

By Iqbal Pittalwala | August 6, 2019 | Science / Technology, Students

Grant to physicist gives study of strongly interacting systems a boost

A physicist at the University of California, Riverside, has received a grant of about $523,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to study the possible emergent behavior of “strongly interacting systems,” an important area of focus in solid-state physics. Specifically, when the repulsive Coulomb force between electrons in a solid...

By Iqbal Pittalwala | July 30, 2019 | Science / Technology

NASA's TESS exoplanet discovery satellite

NASA’s TESS mission finds ‘missing link’ planets

NASA’s newest planet-hunting satellite has discovered a type of planet missing from our own solar system. Launched in 2018 , the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has found three new worlds around a neighboring star. Stephen Kane, a UC Riverside associate professor of planetary astrophysics, says the new star...

By Jules Bernstein | July 29, 2019 | Science / Technology

Ladies’ choice: What drives faster, flashier formation of new animal species

Evolution is actually a Sadie Hawkins dance, as new research shows females not only determine whether male animals develop bright colors, but also how fast new species develop. Research led by David Reznick, a UC Riverside biology professor, used fish often seen in pet stores, like guppies and swordtails, to...

By Jules Bernstein | July 26, 2019 | Science / Technology

In sexual conflict, ant queens prevail in evolutionary arms race

It’s hidden from sight, but there’s an epic battle of the sexes raging in the leafcutter ant species Atta colombica. Competing males deliver sperm in a fluid that’s toxic to rivals’ sperm, while females quash their efforts in order to ensure their own reproductive success. For the first time, a...

By Sarah Nightingale | July 23, 2019 | Science / Technology

Australia enables UCR to dig into Earth’s wild past

Australian officials signed an agreement last night allowing UC Riverside to continue its pioneering research on a government-owned goldmine for unusual fossils. Nilpena Station is a city-sized plot of land in the Australian Outback. It harbors the richest collection on Earth of animal species around 550 million years old. Some...

By Jules Bernstein | July 23, 2019 | Science / Technology

Joshua Trees facing extinction

They outlived mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. But without dramatic action to reduce climate change, new research shows Joshua trees won’t survive much past this century.

By Jules Bernstein | July 16, 2019 | Science / Technology

Physicists’ finding could revolutionize information transmission

UC Riverside-led team identifies dark trions as the next carrier of quantum information

By Iqbal Pittalwala | July 9, 2019 | Science / Technology

Campus to celebrate 50th anniversary of historic Moon landing

Free event at UC Riverside includes hands-on activities, lecture, and telescope viewings

By Iqbal Pittalwala | July 8, 2019 | Science / Technology

Study finds electronic cigarettes damage brain stem cells

A research team at the University of California, Riverside, has found that electronic cigarettes, often targeted to youth and pregnant women, produce a stress response in neural stem cells, which are critical cells in the brain. Present throughout life, stem cells become specialized cells with more specific functions, such as...

By Iqbal Pittalwala | July 1, 2019 | Science / Technology, Health