UCR bioengineer Tingting Xiang and chemical engineer Robert Jinkerson discovered the gene that enables marine algae to produce a unique type of chlorophyll. Then they successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land.
Lightning appears to us as a bright flash, usually during a big rainstorm, and it’s caused by electricity in the atmosphere discharging between clouds or to the ground. It also “influences the chemistry of planetary atmospheres, including, as we all know, on Earth,” explains UCR astrobiologist Edward Schwieterman.
Mark Hoddle and UCR's Center for Invasive Species Research are commended for the work they're doing to mitigate glassy-winged sharpshooters. These pests are costing California vineyards more than $100 million a year.
Phillip Sternes, a UCR graduate student, and his photographer friend, Carlos Gauna, have become the first two people to document a newborn Great White shark in the wild.
Kori K. R. Pacyniak, doctoral student, teaching assistant, and associate instructor with UCR’s Department for the Study of Religion and Gender and Sexuality Studies Department spoke with Love Inc. regarding an announcement by the Vatican that seems to be an attempt to welcome the LGBTQ+ community.
Diversifying the healthcare workforce: Cheyenne Page and Damola Adeyemo are first-year medical students enrolled in UCR’s Program in Medical Education (PRIME), designed to train future doctors to specifically serve the Inland Empire’s African, Black, and Caribbean communities.
In a story about Southern California "urban forests," LAist references a study by UCR's Dion Kucera and Darrel Jenerette that shows the protective effect of income from climate change has eroded in the past 40 years.
Chow-Yang Lee, UCR entomologist, said most bed bug control products were developed for the common bed bug, with the assumption that they would also work on the tropical bed bug. However, biological differences between the species are being discovered that have implications for the management of [the tropical bed bug.
A paper about a mushroom spotted growing on a frog in India is making waves. However, Sydney Glassman, a UCR fungal ecologist, isn’t convinced that the growth is a mushroom. Further evidence — obtaining a genetic sample or seeing the gills and spore color — is needed to make an identification, she said.
UCR nematologist Adler Dillman's laboratory discovers a new species of tiny worm, a nematode, that can kill insects. Potentially it could be used to control crop pests in places that currently rely on pesticides.
It's still too early in the year for most mosquito species to thrive, despite all the recent record-setting rain that the pesky insects thrive on. However, UC Riverside biologist Anandasankar Ray said he couldn't rule out the possibility that some mosquitoes are using the wet weather to breed. He offered tips to keep them away when the season fully begins in March.
A plan to extract lithium — the lustrous, white metal used in electric vehicle batteries — is adding to an anxiety familiar in the arid American West: how the project could affect water from the Colorado River. But geologists and Earth scientists including UCR geologist Michael McKibben, said it’s unclear how water-intensive direct lithium extraction really is.
Hay bales are appearing in large numbers around the Salton Sea. Charlie Diamond, a researcher with the Salton Sea Task Force at UCR, said it’s a “dust suppression project” aimed to “break up the flow of air right at the ground level.” The goal, Diamond said, is for the hay bales to “suppress the dust production or emission," which is causing serious respiratory distress for area residents.
Phoenix Alexander, Jay Kay and Doris Klein, science fiction librarian speak to KQED about the Eaton Collection’s newest acquisition, the original cover illustration of Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness.”
Water experts say conditions from recent storms haven’t been ideal for bolstering the state’s water supply. That’s because so much rain fell so quickly that agencies controlling dams and reservoirs have to prioritize flood management over water recovery. That means releasing lots of water into the ocean.
Agency efforts to capture more stormwater in storage and groundwater recharge basins have improved in recent years, said Medhi Nemati, an environmental policy professor at UCR who studies water infrastructure. But when parts of Los Angeles get 75% of their annual rainfall in just two days, Nemati said there’s only so much water agencies can do to keep up.