‘Severance,’ ‘The Substance’ and our increasingly splintered selves

UCR philosophy professor Eric Schwitzgebel weighs in on the question posed by two pop culture phenomena of the moment: the TV series "Severance," and the movie "The Substance." What makes you "you"?
The New York Times | January 17, 2025

ChatGPT isn't responsible for the Los Angeles fires, but it does use a crazy amount of water

Article quotes a recent study by The Washington Post and UCR that found a 100-word email generated by ChatGPT requires roughly the equivalent of a bottle of water, or 519 milliliters. Additionally, the article cites a 2023 UCR study estimating AI could consume between 4.2 and 6.6 billion cubic meters of water in 2027, which is more than the annual water withdrawal of half of the UK.
MSN / Mashable | January 10, 2025

California wildfires: Water supply becomes flashpoint in Trump-Newsom fight

School of Public Policy's Kurt Schwabe counters President-Elect Donald Trump's false claim that LA fire hydrants went dry because of California's protection of the delta smelt.
The Hill | January 9, 2025

Blob-headed fish, meat-eating squirrels, and other fascinating science stories from 2024

Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and UCR PhD student Phillip Sternes photographed for the first time what appears to be a baby great white shark off the coast of California last year. 
Mother Jones | December 31, 2024

Air pollution caused by AI tech could lead to 1,300 U.S. deaths annually by 2030, researchers say

Shaolei Ren, is a UCR associate professor and co-author of a report showing that pollution from AI data centers could cost lives each year. He says this is an urgent public health issue that needs to be addressed. 
Yahoo News via The Independent UK | December 26, 2024

How the Poinsettia Became a Symbol of Christmas

UCR Emeritus Professor Norm Ellstrand and his son, San Diego State research fellow Nathan Ellstrand, discuss how the poinsettia became a symbol of Christmas.
Time | December 23, 2024

Studies address what constitutes patience, and impatience, and the factors that determine them

UC Riverside psychology researcher Kate Sweeny concludes from three studies of 1,200 people, that impaticnece is the emotion people feel when they face a delay that seems unfair, unreasonable, or inappropriate and patience, then, is how we cope with those feelings of impatience.
MSN / Medical Xpress | December 20, 2024

8.5 Hours Of Daily Sitting Linked To Higher BMI And Cholesterol

Ryan Bruellman, PhD candidate in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics at UCR, joins Science Friday to discuss his research showing how excessive sitting harms even young, active people.
Science Friday | December 18, 2024

New method aids in predicting where next big quake will start

UC Riverside geologist Nic Barth led a team in the discovery of a new method for studying faults that could improve earthquake forecasts. Their methods shed light on where quakes start, how they spread, and where the biggest impacts might be.
MSN / Phys.org | December 13, 2024

Sitting a lot is bad even for young, active people

Ryan Bruellman, a doctoral candidate in UC Riverside’s genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics department, led a new study that reveals prolonged sitting significantly harms even young, active adults, increasing the risk of heart disease and obesity. It also found current federal exercise guidelines are insufficient to offset sitting's negative effects. 
Futurity | December 5, 2024

UCR’s African Student Program Center Receives the 2024 Center of the Year Award by the ABCC

This year the University of California, Riverside’s African Student Program Center (ASP) was awarded Center of the Year. ASP Director Jamal Myrick, Ed.D, shared that this marks the first time UCR’s ASP  has received the award since the organization was established in 1972.
Black Voice News | December 3, 2024

How your skin tone could affect your meds

Sophie Zaaijer, scientific consultant and researcher at UCR, explores how our skin tone could affect the medications we take.
The Academic Minute | December 3, 2024

Studying the molecular mechanisms important for the parasite that causes malaria

Karine Le Roch discusses the internship that shaped her path to a career in science and discovering a new drug that targets malaria-causing parasites in this podcast.

A Native American perspective of Thanksgiving

Gerald Clarke, Jr., UCR ethnic studies professor and member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians talks about Thanksgiving, native history, and the incoming US president.
KQED | November 28, 2024

Mother-son team’s fossil find shows how nematodes—and all arthropods—arose

Paleontologist Ian Hughes and his mother, University of California, Riverside, paleoecologist Mary Droser, are part of a small team that has uncovered wormlike fossils in South Australia that provide a key clue to explaining how a large group of animals called ecdysozoans became so diverse. 
Science Magazine | November 19, 2024

How a team of gophers restored Mount St. Helens after its catastrophic eruption with less than a day of digging

After the volcanic eruption of 1980, scientists released the burrowing rodents for only a brief time, but their activities left a remarkably enduring impact, according to study by UCR microbiologists Michael Allen and Emma Aronson, and University of Connecticut mycologist Mia Maltz, who was a postdoctoral scholar in Aronson’s lab at UCR when the study began.
Smithsonian Magazine | November 14, 2024

Frogs kick back against lethal fungus

Scientists are seeing signs of resistance to infections that have been wiping out the world’s amphibian populations. UCR mycologist Jason Stajich, coauthor of a recent report on the virus in Current Biology, weighs in on the latest efforts to fight the infections.
Knowable Magazine | November 6, 2024

Economics IE

KVCR News' Madison Aument interviews Rosibel Ochoa, UCR associate vice chancellor for technology partnerships, about the Inland SoCal Accelerate Hub that is working to help entrepreneurs in the region. 
KVCR News | October 28, 2024

Ice melting could slow vital ocean current - which could slightly slow melting

UCR graduate student Yu-Chi Lee led a team that found a slowing ocean current could keep Arctic temperatures 2° C (3.6° F) cooler than they would otherwise likely be in 2100. That sounds encouraging – until you realize that under their calculations the region warms by a shocking 8° C (14.4° F) instead of a catastrophic 10° C (18° F).
IFL Science / MSN | October 28, 2024

Opinion: Vivid pinks, greens and Dodger blue mark the joy of October in Southern California

Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Susan Straight offers a beautiful perspective on fall colors in Southern California.
The Los Angeles Times | October 24, 2024