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.
Vasileios Christopoulos, assistant professor of bioengineering at UCR, helped develop an innovative tool not only visualizes the spinal cord but also tracks the cord’s real-time response to treatments.
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.
Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, estimates that a person who engages in a session of questions and answers with GPT-3 (roughly 10 to 50 responses) drives the consumption of a half-liter of fresh water. Ren has been studying the water costs of computation for the past decade.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.