Prescribed burns encourage foul-smelling invaders

Though prescribed burns reduce wildfire threats and even improve habitat for some animals, new research shows these fires also spread stinknet, an aptly named weed currently invading superblooms across the Southwestern U.S.

Earth’s first animals had particular taste in real estate

Even without body parts that allowed for movement, new UC Riverside research shows — for the first time — that some of Earth’s earliest animals managed to be picky about where they lived.

Boozing while breastfeeding impacts health of newborns

Studies have shown that consuming alcohol during pregnancy can alter the brain and behavioral development of gestating offspring. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises against maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and state that there is no known safe level of consumption. What are the consequences, however, of...

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Health

Not such small things: microplastics in our streams

UC Riverside scientists are taking a modern approach to studying a murky subject — the quantity, quality, and sources of microplastics in Los Angeles County’s urban streams.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Methane from megafires: more spew than we knew

Using a new detection method, UC Riverside scientists found a massive amount of methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, coming from wildfires — a source not currently being accounted for by state air quality managers.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Researchers warn of tick-borne disease babesiosis

UC Riverside and Yale University team sequences and mines genome of the pathogen Babesia duncani

Manganese in Central Valley water threatens fetuses and children

Water in California’s Central Valley contains enough manganese to cause cognitive disabilities and motor control issues in children, and Parkinson’s-like symptoms in adults.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Humans bite back by deactivating mosquito sperm

New UC Riverside research makes it likely that proteins responsible for activating mosquito sperm can be shut down, preventing them from swimming to or fertilizing eggs.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

The planet that could end life on Earth

A terrestrial planet hovering between Mars and Jupiter would be able to push Earth out of the solar system and wipe out life on this planet, according to a UC Riverside experiment.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Fungi and bacteria are binging on burned soil

UC Riverside researchers have identified tiny organisms that not only survive but thrive during the first year after a wildfire. The findings could help bring land back to life after fires that are increasing in both size and severity.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Is ChatGPT a threat to education?

UC Riverside experts share thoughts on the AI-powered language model that understands and responds to natural language

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Science / Technology

Landscaping for drought: we’re doing it wrong

Many Southern Californians plant trees prized for drought tolerance, but a new UC Riverside-led study shows that these trees lose this tolerance once they’re watered.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Studies identify new strategies for insect control

Mosquitoes spread several diseases, such as malaria and dengue. In 2020 about 241 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide, with a few more million cases occurring in 2021. Nearly half the world’s population lives in regions where contracting dengue virus is a risk. Insects also destroy a third of agriculture...

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Science / Technology

How the brain stores remote fear memory

UC Riverside mouse study could lead to novel therapies for people living with PTSD

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Science / Technology

Decoding the secret language of photosynthesis

For decades, scientists have been stumped by the signals plants send themselves to initiate photosynthesis, the process of turning sunlight into sugars. UC Riverside researchers have now decoded those previously opaque signals.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Salton Sea dust triggers lung inflammation

UC Riverside study has health implications for people living around California’s largest lake

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Health

How do worms develop their gut?

The pandemic helped a husband-and-wife team at UC Riverside solve the mystery

By Iqbal Pittalwala | | Science / Technology

Post-lockdown auto emissions can’t hide in the grass

University of California scientists have a new way to demonstrate which neighborhoods are most affected by air pollution from vehicle emissions. Their technique could help ensure people most affected by pollution will benefit from efforts to reduce it.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

How giant-faced owls snag voles hidden in snow 

Great gray owls’ physical features, especially parts of their wings and face, help them correct for sonic distortions caused by snow, enabling them to find moving food with astonishing accuracy, according to a new UC Riverside study.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Earth might be experiencing 7th mass extinction, not 6th

New research suggests environmental changes caused the first mass extinction event in history, which occurred millions of years earlier than scientists previously realized.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology