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.

Are Earth and Venus the only volcanic planets? Not anymore.

Imagine an Earth-sized planet that’s not at all Earth-like. Half this world is locked in permanent daytime, the other half in permanent night, and it’s carpeted with active volcanoes. Astronomers have discovered that planet. The planet, named LP 791-18d, orbits a small red dwarf star about 90 light years away...

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.

Breaking the heat barrier of computer innovation

As our computers and other electronic devices become faster and more powerful, they are coming closer to an undeniable physical limitation: heat generated by the electrons that carry information as they move through semiconductors. “Making heat is a fundamental limit that will prevent the further development of electronic devices. So...

AI programs consume large volumes of scarce water

UCR study the first time estimates the huge water footprint from running artificial intelligence queries that rely on the cloud computations done in racks of servers that must be kept cool in warehouse-sized data processing centers.

By David Danelski | | Science / Technology

Australian fossil goldmine opens permanently

Land where a UC Riverside paleontology professor unearthed whole communities of Earth’s oldest animals is opening today to the public as a new national park in the Australian Outback.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Forced water-use cuts made California more waterwise

Water use ticked up in California after the state lifted mandatory water-use cuts, but not levels before 2013 because of increased water efficiencies.

UCR team creates “quantum composites” for various electrical and optical innovations

UCR team has shown in the laboratory the unique and practical function of newly created materials, which they called quantum composites, that may advance electrical, optical, and computer technologies.

By David Danelski | | Science / Technology

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

Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths

Poverty has long been linked to shorter lives. But just how many deaths in the United States are associated with poverty? The number has been elusive – until now. A University of California, Riverside, (UCR) paper published Monday, April 17, in the Journal of the American Medical Association associated poverty...

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

From drought to deluge: What’s next for California?

UCR faculty expert on municipal water helps readers make sense of seemingly conflicting headlines about California's drought status and water supplies.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

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

How an autism gene contributes to infertility

UC Riverside mouse study shows how gene mutation leads to ovaries failing prematurely

Inland Empire stem-cell therapy gets $2.9 million booster

A new UC Riverside training program will help undergraduates transition into regenerative medicine careers, infusing the Inland Empire with expertise in cutting-edge trauma and disease treatments.

Even Sonoran Desert plants aren’t immune to climate change

In North America’s hottest, driest desert, climate change is causing the decline of plants once thought nearly immortal and replacing them with shorter shrubs that can take advantage of sporadic rainfall and warmer temperatures.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Surprise effect: Methane cools even as it heats

Most climate models do not yet account for a new UC Riverside discovery: methane traps a great deal of heat in Earth’s atmosphere, but also creates cooling clouds that offset 30% of the heat.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Without this, plants cannot respond to temperature

UC Riverside scientists have significantly advanced the race to control plant responses to temperature on a rapidly warming planet. Key to this breakthrough is miRNA, a molecule nearly 200,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology

Hunting Venus 2.0: Scientists sharpen their sights

With the first paper compiling all known information about planets like Venus beyond our solar system, scientists are the closest they’ve ever been to finding an analog of Earth’s “twin.”

By Jules Bernstein | | Science / Technology