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CalTeach-SMI Homecoming Reunion Group

California Teach-Science & Math Initiative celebrates 18 years at Homecoming reunion

RIVERSIDE, CA - The California Teach-Science & Math Initiative (CalTeach-SMI) at UC Riverside celebrated its 18th anniversary with an inaugural alumni reunion during last month's Homecoming festivities. Established on UC Riverside's campus in 2006, CalTeach-SMI is a community of STEM undergraduate students exploring and preparing to become future STEM educators through partnerships with local school...
Highlander Invitational Science Olympiad at University of California, Riverside

Highlander Invitational: Science Olympiad returns to the University of California, Riverside

On January 28, 2023, the national Science Olympiad competition returned to the University of California, Riverside for the first time in over 10 years. The tournament, dubbed “Highlander Invitational,” was part of the national track-meet style competition where middle and high school students competed in events surrounding all areas of science. Highlander Invitational was organized...

Webb telescope spots the most distant Milky Way-like galaxy yet

CNN - Astronomers have spied an intriguing phenomenon in the distant universe — a galaxy that closely resembles the Milky Way — and it’s challenging key theories on how galaxies evolve. The faraway system, called ceers-2112, was spotted by an international team using the James Webb Space Telescope. Like our home galaxy, the newly discovered...
By Ashley Strickland | CNN |

Webb discovery defies what we know about Milky Way-like galaxies

MASHABLE - Astronomers previously thought it took billions of years for galaxies to become stable enough to develop so-called "bars," ribbons of stars and gas that cut across the core of a galaxy. The Milky Way is an example of a barred spiral galaxy. But a new James Webb Space Telescope discovery means scientists might...
By Elisha Sauers | Mashable |

Does Earth have a twin? James Webb Telescope discovers galaxy similar to Milky Way

STUDYFINDS - Could Earth have a twin in a distant galaxy that looks just like ours? Scientists have made an astronomical discovery that disputes previous theories of galaxy formation. An international team of astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to identify the most distant barred spiral galaxy similar to our Milky Way ever observed...
By Staff Report | StudyFinds |
Del Vallejo Middle School Visit Campus Tour

Del Vallejo Leadership & STEAM Academy tour CNAS

RIVERSIDE, CA - Middle school students and teachers from Del Vallejo Leadership & STEAM Academy visited the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) last week, touring CNAS facilities, exploring laboratories, and interacting with current CNAS faculty and students. Located in San Bernardino, CA, Del Vallejo Leadership & STEAM Academy is home to...
DOE To The People Opening Remarks

CNAS faculty highlight STEM professional opportunities at Department of Energy event

RIVERSIDE, CA - UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) faculty members were among the dozens of faculty, government and industry professionals who presented at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) event highlighting opportunities to build pathways to upward mobility and success for students to thrive within the American workforce. Hosted by UC...

Electrons caught going around the bend

PHYSICS WORLD - Taking inspiration from the flow of air around aeroplane wings, researchers in the US have imaged photoexcited electrons flowing around sharp bends for the first time. Because such bends are often found in integrated optoelectronic circuits, observing the electrons’ “streamlines” could lead to improvements in circuit design. More than 80 years ago...
By Isabelle Dumé | Physics World |

Bullying Jupiter-like planets may push 'alien Earths' away from life-friendly orbits

SPACE.COM - Like huge playground bullies, planets like Jupiter can be "agents of chaos" around other stars, a pair of new studies suggest. Gas giant planets that are the size of Jupiter or larger create havoc in young planetary systems, often shoving smaller, Earth-sized planets way out of their original, circular orbits, according to the...
By Elizabeth Howell | Space.com |

Jupiter Is a black sheep which protects all life on Earth

NEWSWEEK - While Jupiter may be our planetary guardian angel, protecting us from harm, gas giants in other solar systems might actually wreak havoc on other exoplanets nearby. In our solar system, Jupiter's huge gravitational field deflects comets and asteroids away from our delicate, rocky home planet. According to a new study in The Astronomical...
By Jess Thomson | Newsweek |

Giant Planets Like Jupiter Can Be Bad News For Life, Say Scientists

FORBES - Massive planets like Jupiter—now at its brightest and best in the night sky—can prevent Earth-sized planets from becoming Earth-like by upsetting their orbits and destroying climates. In other star systems, gas giants can play a much more destructive role. As an example, the authors studied HD 141399, a star system also with four...
By Jamie Carter | Forbes |

These deep space ‘agents of chaos’ likely ‘wreak havoc’ on alien lifeforms

THE DEBRIEF - New stellar models predict that gas giant planets can act as ‘agents of chaos’ in their solar systems by wreaking havoc on the habitable zone orbits of Earthlike planets that may harbor alien lifeforms. Our solar system’s gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, help protect the inner rocky planets, including Earth, from potentially...
By Christopher Plain | The Debrief |

Western U.S. has more subterranean termite species than previously thought, study shows

ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - Subterranean termites in the genus Reticulitermes are common pests in North America, responsible for significant damage to wooden structures. The scientific literature maintains that the western United States is home to two native species of termites: Reticulitermes hesperus in more coastal regions from British Columbia to Southern California, and Reticulitermes tibialis in...
By Andrew Porterfield | Entomology Today |

Giant gas planets are cosmic wrecking balls that wreak havoc in habitable zones

EARTH.COM - In the cosmic game of planetary billiards, giant gas planets can act as colossal wrecking balls, effectively pushing their Earth-like counterparts out of the stable zones that might harbor life. Two recent papers dive into this concept further, investigating the roles of giant gas planets in two distinct star systems. What they reveal...
By Eric Ralls | Earth.com |

California tree nuts under attack by new beetle

FARM PROGRESS - If ever there were not enough reasons for tree nut farmers to be diligent about winter sanitation, they now have one more with the discovery of a new invasive beetle that overwinters in mummy nuts. This new beetle – Carpophilus truncatus (Nitidulidae) – is a known pest of almonds in Australia, where...
By Farm Progress | Todd Fitchette |

Living worm found in woman's brain… what does it have to do with your diet?

KRLD NEWS RADIO - As she pulled a wiggling, 3-inch worm from her patient’s brain, Australian neurosurgeon Hari Priya Bandi could hardly believe the sight before her. “It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie,” said Dr. Adler R. Dillman – a professor of Parasitology and chair of the Department of Nematology at University of...
By Lauren Barry, Chris Blake, and Mike Rogers | KRLD News Radio 1080AM |

These Plants Can Sound the Alarm in a Toxic World

WIRED - Thanks to some genetic tricks, plants can now speak in color. A team of researchers at the University of California, Riverside hacked the natural stress response system in Arabidopsis thaliana, a small white-flowered plant from the mustard family that serves as a common model organism in plant biology labs. When exposed to the...
By Celia Ford | WIRED |
UCR bell tower with fall leaves

For recent graduate Erica Garcia Silva '23, UC Riverside has been a "transformative experience."

Erica Garcia Silva ’23 graduated last June from UC Riverside with a degree in Biology, and plans on taking a gap year before enrolling in medical school…also, ideally, at UC Riverside. “I want more clinical experience, so I am volunteering at Glendale Adventist Medical Center as a COPE Health Scholar,” she says. Erica is also...
| Science Ambassador
Bell Tower with Fall Leaves

Meet the 2023-2024 CNAS Department Chairs!

With the beginning of the Fall 2023 quarter, we wanted to introduce you to the 2023-2024 College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) department chairs: Biochemistry Xuan Liu Professor & Chair Botany & Plant Sciences Patricia Springer Professor of Genetics & Chair Chemistry Leonard Mueller Professor & Chair Check out my lab Earth & Planetary...

Find out why Luna UCR is one of TIME's 200 best inventions of 2023

TIME MAGAZINE - The Luna UCR is one very special avocado. The result of a decades-long breeding program at the University of California, Riverside, it has a flavor similar to that of its popular relative, the Hass, but a bit more “floral,” says program horticulturist Mary Lu Arpaia. The Luna UCR is ripe as soon...
By Tara Law | TIME |
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