CBS NEWS - A fight is ramping up against the New World screwworm fly as it spreads to the United States, and, in what sounds like science fiction, it lays eggs that hatch into flesh-eating parasites. So far, the fly has not been detected in California, but scientists are on the lookout. Entomologist Amy Murillo...
THE SACRAMENTO BEE - Every colony of bees is overseen by a queen who produces all the colony's eggs, but what makes a queen bee a queen? For decades, biologists believed that queen bee development was a result of the consumpion of royal jelly, but a new study published on June 3 in Nature scientific...
USA TODAY - Scientists have linked an unusual "cold blob" in the North Atlantic — one eerily similar to the one featured in the film "The Day After Tomorrow," that has a major impact on global weather. While the findings weren't that extreme, a recent study showed the area has cooled by up to 1...
LAIST.COM - An estimated 1.3 million Joshua trees burned as the 2020 Dome Fire swept through 43,000 acres of the Cima Dome in the Mojave Desert. Scientists feared the damage extended far beyond the trees, reaching into the underground networks of fungi that help sustain desert ecosystems. Instead, fungi are thriving underground. That finding —...
For Allison Matthews, graduating from the University of California, Riverside marks both an ending and a continuation. A biology major with a minor in feminist studies, Allison will remain at UCR to pursue her master's degree through the university's Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology (CMDB) program. While she came to UCR with a clear academic...
When Sreenidhi (Sree) Surineni learned he had been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, one of the first calls he made was to the mentors who had supported him throughout his journey at the University of California, Riverside. "It was really cool to share that moment with them and see how far...
REUTERS - Honeybee queens come from the same ordinary fertilized female eggs as worker bees. So how does one bee become a queen - with the responsibility of serving as the colony's only baby maker - rather than just another worker? Until now, scientists believed it was solely because the chosen bee was served a...
LADBIBLE - Scientists are concerned about a patch of unusually cold water in the North Atlantic Ocean, referred to as the 'cold blob' or 'warming hole'. While a particularly powerful El Niño is on the horizon, this patch of ocean near Greenland has cooled by about 1°C over the past few decades. A new study...
EARTH.COM - For years, one idea dominated the story of how a honeybee queen is made. Give an ordinary larva enough royal jelly, and it becomes royalty. It seemed straightforward – a special diet created a special bee. New research now shows that the process is far more complex. A future queen does not grow...
METRO UK - The science of climate change is complex, but the overall effect is pretty simple – the planet is getting warmer. Except, however, for a cool ‘blob’ just southeast of Greenland that no one has ever been able to properly explain. The blob, also called the ‘warming hole’, is a large patch of...
SCIENCE NEWS - A queen bee may be shaped by more than its famous royal diet. The wax of the peanut-shaped chamber where the queen develops has distinct physical and chemical properties that help steer its development, researchers report June 3 in Nature. By analyzing the chamber’s composition and the larvae it harbors, the team...
GIZMODO - Early this year, researchers confirmed why one part of Antarctica bleeds red. In similar yet arguably more concerning news about Earth’s poles, Arctic rivers are turning orange—and scientists now know the real reason behind this shift. In a study published last year, the same team initially documented the orange slush—toxic iron particles fatal...
LIVE SCIENCE - Google wants to release 64 million bacteria-riddled mosquitoes in California and Florida — but scientists aren't concerned. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing an application made by the tech giant for an experimental mosquito release permit, which, counterintuitively, could reduce mosquito populations that carry diseases. The release is part of Google's...
POPULAR SCIENCE - Alaska’s Arctic rivers have a big, orange problem. Previously clear rivers are turning a cloudy orange color due to iron particles, and it’s more than unsightly. The particles can suffocate fish and choke insects, threatening the food web and ecosystem as a whole. Scientists have long pointed to previously frozen soil beginning...
UNIVERSE TODAY - Mars holds a special place in the Solar System. It represents marginal habitability. This means it transitioned from warm and wet and potentially hospitable, to cold and dry and inhospitable. What can its transition tell us about exoplanet habitability? New research to be published in the Planetary Science Journal examines the question...
On April 21, 2026, the California Agricultural Day at the Capitol brought together leaders from across the state’s agricultural ecosystem—farmers, industry partners, policymakers, and universities—on the grounds of the State Capitol in Sacramento. Among them, the University of California, Riverside’s College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) stood out, not only for its research and...
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - Today a stretch of Canada’s remote Northwest Territories is covered in snow-covered peaks. But more than half a billion years ago this wilderness was an ancient seafloor home to the wrinkled pancakes, fleshy fronds and spiral-shaped critters that were among Earth’s earliest complex life-forms. Researchers recently unearthed a trove of fossils that...
More than 480 undergraduate students from across the University of California, Riverside presented faculty-mentored research and creative projects during the 20th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, held April 21–24. The symposium culminated with in-person poster presentations on April 24 in HUB 302, where students shared research spanning molecular biology, agriculture, medicine, environmental science...
The Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Riverside has launched the new UCR Experimental Landscapes Facility, an innovative research space designed to help scientists better understand how landscapes evolve over time. Led by Eric Barefoot, Assistant Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences, the facility allows researchers to recreate scaled-down versions...
LIVE SCIENCE - Astronomers have reconstructed the "skeleton" of the cosmos in unprecedented detail, thanks to the largest-ever survey conducted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The resulting map reveals how galaxies have evolved since the universe's infancy around 13 billion years ago and how they fall together in a vast structure called the...
