On May 6, the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) welcomed agricultural educators from across Riverside County for a day of learning, discussion, and exploration centered on the future of agriculture, sustainability, and science education. The visit included a tour of UCR’s Agricultural Operations, where teachers learned more about the university’s historic...
Admitted transfer students and their families explored academic programs, connected with faculty and students, and experienced campus life firsthand during Highlander Day for Transfer Students on May 9 at UC Riverside. Throughout the day, CNAS welcomed future Highlanders with a full lineup of transfer-focused programming, including multilingual tours led by CNAS Science Ambassadors, faculty meet-and-greets...
EARTH.COM - The majority of California’s water comes from the Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric rivers build over the sea, ride the jet stream east, and slam into the Sierra. When forecasters track wet winters, they watch ocean temperatures off the coast to predict weather conditions. However, they may need to look beyond what is proximate. A...
THE DEBRIEF - New data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is helping researchers map the cosmic web in the greatest detail ever achieved, providing new insights into the network of galaxies as improved resolution reveals hidden features. An international team of researchers led by the University of California, Riverside, revealed their newest...
EARTH.COM - For years, maps of how matter is arranged across the universe came with a built-in compromise. Individual galaxies showed up fine. The filaments and clusters they formed – the bigger architecture – remained smeared at the edges. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is changing that. Its largest survey has produced the most...
The UC Riverside community is mourning the loss of Emerita Professor Jodie Holt — a distinguished scientist, beloved educator, visionary leader, and passionate advocate for the natural world,whose influence shaped generations of students, colleagues, and visitors to the UCR Botanic Gardens. Holt passed away on April 27, leaving behind a legacy deeply rooted in discovery...
ZME SCIENCE - For humans, a fruit fly weighs almost nothing. Yet when scientists made that tiny body feel four, seven, ten, and even thirteen times heavier than normal, it survived every time. At 13G, humans can only survive for a few minutes. In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, spun...
EARTH.COM - Space agencies have spent decades designing life-detection instruments around a single idea: biology leaves specific molecules behind. Send the right probe, find the right chemicals, and the question of whether life existed answers itself. The idea has a flaw. Those same molecules form without life in cold meteorite chemistry and deep-sea vents. A...
EARTH.COM - Termites chew through the wooden framing of houses and cost property owners billions of dollars every year. Fixing this severe property damage usually requires pest control workers to pump homes full of highly toxic gases. Families have to pack up and evacuate their houses for several days during these extreme chemical treatments. We...
SFGATE - On a Saturday morning in mid-April, driving into Joshua Tree National Park’s Ryan Campground, the scenery was striking: Giant, rounded boulders. Scurrying lizards. Spiky cholla cactus, shrubby creosote and, of course, the park’s namesake Joshua trees. But on the short walk from car to campsite, a more concerning life form came into view...
Each year, the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) proudly recognizes a select group of students who have distinguished themselves through exceptional academic achievements, innovative research, and a commitment to making a positive impact on the science community. These outstanding individuals are more than just award recipients—they are a testament to the...
ENGADGET - We love when astronomers share the images they capture with the James Webb Space Telescope because they are so dang beautiful and cool. But of course, science is about more than just pretty pictures. A research team has used the telescope to map out the cosmic web, a collection of dark matter, gas...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have created the most detailed map yet of the universe’s vast cosmic web, revealing how galaxies connected and evolved across 13.7 billion years of history. The new map gives scientists an unprecedented look at the large-scale structure of the universe during its earliest stages. Researchers...
UC Riverside’s growing Cosmetic Chemistry certificate program took a major step forward on May 5, 2026, with the launch of its first Cosmetic Chemistry Career Fair & Industry Panel—a collaborative effort that brought together students, alumni, faculty, and industry leaders for a day of connection, insight, and opportunity. At the center of the event were...
SPACE.COM - A new type of self-interacting dark matter could provide solutions to three very different cosmic puzzles, new research suggests. The first mystery that could be solved involves an ultradense clump of matter detected in the system JVAS B1938+666, which is gravitationally lensed, or visibly distorted, thanks to a quirk of general relativity. The...
THE WASHINGTON POST - Few things ruin an evening outdoors faster than the realization that you’re being eaten alive by mosquitos. These biting insects, which can transmit diseases like dengue, malaria and West Nile virus, “remain the most dangerous animal on Earth,” said Adrian Vasquez, an assistant professor in the biology department at Mercer University...
It is with immense sadness and shock that we share the passing of Adriana Romero-Olivares on April 28, 2026. Adriana was a brand-new Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at UC Riverside. Adriana joined UC Riverside on January 1, 2026, and was just beginning her research and teaching here. Although...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Humans can tolerate only brief bursts of extreme gravitational force. Fighter pilots train to endure high G-loads, but even they struggle beyond 9G. At higher levels, blood drains from the brain, causing blackout within seconds. Sustained exposure remains dangerous and poorly understood, especially during spaceflight and reentry. Now, new research from the...
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Jodie Holt, Professor Emerita and former Chair of the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, former Divisional Dean of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS), and Director of the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens, who passed away in the early morning of...
GIZMODO - Pests are, well, pesky because they simply won’t go away. And in a terrifying turn of events, scientists found that the fruit fly—a super common kitchen pest—adapts and survives under crushing hypergravity. According to a study on the findings, published recently in the Journal of Experimental Biology, fruit flies initially show some bolstered...
