UNIVERSE TODAY -- In recent decades, over 4,000 extrasolar planets have been confirmed beyond our Solar System. With so many planets available for study, astronomers have learned a great deal about the types of planets that exist out there and what kind of conditions are prevalent. For instance, they have been able to get a...
ENTOMOLOGY TODAY -- Insects have important roles as both heroes and villains, as well as neutral house guests either feared or ignored, and their ubiquity makes them accessible to both civilians and scientists. Entomology outreach is an essential part of inviting the public to learn about these characters. Frequently, graduate students are at the forefront...
WINE-SEARCHER -- An end might be in sight to the long-running war between vineyard owners and their greatest enemy – phylloxera. The genome of the phylloxera, an insect that caused plagues that devastated European vines in the 19th Century and has remained a potent threat ever since has been mapped by an international team involving...
FOX 11 -- People around the country have been receiving mysterious packets of seeds in the mail. UCR Plant physiologist Milt McGiffen explains (view video) why it's a bad idea to put these seeds in the ground. Agriculture departments across the country are investigating after mysterious unsolicited packages of seeds reportedly sent from China have...
AZOROBOTICS -- With the help of machine learning, two scientists from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have effectively interpreted the smell of chemicals—a breakthrough study that could prove useful in the fragrance and food flavor sectors. "We now can use artificial intelligence to predict how any chemical is going to smell to humans. Chemicals...
NPR -- There's some good news in the long-running battle against a disease that's devastated Florida's signature crop, oranges. Researchers are developing tools to help control citrus greening, a disease that has killed thousands of acres of orange and grapefruit trees. One of the most promising treatments was recently developed in a fruit most people...
LOS ANGELES TIMES -- Attention home gardeners: Our beloved citrus trees may yet be saved from the incurable huanglongbing, a.k.a. HLB or citrus greening disease, thanks to natural immunities found in a rare and flavorful relative known as the Australian finger lime. After five years of study, a team of UC Riverside researchers led by...
AMAZE LAB -- "The trend in egg sales is 'cage free,' but that doesn't necessarily mean the chickens are insect free," said UC Riverside entomologist Amy Murillo. View the video
FOOD52 -- A few years ago, an Australian company called Naturo Technologies invented a machine—the Natavo Zero, aka the Avocado Time Machine. This ATM supposedly miraculously slows the avocado ripening process, keeping it from turning brown for up to 10 days without the use of chemicals—or olive oil, or lemon juice, or red onion. (Naturo...
INSIDE SCIENCE -- Forget showing your true colors -- plants are green precisely because they don’t appreciate the type of energy that falls within the green spectrum. Researchers have long understood that plants use sunlight to photosynthesize carbon dioxide and water into food. But they didn’t know exactly why photosynthesizing organisms such as plants appear...
UC ANR -- UC Agriculture and Natural Resources will receive $865,000 to help farmers in the Colorado River basin and the Salinas Valley integrate digital tools and artificial intelligence into their growing systems. The funds are part of a $10 million Sustainable Agricultural Systems grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to...
By Jeannette E. Warnert | UC Agriculture and Natural Resources |
NATURE OUTLOOK -- Biologists studying extracellular RNA (exRNA) — and the tiny spherical structures known as exosomes that shuttle this genetic information from cell to cell — typically focus on mammals. As long ago as the 1960s, however, scientists found that plant cells also generate vesicles that carry cargo out of the cell membrane. But...
By Roxanne Khamsi | Nature Outlook: Extracellular RNA |
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE -- Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a projected $54 billion budget deficit for California. As a result, the University of California faces budget cuts. But the UC system is already running in starvation mode from cuts made during the last recession. Now is the time to invest in research and higher education. It...
By Sydney Glassman (UCR Department of Microbiology & Plant Pathology) | The Press-Enterprise |
UCOP -- As the world continues to confront the global pandemic, the University of California community has stepped up like never before, drawing on the spirit of ingenuity and service that defines us. From hospitals and labs to neighborhoods across California, UC staff, faculty, alumni and students are putting their creativity and compassion to work...
LA TIMES -- When news of the Asian giant hornet’s arrival in the United States first broke, the public was understandably worried: First the coronavirus, now “murder hornets”? What’s next, three days of darkness? But bug experts from Washington, where the hornet was discovered in the U.S., to California agree that the 2-inch hornet is...
BUSTLE -- The world has been abuzz (yep, pun totally intended) about the arrival of the Asian giant hornet, otherwise known by the charming nickname "murder hornet," in North America. The New York Times reports that they've been found in Vancouver Island and Washington State, and there's a concern that scientists won't be able to...
USA TODAY -- An invasive hornet species that slaughters honeybees and can be deadly to humans is sparking concern in the United States. A small number of "murder hornets," an invasive species of Asian giant hornet, have been spotted in the Pacific Northwest. While experts have been tracking the invasive species in the U.S. for...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE -- One of the common frustrations of gardening is having to deal with creepy, crawly insects that chew up the leaves of your plants and their fruits once they eventually make them, with bugs such as aphids, snails and mealybugs being some of the notable offenders. But not all bugs are bad, and...
BLOOMBERG -- Gilead Sciences Inc., whose Covid-19 treatment has whipsawed markets amid conflicting early reports about its efficacy, is set to report the first results from a company-sponsored study of the experimental drug. Data from the first 400 severely ill coronavirus patients being treated with Remdesivir in an open-label study are expected before the end...
LA TIMES --Growing citrus is a dicey business these days in Southern California, and not at all recommended if you live within a two-mile radius of a tree infected with Huanglongbing disease — a.k.a. HLB or citrus greening disease. However, if you live outside a “red zone” and you’re willing to actively fight the disease...
