Latest CNAS in the Media

Protecting Long Beans From Aphids and Nematodes

CSA NEWS - Commercial markets are embracing traditionally ethnic vegetable crops, adding diversity to the food system. Long beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), which originated in Africa and have been refined through domestication in Southeast Asia, have an export value of $80 million. The edible pods are a symbol of luck and longevity, but more...
By Stacy Kish | CSA News |

New drought-resistant bermuda grass created by UC Riverside

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - UC Riverside and a Riverside-based sod company have teamed up to sell a new drought-resistant bermuda grass. The grass, called Coachella, is a less thirsty, greener-longer hybrid of bermuda grass. The university’s Office of Technology Partnerships and West Coast Turf hope to initially target golf courses and sports stadiums that need large...

19 Species Named After Your Favorite Celebrities (Including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and More!)

PEOPLE - Celebrities can be found throughout the animal kingdom — if you know where to look. Occasionally, when a new species is discovered, pop culture-loving scientists decide to name the creature after their favorite star. There are bugs named after Oscar winners, lemurs sharing names with comedians and spiders with the same titles as...
By Kelli Bender and Paris C. - People |

This probiotic may protect against a dangerous toxin in many household items

STUDY FINDS - A simple yogurt supplement could help protect people from the hidden dangers lurking in everyday household items. A groundbreaking study from the University of California-Riverside is offering hope for those worried about our exposure to pervasive fire-retardant chemicals. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are everywhere. They’re in your couch, a child’s car...
By Chris Melore | StudyFinds |

Your skin color may affect how well a medication works for you — but the research is way behind

LIVE SCIENCE - Your skin color may influence how safe and effective a given drug is for you, a new analysis suggests. In a recent think piece, published Oct. 9 in the journal Human Genomics, scientists examined a plethora of studies, revealing that melanin — the pigment that gives our skin, hair and eyes their...
By Emily Cooke | Live Science |

5 of the scariest spiders in existence

THE WEEK - Spiders are some of the most diverse creatures on Earth. While they can be frightening, most of them are harmless and skittish. However, some spiders are dangerous — or deadly. Several species have venom that is toxic to humans and can have long-lasting, even fatal, consequences. Here are some of the scariest...
By Devika Rao | The Week |

Mother-son team’s fossil find shows how nematodes—and all arthropods—arose

SCIENCE MAGAZINE - Some of Ian Hughes’s earliest memories are of playing in the dust and digging holes while his mom and her colleagues searched for fossils in South Australia. His mother, University of California, Riverside, paleoecologist Mary Droser, was searching for fossilized remnants of animals from the Ediacaran era, stretching from approximately 635 million...
By Elizabeth Pennisi | Science |

500-million-year-old worm fossil traces origins of insects and arachnids

INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Over 500 million years ago, the ancestors of a diverse group of animals known as Ecdysozoans existed. This group includes various species of insects, arachnids, and nematode worms. For a long time, the group’s early history was a blank page until now. A team of researchers has identified the earliest known ecdysozoan...
By Mrigakshi Dixit | Interesting Engineering |

From pest to hero: Gophers saved a mountain in one day

STUDY FINDS - Like something straight out of a Disney movie, a study finds that gophers worked to save an entire mountain. These little critters dug up bacteria and fungi that helped restore lost plant and animal life to the devastated mountain landscape. Forty years later, the 24-hour gopher experiment continues to yield results. In...
By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira | Study Finds |

40 Years Ago, Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto a Volcano. Today, They're Tiny Heroes.

POPULAR MECHANICS - It would probably pretty alarming to learn that, in the early 1980s, scientists decided to drop off a bunch of gophers at the site of a volcanic eruption. But don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds. In fact, according to a new report from the University of California, this particular...
By Michael Natale | Popular Mechanics |

How a Team of Gophers Restored Mount St. Helens After Its Catastrophic Eruption With Less Than a Day of Digging

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - In May 1980, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake accompanied by an avalanche flipped the switch on a volcano in Washington state. With pressure suddenly removed from the magma below, Mount St. Helens spewed lava, ash and debris in the southwestern part of the state. It became the most destructive eruption in United States history...
By Alexa Robles-Gil | Smithsonian Magazine |

University of California, Riverside: Equipping tomorrow’s plant biologists with a cutting-edge education

STUDY INTERNATIONAL - Born in Colombia and raised in Costa Rica and San Diego, Danilo has harbored a lifelong fascination with plants. His interest in flora, particularly epiphytic plants — those that grow on the surface of other plants — inspired him to pursue a career in plant biology. This led him to choose the...
By Study International |

From lab to land: Crop modifications are fortifying our food supply against climate change

ASBMB TODAY - Scientists explore genetic and biochemical innovations fueling future-proofing agriculture. Adapting to changing temperatures Many people think of higher temperatures and heat waves when they think of climate change, but cool seasons are also affected. According to the U.S. Climate Program Office, the expanding Arctic polar vortex —a strong band of winds in...
By Marissa Locke Rottinghaus | ASBMB Today |

The Secret Magic Of Gophers To Help Restore Devastated Landscapes

FORBES - It was a bright, warm and nearly cloudless morning on 18 May 1980, when all hell broke loose throughout much of Washington State. This was when Mount St. Helens, a dormant volcano, roared to life, sending hot lava cascading down her slopes and incinerating every living thing for miles around. Thick clouds of...
By GrrlScientist | Forbes |

New 'gold-plated' superconductor could be the foundation for massively scaled-up quantum computers in the future

LIVE SCIENCE - A new superconductor material could greatly improve the reliability of quantum computers, scientists say. The electrical resistance of materials typically decreases as they are cooled. But some materials, called superconductors, maintain a gradually declining electrical resistance until they are cooled to their critical cut-off temperature, at which point their resistance becomes zero...
By Peter Ray Allison | Live Science |

Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto Mount St Helens For 1 Day. 40 Years Later, The Effect Is Astonishing

IFLSCIENCE - When Mount St Helens erupted in 1980, the resulting lava, ash, and debris turned the landscape barren for miles around. It was clear the land would take a long time to recover from the eruption. But one team of scientists had an idea about how they could help speed up the process; sending...
By James Felton | IFLScience |

The 24-Hour Gopher Experiment That Brought Life Back to Mount St. Helens

GIZMODO - In the wake of the most disastrous volcanic eruption in the history of the United States, scientists enlisted the help of an unlikely ally to regenerate life on Mount St. Helens’ barren slopes: gophers. Over four decades later, they were shocked to see that the burrowing rodents’ positive impact remains visible to this...
By Margherita Bassi | Gizmodo |

A 24-hour gopher visit caused decades of benefits to volcano grave

COSMOS MAGAZINE - In 1980, Mount St Helens erupted in the western USA, killing 57 people and destroying 350km2 of forest. In 1983, scientists captured 2 wild gophers, and put each of them on a small, fenced enclosure on the ruined volcanic plain. They let the gophers dig for 24 hours, then removed them. According...
By Ellen Phiddian | Cosmos Magazine |

How a crew of gophers helped Mount St. Helens bounce back

POPULAR SCIENCE - On May 18, 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens emitted 1.5 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere while its pyroclastic lava flow incinerated virtually everything within a 230-square-mile radius. Three years later, wildlife experts enlisted a team of local helpers for just 24 hours to speed up the...
By Andrew Paul | Popular Science |

How gophers revived Mount St. Helens after its eruption

EARTH.COM - The day that Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980 is forever seared into the collective memory of the world. An unstoppable surge of lava effectively reduced surrounding life forms to ash within a matter of miles. In an unlikely twist of fate, an experiment involving some resilient gophers triggered a chain of events...
By Sanjana Gajbhiye | Earth.com |
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