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College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

Increased CO2 is making wildfires more frequent by making plants grow faster

EARTH.COM - We tend to think of wildfires as being caused by hot weather and drought. And for good reason – those weather conditions make plants tinder-dry. But a new study from the University of California, Riverside is flipping that idea on its head. Turns out, the biggest culprit in mega wildfires might be something...
By Sanjana Gajbhiye | Earth.com |

Why Extrasolar Earths Will Also Have Trees

FORBES - With spring in the Northern Hemisphere in full bloom, forests are again beckoning hikers onto paths that wend their way through thousands of acres of old growth trees. Such forests not only offer salve for the soul, but their role in Earth’s ecology is arguably crucial to the health of our planet. But...
By Bruce Dorminey | Forbes |

Don’t Panic, But A Lot of Stars Seem to Eat Their Own Planets

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - Is our solar system quotidian or quirky? It’s one of the greatest questions in astronomy, and scientists are getting a little bit of a handle on it as they examine the more than 5,500 exoplanets (and counting) discovered around other stars. Reaching an answer is, however, confounded by a rather dramatic problem...

By Robin George Andrews | Scientific American |

How lightning on exoplanets could make it harder to find alien life

POPULAR SCIENCE - We’re used to thunder and lightning here on Earth. But what might they be like on another planet? We know other worlds in the solar system have lightning strikes, for example, high in the clouds of Jupiter or during dust storms on Mars. Now, astronomers are thinking about lightning on planets beyond...

By Briley Lewis | Popular Science |

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Venus

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - One of the main arguments for studying other planets is for what they can tell us about Earth. Did or do they harbor life? What clues can they offer about our planet’s past? If scientists want to investigate an Earth-like planet, one convenient opportunity is Venus. The similar size and planetary composition...
By Shi En Kim | Smithsonian Magazine |

Dr. Abhijit Ghosh of UC Riverside discusses earthquakes

KESQ - In the wake of Friday's magnitude 4.2 earthquake at the convergence of the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault zones, there are concerns that could have been a foreshock for a much bigger quake. Some geophysicists are warning about the possibility of a major seismic event along the San Andreas Fault, which runs...
By Peter Daut | KESQ |

A Different Vision for Earth’s Demise

THE ATLANTIC - Earth’s fate rests on a coin flip. In 5 billion years, our sun will balloon into a red giant star. Whether Earth survives is an “open question,” Melinda Soares-Furtado, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, says. Sure, Earth could be swallowed by the sun and destroyed. But in some...
By Jonathan O'Callaghan | The Atlantic |

New Clues for What Will Happen When the Sun Eats the Earth

QUANTA MAGAZINE - Earth’s fate rests on a coin flip. In 5 billion years, our sun will balloon into a red giant star. Whether Earth survives is an “open question,” said Melinda Soares-Furtado, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sure, Earth could be swallowed by the sun and destroyed. But in some scenarios...
By Jonathan O'Callaghan | Quanta Magazine |

Giant Planets May Be “Agents of Chaos”

EOS - The folks next door can have a big impact on the livability of a neighborhood. If they’re loud, pushy, and obnoxious, they can force you out of even the most comfortable of homes. That truism applies to planets as well as people. The wrong kind of neighbor can kick an Earth-like planet out...
By Damond Benningfield | Eos |

Stricken NASA mission VERITAS in prolonged wait to kick off ‘decade of Venus’

NATURE - Budget pressures at NASA, specifically arising from the increasing costs of several planetary science mission programmes, have rendered the Venus orbiter VERITAS as collateral damage. Currently on subsistence funding, mission scientists worry about the impact of ongoing delays on Venus exploration. Perpetually shrouded by dense, toxic clouds and sizzling with temperatures hot enough...
By Sharmila Kuthunur | Nature |
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