SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - A few weeks ago, I arrived hungry to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City, ready for a unique culinary experience. Finalists of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge had come from all across the planet to demonstrate how future astronauts might grow their own food. I...
SCIENCE - For the first astronauts to visit Mars, what to eat on their 3-year mission will be one of the most critical questions. It’s not just a matter of taste. According to one recent estimate, a crew of six would require an estimated 10,000 kilograms of food for the trip. NASA—which plans to send...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Northwestern scientists have discovered a new method for helping aging hair regrow in mice. The method relies on hair follicle stem cells getting stiff as they age, making it harder for them to grow hair. But if the hair follicle’s stem cells are softened, they are more likely to produce hair. Northwestern...
By Loukia Papadopoulos | Interesting Engineering |
NBC 7 - The Salton Sea was once a famed desert oasis. Southern Californians would flock to the Imperial Valley to soak up the sun and spend time with family and friends. Now it could see renewed prosperity. “I’m optimistic of the outcome,” UC Riverside Professor Michael McKibben, Ph.D. said. Companies like Energy Source Minerals...
CNN - Is it the new California Goldrush? This time lithium though - a critical metal set to be extracted from underneath California's Salton Sea. Lithium is key for electric car batteries. As demand skyrockets for electric vehicles, a new lithium rush could save the dying Salton Sea and supercharge America's EV industry. Michael McKibben...
THE DAILY MAIL - In an industrial wasteland in Los Angeles, Kreigh Hampel is uprooting California buckwheat with a pitchfork to find out how much lead it has absorbed. The plant's delicate white and pink flowers belie an astonishing cleaning power, which scientists think could be harnessed to get rid of dangerous pollutants -- and...
ABC 7 - It's something a lot of people have noticed around Southern California lately: bugs. Bugs, bugs and more bugs, everywhere you look. "All of those rains have resulted in more water, specifically more stagnant water in areas throughout the state and Southern California," said Dr. Alec Gerry, an entomologist at the University of...
FORBES - Thousands of honey bees leave a cluster of wooden boxes and rush towards a vast grove of almond trees bursting with white flowers. It’s sweet-smelling springtime in California’s Central Valley, and the bees are about to cross-pollinate one of the country’s top cash crops. The bee colony, and the orchard, are owned by...
CNN - Astronomers have found an Earth-size planet that isn’t like Earth at all. Instead, the exoplanet, called LP 791-18 d, is likely covered in volcanoes and may experience eruptions with the same frequency as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active place in our solar system, according to researchers. “On Venus, volcanic carbon dioxide...
NEW YORK POST - Now-viral footage captured the retch-worthy moment that seemingly thousands of “white worms rained down from the sky” in India like some kind of bizarro biblical plague. In the alarming clip — filmed Tuesday in Bihar, an East India state bordering Nepal — the creepy-crawlies can be seen hailing down until the...
LIVE SCIENCE - Spiders are common critters. And, as almost all of Earth's 43,000 known spider species are venomous, it is likely that most people have encountered a venomous spider at one point or another. So that's the bad news. The good news, however, is that of these, only 25 species are known to have...
THE DESERT SUN - From pinyon pines to ocotillos, plants in the Sonoran Desert are shifting where they grow in response to climate change, and many of the plants aren’t thriving in their new ranges, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside. The study, published in the journal Functional...
THE HUFFINGTON POST - You’ve probably heard of Lyme disease, the tick-borne illness that is known to infect people and dogs who spend time outside. But Lyme disease is only one of a number of tick-borne diseases that can infect humans. Cases of Lyme disease are rising in the United States, along with cases of...
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - In the mid-20th century, geologist Reg Sprigg made a stunning discovery in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. Under the searing outback sun, he unearthed delicate impressions made by animals that lived some 550 million years ago—the missing piece in our understanding of evolution that had long eluded naturalist Charles Darwin. Called the Ediacaran...
NEW SCIENTIST - A bug improves its hunting success by slathering itself in the sticky resin of a grass, in a rare example of tool use by insects. Australian assassin bugs, from the genus Gorareduvius, are often seen resting on the blades of spinifex grass. This grass, a characteristic feature of dry regions of Australia...
SCRIBD | UC SANTA BARBARA - California’s superblooms are amazing, but also fragile. Researchers have guidance for how to preserve the native flowers and landscape for the future. In remote places, hiking off trails isn’t going to destroy the wildflowers forever since seeds can lie dormant in the soil for many years. “However, in highly...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - Heavy rain has transformed normally dry fields and numerous backyards across the Inland Empire into soggy breeding grounds for mosquitoes. As a result, bug experts are bracing for what could be one of the region’s worst mosquito seasons in recent memory. When mosquitoes do emerge in a big way, their disruption to...
EARTH.COM - Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have discovered that wildfires are releasing a massive amount of methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide. This source of methane was previously unaccounted for. It could make it challenging for states to achieve their cleaner...
ATLAS OBSCURA - Meyer lemon trees could carry the citrus tristeza virus (CTV) and flourish for years without showing any symptoms. The urgent situation incited the first meeting of the International Organization of Citrus Virologists at the The University of California, Riverside in 1957. This group of scientists and citrus growers urged drastic measures towards...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - For decades, humans have set traps for cockroaches and laced them with sugar to attract the insects to their doom. But in response, some populations of cockroaches developed a self-preserving distaste for glucose, which allows them to steer clear of the traps. As it turns out, though, a glucose aversion can kill...