TODAY - A Utah school district responded to claims that students were fed bugs as part of a writing assignment. A description of the assignment posted to the school’s website reads in part: “Students just wrapped up a unit on if bugs are a good source of protein or not which culminated in an extra...
POPULAR SCIENCE - While increasingly longer summers and shorter and warmer winters could mean more mosquitoes in the future, some new research might help control increasing populations of the common pest. In a study published March 16 in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers find that it’s likely that the proteins that activate mosquito sperm can...
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - For half a century, scientists have dreamed of spying erupting volcanoes on Venus. This unfathomably hot world is obfuscated by noxious clouds, but past missions have revealed the surface is covered in volcanic features. And now, thanks to the recorded memories of a long-dead spacecraft, scientists have struck scientific gold: They’ve seen...
SPACE.COM - What would happen if we had an additional planet in our solar system? Not in the fringes like the hypothetical Planet Nine way beyond Pluto, but smack in the middle of Mars and Jupiter? Such a world would wreak havoc on the orbits of most planets, according to new research that simulated a...
THE WASHINGTON POST - While we know that exercise can influence the health of the microbiome, it’s much less clear whether the effects work the other way, and your microbiome can influence your exercise. Anecdotally, people and lab mice taking antibiotics don’t exercise much, but the reason might be that they probably felt ill before...
VICE - What if a beefed-up version of Earth were suddenly dropped into the solar system between Mars and Jupiter? That’s the mind-boggling question posed in a new study that seeks to understand how “super-Earths,” a class of planets that is very common in other star systems, might affect our own solar neighborhood. The thought...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - A new experiment shed new light on the role Jupiter has played in the evolution of life on Earth. In a series of simulations, scientists showed that an Earth-like planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter would be able to alter Earth's orbit and push it out of the solar system. Such an...
FORBES - It’s been a while since we’ve heard about that made-up rogue planet Nbiru, which some believed would pop-up to collide with or otherwise majorly disrupt Earth’s orbit, spelling doom for all of us. This, of course, never happened as a result of the fictional world not being real. But researchers have long wondered...
THE WEATHER CHANNEL - Breathing is going to be more difficult in the future and the source of the problem might surprise you. We're already aware of how human sources of pollution can cause or worsen all sorts of health problems, including asthma, autoimmune diseases and lung cancer. And the combined effects of ambient, or...
DISCOVER MAGAZINE - Superblooms are what their name implies: an extreme, higher-than-normal blooming of wildflowers. The rare phenomenon is nearly exclusive to the deserts of California and almost only emerges in California state or national parks, such as Death Valley National Park, according to National Geographic. Superblooms are kickstarted by “a regular series of soaking...
LAIST.COM - Springtime is about a month away, and summer will be here before we know it. In Los Angeles, both seasons invite people to enjoy the great outdoors and bask in the sun. Summertime brings those warm summer nights. Which bring bugs, and all kinds of other critters and wildlife. In the spring, you...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - For years, the seeds of colorful wildflowers wait patiently in the parched soils of California. But every once in a while, when conditions align, these seeds germinate and bloom all at once throughout the Golden State, creating what’s often called a “superbloom.” The last California superbloom took place in 2019 following a...
THE GUARDIAN - If you drink one of the 2bn cups of coffee consumed each day worldwide, you may have seen headlines last month celebrating the coffee pod, a single-serving container – typically made of plastic or aluminum – that can be inserted into a machine to brew a cup of coffee. New analysis found...
POPULAR SCIENCE - Wildfires have a multitude of impacts on an ecosystem. While many are negative, some animals thrive after fire, from the charred remains serving as shelter for insects and small animals like the black-backed woodpecker and spotted owl. In a study published February 6 in the journal Molecular Ecology, researchers from t he...
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE - Healthy, undisturbed soil sinks carbon, storing what’s generated when plants and other living things decompose so it doesn’t get released as a planet-warming greenhouse gas. But a new study out of UC Riverside suggests nitrogen pollution from cars and trucks and power plants might make soil release that carbon in Southern California...
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW - “Until CRISPR, the technology simply wasn’t there,” says Peter Atkinson, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside, who is working on modifying the sharpshooter. “We’re entering this new age where genetic control can be realistically contemplated.” Scientists didn’t know much about the genetics of the glassy-winged sharpshooter until recently. The...
By Emma Foehringer Merchant | MIT Technology Review |
VOX - What do you know about bees? That they produce honey? That they live in a hive? That they swarm? Well, I have news: These characteristics don’t actually describe most bees in the US. Of the roughly 4,000 native species, not a single one produces true honey. Not one! Most of them live alone...
UC Newsroom - The report provides detailed metrics on UC’s progress in decarbonizing its operations and meeting other sustainability goals, including the fact that 55 percent of its electricity now comes from renewable or carbon-free sources. It also highlights UC activities to advance sustainability through education, research and public service, including community partnerships already underway...
SCIENCE NEWS - Attention alien hunters: If you want to find life on distant planets, try looking for signs of toxic chemical cleanup. Gases that organisms produce as they tidy up their environments could provide clear signs of life on planets orbiting other stars, researchers announced January 9 at the American Astronomical Society meeting. All...
KPPC - The United States Department of Agriculture has approved a vaccine for honeybees, which play an integral role in our food system. The vaccines could help prevent American foulbrood disease, which is a bacterial disease that can spread quickly between hives. In the past, the disease has been handled by burning the infected hives...