CNN - Megalodons, the huge prehistoric sharks depicted in movies such as “The Meg,” had more slender bodies than was previously thought, according to a new study. Many mysteries remain about the biology of megalodons, but until now, great white sharks had been used to model their appearance. But new research from a team led...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - In a stunning revelation challenging a previously held popular notion, researchers have revealed that the Megalodon, formally known as Otodus megalodon, was in fact, a more slender creature than imagined. However, the study, led by Kenshu Shimada, a paleobiology professor at DePaul University, challenges this long-standing notion by presenting evidence that Megalodon's...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - In the more than 400 million years that sharks have been swimming through Earth’s seas, none has been larger than Otodus megalodon. The great megatoothed shark reached more than 50 feet in length and prowled oceans the world over between 2.6 million and 23 million years ago. Despite the shark’s success and...
STUDY INTERNATIONAL - Climate change stats are alarming. Around 3.6 billion people live in areas highly susceptible to extreme weather events. Approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year will come from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone, according to the World Health Organisation. In an era of environmental challenges and the pressing need for sustainable...
ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are a major global insect pest in urban buildings as purveyors of allergens as well as pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Rotavirus. Control of German cockroaches is usually done with insecticide sprays and insecticide-loaded baits, but cockroach populations can evolve resistance to insecticides, and insecticides can...
THE HIGHLANDER NEWSPAPER - Professor Barish began his role at Riverside in 2018, after winning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his observations of gravitational waves which contributed to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In an exclusive interview with the Highlander News, he states that the LIGO Lab’s research, which he received the Nobel...
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...
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...
EARTH.COM - In a significant breakthrough, scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have developed a method to control a notoriously elusive protein called MYC, implicated in 75% of human cancers. This development could ultimately lead to a new era of potential cancer treatments. MYC’s role in cancer MYC is a protein that plays...
INTERESTING ENGINEERING - Scientists have developed a peptide that holds promise in controlling the activity of the MYC protein, a key contributor to exacerbating 75 percent of human cancer cases. According to researchers from the University of California, Riverside, this discovery might pave the way for developing more effective cancer treatments. The identified peptide compound...
THE DAILY MAIL - There are more benefits to following a healthy low-fat diet than shedding pounds and dropping a few pant sizes. Now, scientists have discovered eating less fat could also help protect you against infectious diseases like Covid-19. Researchers from the University of California - Riverside found 'concerning' changes in gene expression -...
THE COOL DOWN - Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), have successfully developed a new avocado tree after more than 50 years of research and development. UCR’s news website reported that the patent-pending avocado, the Luna UCR, was invented by a team of agricultural scientists at the university. Luna UCR avocados are said...
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - It was a cloudy July afternoon in Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park, part of the biggest stretch of protected wilderness in the U.S. We were 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the nearest village and 400 kilometers from the road system. Nature doesn't get any more unspoiled. But the stream flowing past our...
EARTH.COM - Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have made an exciting discovery in the ongoing war between plants and their fungal mold adversaries. In a recent study, the team revealed a novel defense mechanism plants employ against the notorious gray mold, a fungus responsible for extensive damage to a wide array of crops...
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...
POPULAR SCIENCE - While refrigerators store food at safe temperatures and keep it fresh, they can also be a breeding ground for fuzzy gray mold that spoils fruit. Most molds thrive in warm temperatures, but many can grow in the refrigerator by producing spores. The spores can go airborne and accumulate inside the refrigerator and...
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...
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...
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - This time last year, nobody knew how our bodies regulate age-related decline or why some people still hadn’t gotten sick from COVID-19. The origins of the human species remained murky and the world’s avocado supply was more vulnerable to disease. What a difference a year makes. Thanks to the tireless curiosity...
INDY100 - A 'white gold' mine containing $540 billion in treasures has been discovered at the bottom of a giant lake in Southern California. The Salton Sea, which is the largest lake in the US state was being studied by scientists as part of research funded by the Department of Energy. The study aimed to...