Research Excellence

The Western U.S. appears headed for another dangerous fire season, and a new study shows that even high mountain areas once considered too wet to burn are at increasing risk as the climate warms.

As news headlines continue to focus on seeing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe. As of May 18, California has recorded more than 3.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in over 61,500 deaths, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Scientists often study the relationship of global warming and topsoil because soil is an important mediator of climate change. A newly released study indicates it’s critical to consider subsoil in climate-change research, too.

You can’t avoid seeing grazing cattle in California’s Central Valley, where UC Merced has its own pastured cows on campus. Now imagine if those cows were kept secluded without the use of a fence, or at least not one visible to the eye.

Applied Mathematics graduate student Shayna Bennett will represent UC Merced at the University of California Grad Slam finals on May 7.

California is getting a closer look at exactly how workers in high-risk industries across the state have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time, UC Merced's Community and Labor Center (CLC) has analyzed the increase in the number of pandemic-era deaths of working-age people.

After the COVID-19 pandemic struck, scientists across the globe realized they could track the virus by testing sewage water. School of Engineering Professor Colleen Naughton pioneered a dashboard to host the global findings.

One way Naughton finds who and where wastewater research is being performed? Twitter.

Public health Professor Asa Bradman contributed to a new report that examines the relationship between synthetic food dye — found in everything from juice to cupcakes — and child development.

The report, released today by the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), finds that current federal levels for safe intake of synthetic food dyes may not sufficiently protect children’s behavioral health.

Immunology Professor Jennifer Manilay and bioengineering Professor Joel Spencer are using a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand a project they’ve been working on for the past two years — delving into the immune systems of living mice to see how B-cells develop under different circumstances.