All Stories

UC Merced Aerial Picture
Humanities Project Launching Community Collaborative for Graduate Training and Research
July 11, 2018
A new two-year project at UC Merced aims to bring academic and non-academic researchers together to recast the role of the humanities in public policy and, ultimately, improve the lives of San Joaquin Valley residents. The collaborative... Read More
Campus Earns Kudos for Sustainability Best Practices
July 10, 2018
UC Merced demonstrated that it’s living up to its reputation for being “green from the ground up” by winning five awards — more than any other University of California campus — in the 14th annual Higher Education Energy Efficiency and... Read More
UC Merced Gets Into the ‘Act’
July 9, 2018
Shakespeare wrote “the play’s the thing.” Of course, he was referring to using a play to catch a murderer, but in Shakespeare’s day, people believed the theater had the power to elicit deep emotion — even move the guilty to give themselves... Read More
Campus Lands $1M Howard Hughes Grant to Make STEM More Inclusive
July 3, 2018
UC Merced’s efforts to make science education more inclusive were recently given a huge boost after the campus was awarded its first Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant, an impressive mark of distinction that reflects the strong... Read More
Merced River Helps Explain How Soils Capture and Store Planet-Warming Carbon
July 2, 2018
Soils are carbon sinks, storing more planet-warming carbon than the atmosphere and all animal and plant life combined. But they can also release massive amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. Given carbon’s central role in climate... Read More
Misbehaving “Killer” Cells Accelerate Progress of Autoimmune Disease
June 29, 2018
In 1998, scientists studying rheumatoid arthritis observed a population of immune cells that weren’t behaving the way they were supposed to. Immunologists noted the strange phenomenon, but decided not to pursue the subject further, and the... Read More
Sifuentez Appointed to Head Center for Humanities
June 28, 2018
As new director of the Center for the Humanities, Professor Mario Sifuentez ’ sights are set on a fuller understanding of rural communities and how best to help them. He’s got a multi-pronged plan for work that will be done through the... Read More
Librarian’s Book Addresses ‘Fake News’ and Critical Thinking
June 25, 2018
First impressions count, maybe now more than ever. But what if those impressions are based on lies? People’s willingness to believe even the most outrageous “information” they get is so remarkable that researchers have been studying this... Read More
Drawing Graphic Lessons: Comics Teach, Evaluate Difficult Concepts
June 20, 2018
Though illustrations have been used to convey ideas and information since before language existed, after Benjamin Franklin published the world’s first editorial cartoon in 1754, comics emerged a distinct avenue for visual storytelling. Now... Read More
Following a Devastating Pandemic, California’s Sea Stars are Evolving
June 19, 2018
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In 2012, Environmental Systems graduate student Lauren Schiebelhut was collecting DNA from ochre sea stars living along the Northern California coast — part of an effort to study genetic diversity in various marine species that serve as... Read More
Engaging with Spiritual Allies Increases Confidence in Conflict, Studies Show
June 18, 2018
A new Pew Research survey shows that one-third of Americans have trust in a higher power or spiritual force, whether they call it “god” or not, and two new studies show that people who think they have that force in their corner feel... Read More
Explore UC Merced and experience the endless possibilities
June 15, 2018
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UC Merced welcomes its students with open arms, encouraging curiosity, creativity and innovation
June 15, 2018
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Sustainable CA: Water in the Balance
June 15, 2018
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“Water in the Balance,” the first in a series of videos to be broadcast on Sustainable California, the newest University of California Television (UCTV) channel, highlights the impact of UC Water research.
Beaudin Named Campus’ Second Winner of Prestigious Pew Award
June 14, 2018
Biology Professor Anna Beaudin was named a member of the 2018 class of Pew Biomedical Scholars today, one of 22 early-career researchers nationwide to receive this year’s prestigious award. “I am thrilled and humbled to be joining such an... Read More
Berhe Selected by National Academies to Serve as “New Voice” for Science
June 8, 2018
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) just announced that they’ve selected Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe to serve as an inaugural member of the Academies’ newest initiative — New Voices in Sciences,... Read More
UC Merced, County Fair Join Forces to Fight Hunger
June 4, 2018
UC Merced is partnering with the Merced County Fair to support Mercy Medical Center’s “We Care Wednesday” Community Food Drive. Anyone can join the fight against hunger and gain free admittance to the fair by bringing five or more cans of... Read More
Study Finds That Gene Transcription Can Serve as Brain’s Timekeeper
May 31, 2018
Neurons keep time. These brain cells – which are responsible for the brain’s “heavy lifting,” from information processing to memory formation – seem to "know" how long they’ve been exposed to sensory stimulation. Now, scientists are... Read More
Young Artist Movement Making Room for More Art on Campus
May 29, 2018
Three enterprising Global Arts Studies Program (GASP) students saw the empty UC Merced Art Gallery on campus and, worried the space would be reallocated, wondered why they couldn’t volunteer to run it. So they started the Young Artist... Read More
Students Discover Cannibal Lizards on Remote Aegean Island
May 23, 2018
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It reads like a mashup of Greek mythology and H.G. Wells. “The Odyssey of Doctor Moreau,” perhaps. Explorers find their way to a remote Aegean island and discover it’s inhabited by reptilian cannibals. They describe one encounter as... Read More