Mind & Body

New Facility Will Expand UC Merced's Groundbreaking Stem Cell Research

September 30, 2024

Pictured are RESTORE facility leaders Jennifer Manilay, Kara McCloskey, Changqing Li, and David Gravano.

Stem cells hold vast potential to help people live healthier lives. UC Merced researchers have delved into expanded uses of these cells, which can be used to create any cell in the body, to replace damaged cardiac tissue and grow new blood vessels, among other uses. A $5.4 million...

Process That Kills Damaged Cells Hints at New Cancer Therapies

Scientists have long known that cells originating from an animal’s anterior — the body’s upper half — tend to grow, divide and survive better than those from the posterior....

Grad Student Researches Biology Behind Political Views

If you’ve ever wondered why people stand where they do on the political spectrum, science might have at least part of the answer: People can be biologically predisposed to certain feelings...

Cognitive Scientists Find Links Between Jazz, Speech and Whale Songs

Jazz musicians riffing with each other, humans talking to each other and pods of killer whales all have interactive conversations that are remarkably similar to each other, new research reveals....

Five students gathered around a table in front of a large glass building. The two students in the foreground are facing each other, with one holding an iPad and the other interacting with the iPad's screen.

Growing Public Health Program Launches Standalone Ph.D.

UC Merced recently launched a new standalone Ph.D. program in Public Health, further establishing the university’s commitment to educating the next generation of scholars who are addressing the...

The monks take tea with Professor Noelle and continue discussing concepts in neuroscience.

Researchers Take Cognitive Science to Buddhist Monks

Two UC Merced cognitive scientists spent part of their summer in India this year, teaching neuroscience to a group of exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks. Professors Ramesh Balasubramaniam and David...

Researchers Eye Social Media’s Influence on Relationships, Stress

Nearly 70 percent of Americans use some form of social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey. There is little doubt it affects our daily lives — but how? UC Merced Ph.D. graduate Holly Rus...

Researcher Continues Progress Toward Effective HIV Inhibitor

Patricia LiWang was at an impasse. It was 2011 and the UC Merced professor’s research group had figured out how to make some of the most potent HIV inhibitors even more powerful. LiWang was thrilled...

Blum Center Announces 2017 Seed Grant Recipients

UC Merced’s branch of the Blum Center for Developing Economies rebooted this spring with a faculty-led effort to spend two years working on becoming the hub for all food-security-related research and...

New Study Finds Link Between Unconscious Movement and Reading

Right now, while you are reading these typewritten words, your hand muscles are moving imperceptibly, but measurably. These movements would be even greater if the words were handwritten. That’s...

Research