Life and Environmental Sciences

Hurricanes Create Powerful Changes Deep in the Ocean, Study Reveals

June 6, 2025

Hurricane Bud left some surprising changes in its wake, UC Merced researchers found.

With careful planning and a little luck, researchers found a surprising upside to hurricanes after a Category 4 storm disrupted their expedition off the coast of Mexico. The team was able to sample the ocean right after the storm passed and found that the storms churn the ocean so powerfully and...

Lions consume a giraffe carcass in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania.

Researchers Accurately Model Animals’ Hunting, Scavenging Behavior

A group of UC Merced researchers modeled predation behaviors, as well as changes in those behaviors, among large carnivores, developing a new theory that will help biologists assess the health of...

A great white shark passes the diving cage holding Professor Sora Kim.

UC Merced Researcher Dives with the Big Sharks on Shark Week

UC Merced's resident shark expert, Professor Sora Kim, will be featured on the prime-time, premiere-night episode of Discovery’s Shark Week discussing an enormous, legendary sea creature...

UC President Michael Drake signs a white coat to celebrate an important milestone for UC Merced's Medical Education Building.

Following the Mission to Improve Valley Health Care

It was a groundbreaking Tuesday night so there were shovels. Many shovels. Full sized, posterized, miniaturized (in a gift box). All to mark a symbolic turning of earth for UC Merced’s Medical...

SICB Awarded Funding for Major Cultural Change Initiative

The National Science Foundation recently awarded nearly $500,000 to the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) to help develop an internal culture that fosters inclusion, diversity...

Public Radio Highlights Natural Reserves, New Program for Undergraduates

The latest installment of North State Public Radio’s Blue Dot podcast focuses on the UC Natural Reserve System and the national parks and features a segment about the UC Merced ¿field...

Professor Claire Lukens, right, and recent graduate Kolleen Peyakov measure the geochemistry of a rock using an XRF spectrometer.

Lukens’ Latest Research Tracks Sediment’s Journey in the Eastern Sierra

Rocks, from ponderous boulders to tiny grains of sand, are subject to the whims of moisture, weather and time as they tumble from surrounding slopes into rivers, pools and lakes. UC Merced...

Researcher Among the World's Most Highly Cited for the Fourth Straight Year

Distinguished Professor Martin Hagger from the Department of Psychological Sciences has been awarded one of this year’s Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher awards. He is one of four...

Climate Change to Drive Surge in Insects that Attack Almonds, Peaches, Walnuts

As a result of climate change, the Golden State's farms are expected to face a surge in agricultural pests, which poses a threat to California's specialty crops industry. Populations of...

Environmental Systems Student Named UCAR Next Generation Policy Fellow

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) has named environmental systems Ph.D. student Kate DeMarsh a recipient of the 2023 Next Generation Fellowship. The UCAR fellowship is...