Science

UC Merced Leads National Effort to Unlock Quantum Secrets of Twisty Molecules

October 27, 2025

An example showing a chiral molecule and 'handedness.'

A team of scientists led by UC Merced is embarking on a project to understand how the twisted shapes of specific molecules can influence the spin of electrons — a phenomenon that could revolutionize solar energy, electronics and quantum computing. The research, funded by the U.S....

Paper Microscopes Enable Materials Science and Engineering Project to Move Forward

The coronavirus pandemic has upended everything, including UC Merced’s classes and research. But materials science and engineering Professor Christopher Viney and recent graduate and...

Researcher Offers Guide to Coping with COVID-related Stress, Part II

Professor Matthew Zawadzki is with the Department of Psychological Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. His research examines social psychological processes as applied to...

Bacteria Use the Physics of Twist to Measure Their Own Size and Shape

Theoretical physics Professor Ajay Gopinathan has been working over the past decade to model a submicroscopic mystery. Now, he and a team of colleagues have verified an important piece of the puzzle...

Human Waste Treatment Helps Solve Climate-Change Puzzle, New Study Shows

About 4.5 billion people around the globe do not have access to adequate sanitation, and what they do have — typically pit latrines and lagoons — are responsible for widespread illnesses...

Bobcats Help Shape Future of NASA, SPACEX Missions

As the SPACEX Crew Dragon spacecraft left Earth today to ferry two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, many Bobcats were watching the live stream with keen anticipation. It’s...

UC Merced Part of CITRIS’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants

UC Merced professors are leading or participating in four technology projects designed to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (...

Changing Snowmelt Threatens Valley Ag, Way of Life

The San Joaquin Valley — with all its agriculture and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it — is one of the places most at risk because of changing snowmelt patterns, a new...

At the Intersection of Math and Biology, Sindi Lab Sees a Breakthrough in Prion Disease

A UC Merced researcher and her lab have unlocked one of the mysteries that could lead to treatments — or even cures — for prion diseases in mammals. Prion diseases are a family of rare...

Senior Becomes Fourth Bobcat to Win Prestigious Scholarship

Sam Schroeder, a fourth-year undergraduate student working with Professor Valerie Leppert in materials sciences, has been awarded a highly competitive Materials Engineering Scholarship — one...