Research

For the First Time, All Avian Evolutionary Relationships Revealed Through Collaboration

April 29, 2025

Professor Emily Jane McTavish and colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have mapped the evolution of every known bird species. They created a complete evolutionary tree of bird species by combining data on 9,239 species published in nearly 300 studies between 1990 and 2024 and...

Students Spend Summer Researching Alongside Professors

As a child, Sarah Sanders was fascinated by how some of her bilingual classmates needed to translate conversations for their parents. Called language brokering, the practice often resulted in her...

UCSF, UC Merced to Study Effectiveness of Anti-Tobacco Programs

Researchers with the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Merced will examine the effectiveness of state and local antismoking programs across the United States in an effort to make sure...

Impact: Engineers Building Sustainable Solutions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thl53DGexFk UC Merced graduate student Brandi McKuin recently returned from a trip to India, where she spent time studying the energy needs of rural villages that have...

Professor Discovers Mechanism Behind Bacteria’s Biological Clock

A discovery by a professor at the University of California, Merced, is providing a deeper understanding of the factors that control biological clocks. Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang and his...

Impact: Creating More Realistic Virtual Reality Avatars

http://youtu.be/bWfh28B-hv0 UC Merced's computer graphics lab, with body sensors, motion-capture cameras, and a giant movie screen is straight out of Hollywood. But instead of producing blockbusters...

Researchers Assist IBM in Cognitive Computer Chip Design

A team of researchers led by IBM, including a pair of professors from the University of California, Merced, unveiled today a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the...

Stanford Runner, Researcher Ready for Next Step

Spencer Castro is moving from one of the nation's most established research universities and most successful athletics programs to one building its reputation in both regards. He's also coming home,...

Research Gets to the Root of California's Water Cycle

In a remarkable outdoor laboratory in the Sierra, a team of researchers led by UC Merced hydrologist Roger Bales is using sensors to gather a mother lode of data to greatly improve ecological...

Study Builds on Plausible Scenario for Origin of Life on Earth

A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored...