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Tiny Artificial Cells Can Keep Time, Study Finds

July 28, 2025
A team of UC Merced researchers has shown that tiny artificial cells can accurately keep time, mimicking the daily rhythms found in living organisms. Their findings shed light on how biological clocks stay on schedule despite the inherent molecular noise inside cells. The study, recently published...
A sign posted on a tree in Eastern Europe warns of active land mines.

UC Merced’s Berhe Joins Scientists in Warning of Global Land Mine Crisis

July 24, 2025
More than 100 million land mines remain buried around the world, posing a threat in approximately 70 countries and territories, and killing or injuring about 5,000 people, most of them civilians, every year.  As the world’s geopolitical landscape shifts, nine scientists studying different aspects...
Professor Andy LiWang

LiWang’s Research into Biological Clocks Earns Protein Society Honors

July 21, 2025
Professor Andy LiWang knows what makes us tick, at least at a cellular level. His research into the mechanisms of the oldest biological clock known to humankind has led him to understand how proteins — and hence cells — can tell time. It has also led the UC Merced biochemist to become this year's...
Professor Sora Kim swam with a Nile crocodile for this year's Shark Week special, which focuses of sharks versus prehistoric reptiles. Photo courtesy of Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Professor Dives with Crocs, Displays Megalodon Expertise During Shark Week

July 17, 2025
Shark Week starts Sunday and Professor Sora Kim will be featured again this year in a special airing at 9 p.m. Monday, titled “Jaws vs. Mega Croc,” and the filming allowed her to swim with a Nile crocodile. “I flew to Florida and learned about crocodiles – their evolution, strength, physiology and...
Photo depicts Brittany Barreto Martinez pouring liquid into a test tube in a lab.

UC Merced Breakthrough Could Transform How California Monitors Toxic Algae

July 10, 2025
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County - one of California's largest artificial lakes - not only irrigates Central Valley farmland and supplies drinking water across Silicon Valley and the South Bay, but also draws swimmers, boaters and anglers year-round. Yet for months at a time, forest-green...
Photo depicts a UC Merced student holding a 3D printer available for use at the university's Makerspace.

Imagination the Only Limitation at UC Merced's Makerspace

July 9, 2025
UC Merced's Makerspace lab has been living up to its name recently. The School of Engineering's lab, housed in the Sustainability Research and Engineering building, has been increasingly busy. The Makerspace offers services to courses, research and campus clubs. Last year, Makerspace staff came to...

UC Merced GEM Fellow Seizes Summer Internship Opportunity

July 8, 2025
Mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate Justus Nwoke was awarded a competitive fellowship from the National GEM Consortium, giving him the opportunity to intern at Lam Research Corporation this summer. Nwoke, who was born in Nigeria, has spent most of his adult life in Wichita Falls, Texas. He...
Photo depicts UC Merced Professor Christopher Viney and graduate researcher Kiana Shirzad on a blue and gold graphic background

Researchers Apply Materials Science Equation to Broader Real-World Issues

June 27, 2025
At first glance, a mathematical model that describes how quickly materials transform from one phase to another might seem to have few other practical applications. But what if this kind of model could be adapted to predict the spread of the next pandemic? Two UC Merced researchers have been...
Photo depicts UC Merced student Jesse Martinez operating a robot on the Experimental Smart Farm.

UC Merced's Smart Farm Abuzz with Activity

June 25, 2025
At UC Merced's biggest lab, students work from before sunrise to well after dusk. They are operating the university's Experimental Smart Farm, 40 acres of dirt and plants, research and experiments. They study everything from pollinators to hydroponics, but there are more than just academic...

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