University of Nevada Reno, Author at YubaNet

Julissa Larios, a doctoral candidate in the College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, is using state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and techniques to evaluate the full engineering behavior of this innovative pavement binder technology.

Recycled-plastic pavement withstands heavy trucks and extreme weather

by University of Nevada Reno April 25, 2023April 25, 2023

RENO, Nev. – Asphalt pavement formulated with recycled plastic has successfully survived heavy truck traffic and the atmospheric rivers of the winter of 2022-23 after a section of Highway 99 in California flooded in January. “It’s a testament to the new technology,” Elie Hajj, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Nevada, […]

College of Education & Human Development and Extension surveying farm and ranch workers to gauge stress and develop resources for stress management

Life

Study finds high stress levels in agriculture producers, identifies paths to coping

by University of Nevada Reno March 14, 2023March 14, 2023

Reno, Nev. – With rising production costs, increased workloads, family issues and livestock uncertainties – to name a few challenges – farmers and ranchers are facing health issues related to stress at higher levels than seen in the general population, according to a study led by the University of Nevada, Reno for a collaboration of […]

Paige dePolo (front) works to measure ichthyosaur fossils in the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park’s public quarry as an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is accompanied by the Smithsonian 3D Programs team manager Holly Little, University of Nevada, Reno Professor Paula Noble and lead author Neil Kelley. Photo courtesy of Paula Noble.

Sci/Tech

Cluster of prehistoric giant marine reptile fossils believed to be birthing grounds

by University of Nevada Reno December 20, 2022December 20, 2022

RENO, Nev. – As many as 37 fossilized, school bus-sized marine reptiles from 225 million years ago are clustered in a remote, mountainous desert region of central Nevada in the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. A team of scientists have offered new evidence for solving the decades-old puzzle of why the extinct ichthyosaurs are there. The research, […]

Ladder fuel loss from the 96,000-acre Ferguson Fire in the Sierra Nevada in 2018 is captured with LiDAR. Red indicates biomass that was consumed in the fire, blue indicates biomass that survived the fire.

Sci/Tech

Big data modeling, forest fuels mapping aids in mitigating catastrophic wildfire risk

by University of Nevada Reno October 25, 2022October 25, 2022

RENO, Nev. – Modeling and mapping fire-vulnerable forest vegetation across millions of acres in California, scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno are using a variety of new technologies with massive amounts of data and computational power. This research will help optimize fuel management to reduce fire risk, support carbon sequestration and improve water quality. […]

Ted Scambos, co-principal investigator from University of Colorado, Boulder, makes final adjustments to equipment on tower in preparation for the 2022-2023 winter in Antarctic.

Enviro

West Antarctic’s Thwaites Glacier under threat from warming sea temperatures

by University of Nevada Reno September 30, 2022September 30, 2022

RENO, Nev. – The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is eroding back from the ocean and flowing faster with each year, threatening to retreat and collapse within decades to a few centuries. If it does, it will potentially draw much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with it. The region has enough ice to raise […]

A 13-pound adult giant salmon carp specimen, one of the world’s most threatened fish species that hasn’t been seen in decades, earlier this year was reported from a local wet market along the Mekong River, the only river system on Earth where the species lives.

Enviro

Feared extinct, the ‘Mekong Ghost’ fish resurfaces

by University of Nevada Reno September 26, 2022September 26, 2022

RENO, Nev. – One of the world’s most threatened fish species, for which scientists have been searching for decades, has been unexpectedly rediscovered in northern Cambodia. No adult giant salmon carp had been officially recorded since 2004, but earlier this year a 13-pound specimen was reported from a local wet market along the Mekong River, […]

A 661-pound (300 kilos) giant freshwater stingray caught and released near a remote island in the Mekong River is largest freshwater fish in the world. Photo courtesy Wonder of the Mekong and University of Nevada, Reno.

Enviro

World’s largest freshwater fish found, released in the Cambodian Mekong River

by University of Nevada Reno June 20, 2022June 20, 2022

Stung Treng, Cambodia – What has long been one of the great wildlife mysteries – the identity of the world’s largest freshwater fish – appears to have been solved last week as fishers in northern Cambodia, working with an international team of scientists, discovered a 661-pound (300 kilos) giant freshwater stingray near a remote island […]

Sci/Tech

Gene-editing breakthrough in the battle against tick-borne diseases

by University of Nevada Reno February 15, 2022February 15, 2022

RENO, Nevada – University-led research has developed a new method that allows gene editing in ticks at the embryo stage, a protocol previously thought impossible for ticks. This ground-breaking discovery, published in iScience Journal, could decrease the ability of ticks to be a vector for disease causing pathogens. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, […]

Giant sequoias are the third longest-lived tree species with one of the oldest known specimens to have been at least 3,220 years old in the Converse Basin Grove of Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada of California

Sci/Tech

Research suggests some trees have potential for immortality

by University of Nevada Reno November 16, 2021November 16, 2021

RENO, Nevada November 16, 2021 – Large, majestic trees are iconic symbols of great age among living organisms, yet published evidence suggests that trees do not die because of genetically programmed age deterioration, but rather are killed by an external agent or a disturbance event. And, they can be a record of thousands of years […]

Aspen trees are declining in numbers across North America due to warming temperatures and lack of precipitation.

Enviro

Continent‑wide decline of aspen driven by climate change

by University of Nevada Reno November 2, 2021November 2, 2021

RENO, Nevada November 2, 2021 – While forests of pine and fir trees get a lot of attention, the more ubiquitous and colorful quaking aspen is a keystone species that is experiencing substantial increases in mortality and decreases in growth over the past three decades across most parts of its geographic range in North America, […]

Heavy ash-laden smoke billowed into the Lake Tahoe basin during the Caldor Fire, prompting citizen scientists to document the ash for a research project at the University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute that is developing fire tornado prediction tools for public safety during extreme wildfires.

Sci/Tech

Fire tornado prediction tools to be developed for public safety during extreme wildfires

by University of Nevada Reno October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

With massive wildfires plaguing the western United States, scientists have been tracking an increase in dangerous wildfire-generated extremes, including fire-generated thunderstorms and tornados embedded in wildfire plumes that can reach up to a mile high. University of Nevada, Reno and DRI researchers are building the predictive and diagnostic tools that will transform the understanding of […]

Researchers found thick layers of black ash from the Caldor Fire on the shores of Lake Tahoe

Regional

Caldor wildfire smoke impact study underway on Lake Tahoe’s health

by University of Nevada Reno September 24, 2021September 24, 2021

As flames from the Caldor Fire swept up and over the summit of the Sierra Nevada, long-time Lake Tahoe researcher Sudeep Chandra from the University of Nevada, Reno assembled a team of scientists for a rapid response to gather samples of smoke and ash that could harm the fabled lake’s ecology and clarity. “With this […]

he ALERTWildfire thermal camera atop the Heavenly Mountain Resort at South Lake Tahoe, California allows the fire to be monitored through the heavy smoke and provides early identification of spot fires as seen The bright areas of the photo shows the height of the heat signature, not necessarily the height of the flames. The photo shows the view on Sunday evening, Aug. 29 looking to the west.

Regional

ALERTWildfire thermal cameras show Caldor Fire spotting into Tahoe Basin

by University of Nevada Reno August 29, 2021August 29, 2021

RENO, Nev. – One of the two thermal cameras in place for the Caldor Fire shows active flames heading into the Lake Tahoe Basin with a dozen or more spot fires already established. “The FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera located on the tower on the top of Heavenly Ski Resort allows the fire to be monitored […]

The thermal camera atop Mt. Danaher, California gives firefighters the ability to see through thick smoke that otherwise keeps them from tracking fire progress directly ahead of the fire. The photo shows the view on Saturday, Aug. 28 at 10:12 a.m..

Regional

Thermal cameras installed by ALERTWildfire to help firefighters see through Caldor Fire smoke

by University of Nevada Reno August 28, 2021August 28, 2021

Two thermal cameras are in place for the Caldor Fire to help firefighters see active flames through the dense smoke that hampers efforts to knock down the blaze. ALERTWildfire crews from the Nevada Seismological Laboratory and DigitalPath, a wireless Internet service provider based in Chico, California, installed the second camera Friday, Aug. 27 at Angel’s […]

AMEX Principle Investigator Sarah Bisbing checking survival at CAL FIRE’s Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest reforestation trial site, which was planted within the burn scar of the 2020 Castle Fire.

Regional

Forest and research resilience demonstrated through Sierra Nevada AMEX study

by University of Nevada Reno August 27, 2021August 27, 2021

The Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Experiment (AMEX), a University of Nevada, Reno-led forest management experiment, could not be more timely nor more critical as the region experiences another summer of megafires and enters a period scientists refer to as “the Pyrocene.” This Pyrocene is driven by an accumulation of fuels in forests (think of wood in […]

The 2014 King Fire burned for six weeks and came within 10 miles of Lake Tahoe. The plume of smoke produced as it burned 97,000 acres of National Forest and private lands traveled into nearby states.

California

Wildfire smoke pollution alters lake ecosystems on regional scale

by University of Nevada Reno June 10, 2021June 10, 2021

RENO, Nevada – The wildfire season has arrived in North America, and recent research highlights that the impacts of wildfire smoke emissions can alter aquatic ecosystems far away from the sources of the fire. In the summer of 2018, intense smoke from six major wildfires covered Castle Lake, west of Mt. Shasta California, for 55 […]

Sarrah Dunham-Cheatham, assistant research professor at the University of Nevada, Reno and lead author of the paper on mercury levels in pet food, looks through bags of samples.

Life

Mercury levels in pet food cause for concern, fish-based foods main culprit

by University of Nevada Reno May 3, 2021May 3, 2021

RENO, Nevada – While much of the cat and dog food tested in a years-long study had concentrations of mercury that are high for chronic consumption, according to a new study published in the Elsevier journal Science of the Total Environment, the majority of the pet foods tested had mercury concentrations below suggested levels. The […]

Sci/Tech

Mountain chickadees resist age-related cognitive declines

by University of Nevada Reno April 7, 2021April 7, 2021

RENO, Nevada – A combination of harsh winters and strong selection on cognitive abilities needed to find thousands of food caches lead to the evolution of specialized spatial cognition in food-caching species such as mountain chickadees, allowing them to resist age-related cognitive declines, according to a University of Nevada, Reno study published in the Proceedings […]

Regional

Wastewater testing finds SARS-CoV-2 in Truckee Meadows wastewater

by University of Nevada Reno March 23, 2021March 23, 2021

RENO/SPARKS, Nevada March 23, 2021 – Sampling Truckee Meadows wastewater for the SARS-CoV-2 virus found a very clear upward spike approximately seven days before the spike appeared in the community in the form of people testing positive for the virus, according to a study conducted by the University of Nevada, Reno and community partners. “The […]

California

Climate change and suppression tactics are critical factors increasing fires

by University of Nevada Reno February 18, 2021February 18, 2021

February 18, 2021 – The millions of people affected by 2020’s record-breaking and deadly fires can attest to the fact that wildfire hazards are increasing across western North America. Both climate change and forest management have been blamed, but the relative influence of these drivers is still heavily debated. The results of a recent study show […]

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