UC Davis Cancer Center bomb threat resolved
Operations at the UC Davis Cancer Center have returned to normal after a bomb threat earlier this week.
An unidentified man called the Cancer Center in Sacramento at 8:45 a.m. on Monday indicating there was a bomb in the facility and demanding $10,000. Police immediately evacuated 150 people from the building including 20 patients who were relocated to other facilities on the Health Center campus. Patients with appointments later in the day were rescheduled.
After conducting a comprehensive search using bomb-sniffing dogs, the police concluded there was no device in the building and operations returned to normal in the early afternoon.
The Cancer Center specializes in research and providing outpatient services such as chemotherapy.
Researchers seek public’s help in continuing fox study
UC Davis researchers who relied on the public to help track the local red fox population over the past two years, are again calling on citizens to report sightings of the animal.
With the help of 350 people, the researchers were able to study 26 Central Valley dens and identify over 100 individual foxes. They are now looking to expand their efforts through the use of remote camera surveys, radiotelemetry and hair snares.
Red foxes, once thought to be an invasive species in the Sacramento Valley, are actually native cousins to the Sierra Nevada red fox. Though native to this area, the red fox is invasive in lower elevations such as the San Joaquin Valley and coastal areas where it threatens local bird species.
To learn more about the study or report a red fox sighting (living or dead) go to foxsurvey.ucdavis.edu.
UC Riverside researcher names lichen after Obama
The first species of any organism to be named after President Barack Obama turned out to be a lichen – a plant growth similar to moss – discovered on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Southern California.
UC Riverside researcher Kerry Knudsen discovered “Caloplaca obamae” in 2007 while surveying lichen diversity on the Channel Islands. She said she named C. obamae in honor of the president’s support of science and science education and wrote her research paper during the “international jubilation” over his election.
One of 300 lichen species on Santa Rosa Island and 17,000 worldwide, C. obamae came close to extinction due to the intensive sheep and cattle ranching introduced to the island in the 1850s. Since the removal of cattle 50 years ago, plant species have again began flourish on Santa Rosa.
Lichens, which result from the presence of algae and fungi together, grow slowly and live for years. Knudsen says the discovery is proof that the protection of public lands is vital, as other plant species may have disappeared completely without ever being known to science.
ALYSOUN BONDE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
