Column

Generative AI programs have the potential to destroy intellectual labor   By EMILIE BROWN — emrbrown@ucdavis.edu   This article was not written by AI. (No, seriously.) We’ve all heard of it. The AI promise to take the work out of everything from sending emails to writing your college admissions essays to finishing your novel. ChatGPT […]

Why it is always wiser to tell the truth   By YASMEEN O’BRIEN — yjobrien@ucdavis.edu   A few years ago, I was introduced to the Czech proverb: “Better a lie that soothes than a truth that hurts.” When I came across it for the first time as a 17-year-old, I thought it sounded beautiful and […]

Recent mass shootings show that more national comprehensive gun reform is needed   By CLAIRE SCHAD — cfschad@ucdavis.edu    In the first month of 2023, California and the rest of the U.S. was plagued with the awful reality that is gun violence. First, a mass shooting at a Lunar New Year’s festival left 10 dead […]

Biden and Trump have both been caught mishandling confidential documents, but the situations are not the same   By CLAIRE SCHAD — cfschad@ucdavis.edu    Classified documents just keep turning up in places they don’t belong. First, 15 boxes were retrieved from former President Donald Trump’s estate after a probe by the National Archives and Records […]

Native Yolo County plants and their unique features   By MAYA KORNYEYEVA — mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu   Davis, California and its surrounding area are situated in a unique location for plant diversity. Located predominantly in the Central Valley, the region boasts a warm climate and an abundance of wetlands, making it a diverse site for both flora […]

The best South Asian foods to try other than the “basics”    By JENA TUFAIL — jjtufail@ucdavis.edu   Growing up, all I ever ate was Pakistani food. I used to be jealous of my friends who ate lunch in the school cafeteria or brought what I considered “normal foods” like Lunchables. It wasn’t until I […]

Don’t let uncertainty or fear of failure hold you back — dream big   By JENA TUFAIL — jjtufail@ucdavis.edu   When I was younger, I used to only imagine what I could do from a “realistic” standpoint. What I thought I could do was always limited by what I deemed realistic for myself. Recently, however, […]

We should not leave behind pandemic-era teaching methods that made education more flexible   By CLAIRE SCHAD — cfschad@ucdavis.edu   As the winter quarter continues to ramp up, there seems to be a steady increase in the number of sick students in my classes. The constant phlegmy coughs and stuffy noses seem to surround me […]

Pluto has been at the heart of years of astronomical debate   By EMILIE BROWN — emrbrown@ucdavis.edu   Feb. 18 will mark the 93rd anniversary of the discovery of Pluto (the dwarf planet, not the cartoon dog). There’s no denying that the little planet holds a special place in many people’s hearts. To understand why […]

We must create boundaries on generative art to mitigate its impact on creators   By MAYA KORNYEYEVA — mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu   In June 2022, Cosmopolitan published the first ever AI-generated magazine cover, designed in a collaboration between OpenAI and artist Karen X. Cheng. And it took just 20 seconds to make. OpenAI and programs like MidJourney, […]

Why women are underrepresented in STEM and how we can start to close the gap   By EMILIE BROWN — emrbrown@ucdavis.edu   If you are a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) major, I’m willing to bet that at some point during your time in college, you have found yourself in a classroom or lecture […]

The cause of our “egg-flation” and what we can do about it   By MICHELLE MENDOZA — mimendoza@ucdavis.edu   I never expected to struggle to find eggs. On average, Americans consume roughly 285.7 eggs per year, and per capita consumption of eggs has increased by 15% in the past 20 years, totaling 96.9 billion eggs […]