Science & Technology

For American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, experiments conducted in the labs of UC Davis might mean the difference between life and death. Researchers in the UC Davis department of materials science recently designed a superstrong aluminum alloy that could be used to strengthen the shells of military vehicles.

In early September, Ryosuke Motani stood in Anhui Province, China at the foot of a cliff called Turtle Mountain, watching a backhoe scrape part of the mountain’s precious fossil record into dust. The cliff is part of a limestone mine that is the center of the local economy, but it also happens to house one of the world’s richest deposits of ichthyosaur fossils. Motani, a UC Davis professor of paleontology, visited the province last month on a twofold mission: to excavate fossils, and to petition local governments to conserve sites like this one.

Last week we looked at whether it would be possible to clone Abraham Lincoln from the hair and blood samples preserved in a museum. Sadly, it wouldn’t (the DNA is probably too degraded). But the issue of cloning a celebrity brings up the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. How much of your personality is governed by your environment and how much do you owe to your genes?

Thirty-six million years ago, in the land of modern-day Peru, lived a five-foot tall penguin. Scientists announced on Friday the discovery of Inkayca paracacensis, a flightless seabird that makes today’s emperor penguins look shrimpy. Fossils of the giant penguin show that it had twice the body mass of an emperor penguin and a pointy beak about 23 centimeters long.

Could a bag of chicken scraps help protect an endangered species? The answer is yes.

The average cost of red Roma tomatoes at Safeway is $0.56 each. The average cost of a pack of 75 seeds to grow tomato plants – yielding bunches of tomatoes seasonally – is $1.59. For most college students, the latter, cheaper price holds more appeal. But how do you know if your backyard is suitable for growing tomatoes?

I stood six inches away from Abraham Lincoln’s DNA.

When non-native ants reached California in the 1800’s, co-operation between groups of ants led to a destructive “super-colony.” Today, scientists are searching for a solution.

The Greeks believed Poseidon caused earthquakes when he hit the ground with his trident. Legends in Siberia held that the earth shook when mythical dogs scratched at fleas. In Mexico, it was El Diablo who ripped the earth open from the inside. The lesson: earthquakes are beyond mortal control.

It started with a daring escape.

Cassandra Swett never expected that a field of corn would be her undoing. But there it was, her cornfield, ransacked by hungry crows. Her project destroyed.

A recent UC Davis Human Performance Laboratory study found that landing on the toes after a forward jump cuts forces on the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in half, potentially preventing the ACL from snapping.