Science & Technology

Q: What sparked your fascination with honey bees?

Study finds clothing colors important for UV protection

Just about every UC Davis student owns a cell phone, an iPod or another portable gizmo. Some of us might just be lazy, but many still face the struggle of plugging in devices to recharge – whether it’s finding the right cable or tripping over one in the dark.

The UC Davis Cancer Center, along with four other University of California-designated cancer centers and emerging partners, will take part in a large-scale demonstration project called the ATHENA Breast Health Network. Named after the Greek goddess to symbolize the war against breast cancer, ATHENA will follow and study an estimate of 150, 000 women throughout California for a number of decades. “One benefit of the collaboration is the opportunity to have a large number of patients,” said Colleen Sweeney, co-director of the Breast Cancer Research Program.

American scientists share Nobel Prize Three American scientists were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for their work in cell biology. Elizabeth Blackburn of UCSF,Carol Greider of Johns Hopkins University and Jack Szostak of Massachusetts General Hospital will split the prize money of$1.4million.The trio made an important discovery regarding the ends of chromosomes,with possible implications to the studies of cancer and aging.

Despite the constantly increasing popularity of Macintosh computers,the PC still dominates the market share across campus.Unfortunately,these Windows-based machines are vulnerable to being easily infected with nasty viruses and spyware.These infections are no joke:They pose a significant threat to your personal data.

Invasive species cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year. The speed of an invasion is a big concern for documenting these invasive species. Determining the rate at which these species enter a new territory allows for a prediction of the rate of invasion. Alan Hastings, UC Davis researcher and mathematical ecologist, has been working alongside Brett A. Melbourne of the University of Colorado to study the uncertainty in species invasion.

By the end of the1960s,lethal infectious disease was well under control in developed countries.Due to the advancement of vaccines and antibiotic medication,microbes that once caused mass epidemics rarely caused problems to those with full-functioning immune systems.It seemed,at the turn of the decade,that infectious disease no longer posed a major threat to those living in countries with progressive medicine.

President Obama announced earlier this month that Berni Alder,professor emeritus of applied physics,will receive the National Medal ofScience for a lifetime of research with molecular dynamics.Alder,84,is a retired physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,LLNL,anda cofounder of the UC Davis Applied Science Department.He will be awarded the medal on Oct.7in a White House ceremony with eight other eminent scientists and researchers.

The search for more efficient nuclear reactor fuels has been propelled by a$1.2million grant issued by the Department of Energy to UC Davis researcher Sergey Sarasov. Sarasov is a professor in the physics department at UC Davis and has been working alongside researchers Kristian Haule and Gabriel Kotliar from Rutgers University in New Jersey for10years.The purpose of their research is mainly to address the shortcomings of uranium dioxide and in turn find more efficient sources of fuel.

Over the last several months,the contentious healthcare debate has prompted many questions– some political,some ethical and some economic.Still,they remain unsettled.And until the debate among politicians is resolved,the ultimate impact of reform on the country will be unclear and questions will persist unanswered.

Over 300 researchers, health care professionals, students and Davis residents gathered at UC Davis’ Center for Comparative Medicine on Sunday to commemorate more than a quarter-century of headway made in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The free public event titled “The Discovery of AIDS and HIV: Contributions of California to the Early Years of AIDS Research,” included presentations by over two dozen California researchers.