Science & Technology

Researchers at UC Davis determine that the lightness of water vapor should not be excluded from climate models By LILLY ACKERMAN — science@theaggie.org    A recent study from researchers in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources has determined that the lightness of water vapor in the atmosphere has significant impacts on […]

Researchers at UC Davis use chewed plants to test gorillas for human viruses By LILLY ACKERMAN— science@theaggie.org    A recent study by faculty at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s One Health Institute has found no evidence of human herpesviruses (human HSV-1) in mountain gorilla populations. The study did, however, find a new noninvasive sampling […]

The study sheds light on characteristics of the common ancestor By YASH RATHI — science@theaggie.org  All living mammals — from giant blue whales in the Pacific Ocean to small squirrels scurrying on campus — all have a common ancestor that existed 180 million years ago. There isn’t much information available about that common ancestor, but […]

Specific regions in our brains use synchronized brain waves to create neural connections between two seemingly-unrelated entities By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org    Context matters when perceiving faces; our perception of a person with a knife at a birthday party drastically differs from one in a dark alley at night. Recently, a UC Davis Health […]

Professors at the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center provide some useful tips to better select and preserve grapes By YASH RATHI — science@theaggie.org    Researchers at the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center recently discussed improving the quality of post-harvest produce and how to prevent it from rotting. Specifically, two professors from the UC Davis College […]

The procedure marks the first time paralysis has been successfully cured in utero By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org For the first time in the world, UC Davis Health successfully cured paralysis and predicted associated neurological defects with spina bifida for babies in utero during fetal surgery. According to UC Davis Health’s website, spina bifida, also […]

Understanding the process of chromosome pairing in meiosis is important to prevent biological defects in genetics By YASH RATHI — science@theaggie.org    In meiosis — the process through which all the sex cells multiply in eukaryotes — homologous chromosomes pair with each other through recombination. If during this process, there is an incorrect pairing of […]

Skin forms differently at certain body sites, which are predisposed to specific dermatologic diseases By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org   The skin is an organ that functions beyond cosmetic fashion and biological protection. Its composition and layers differ in different areas of the body for specialized functions, which can in turn predispose individuals to location-specific […]

UC Davis collaborative study looks to poplars to understand trees’ growth-regulation process By YASH RATHI — science@theaggie.org    The UC Davis College of Biological Sciences has started a new project that studies the function of the genes that regulate growth and wood formation in poplar trees. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding the […]

A UC Davis retrospective study highlights the importance of preventing ecosystem disruptions to safeguard animal and human health   By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org    From the 1980s to early 2000s, populations of amphibians, including frogs and salamanders, vanished from Costa Rica and Panama. The public did not notice their mysterious disappearance except for small […]

Tetrahymena thermophila is a unicellular organism that relies on a cellular respiration that is slightly different from other eukaryotes like plants and animals   By YASH RATHI — science@theaggie.org    Dr. James A. Lett is a UC Davis principal investigator in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology whose lab focuses on the electron transport […]

Researchers are attempting to use brain-computer interface technology to read and convert neurological signs   By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org   Anarthria is a severe motor speech condition that prevents an individual from entirely articulating speech, usually a result of a neurological injury or progressive disorder, such as a spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral […]