Science & Technology

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 […]

Analyzing S100A8 expression can indicate early evolution of melanoma in the surrounding cells of the skin tumor microenvironment By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org According to the National Cancer Institute, melanomas, a type of skin cancer that occurs in cells that produce melanin, are the fifth most common cancer type in the United States and cause […]

Scientists weigh in on how many microbes we should eat, how many most people are eating in everyday diet   By MONICA MANMADKAR — science@theaggie.org   Nutrients in food and beverages are essential to ensuring that bodies are equipped with the building blocks necessary to stay healthy and fight disease. UC Davis researchers have measured […]

Sucrose, sugar’s more natural form, found to be “as harmful” as high-fructose corn syrup   By MONICA MANMADKAR — science@theaggie.org   According to a study published by UC Davis researchers in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, consumption of sweetened beverages has been linked to increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Participants between the […]

Increased rates of overdose and mental health crises spur closer monitoring of patients undergoing opioid tapering   By BRANDON NGUYEN — science@theaggie.org   The opioid epidemic or crisis began in the 1990s when pharmaceutical companies marketed opioids as non-addictive and encouraged physicians and clinicians to prescribe the medication at a higher rate for patients with […]

UC Davis researchers uncover and compare potential benefits of dog immunotherapies   By MONICA MANMADKAR — science@theaggie.org   Comparative oncology is one of five research programs within the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has a long history of supporting collaborative comparative and translational research between the medical and veterinary schools. This is in part […]

Study shows how problems are mapped throughout the brain   By MONICA MANMADKAR — science@theaggie.org   It is known that humans and animals represent choice-outcome relationships in a manner traceable by many researchers and observers. Humans and animals can also represent the hidden structure of the environment that relates certain events and entities to each […]

New research by Dr. Andrew Halley and the Krubitzer Lab at UC Davis details how bat brains are highly specialized for echolocation and flight By MARGO ROSENBAUM — science@theaggie.org People often wonder how the mammals we see swinging through trees, swimming in the ocean or flying over our heads relate to us. We ponder how millions […]

UC Davis conducted a survey that suggests increasing the number of green spaces for urban farming can be helpful   By MONICA MANMADKAR — science@theaggie.org   Gardening has always been a refuge for people to rely on in moments of crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic was not dissimilar. In a global survey conducted by UC […]