Science & Technology

Habitat restoration improved populations of 27 out of 41 bird species since 1999 The Putah Creek Riparian Reserve has rebounded significantly over the last 20 years since the Putah Creek Accord restored water flow to the area. A team of wildlife biologists publishing in the journal Ecological Restoration have shown that bird populations have more […]

Exhibit shows scientific and cultural roots of plants used by Hmong people In January, the Herbarium at the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity hosted a botanical tea event with an exhibition of Hmong plant specimens for culinary and medicinal use. A follow-up exhibit was given at the herbarium on Biodiversity Day in February. The […]

UC Climate Video Questioned by UC Researchers According to a video called “The diet that helps fight climate change” released by the Office of the UC President, everyone — including the 238,000 students across the UC system — can help combat climate change on their own. But not everyone is celebrating. On Dec. 12 of […]

Global Virome Project aims to find majority of all unknown viruses An increasing collection of government agencies and scientific research centers are collaborating on a project, called the Global Virome Project, to find a majority of all viruses that exist in mammals in the next ten years. By having information about viruses that may “spill […]

New research shows that prenatal stress promotes developmental plasticity Research by experts at UC Davis, through the behavior of prairie voles, challenges earlier beliefs that prenatal stress is the sole factor in children’s health and development. This research shows that, contrary to popular belief, the negative impact of prenatal stress can be reduced by the […]

Storytelling, improvisation come together to help scientists engage with audience Communication issues occur in day-to-day life, and a recent science communication workshop tackled these issues. Participants included faculty, students, staff from the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and, an actor known for his role on “M*A*S*H,” Alan Alda himself. The primary focus of the […]

Zhou Yu recognized for work with multimodal analysis in AI   Assistant Professor Zhou Yu of the Department of Computer Science was named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” in the field of science for 2018. Holding a doctorate from the Language Technology Institute from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as undergraduate degrees in computer […]

Model shows moon forming from vaporized Earth material Research from Harvard University Ph.D. candidate Simon Lock and UC Davis professor Dr. Sarah Stewart updates the traditional lunar formation theory. A massive body slammed into the Earth, creating a huge spinning cloud of vaporized rock called a synestia. Portions of the synestia eventually formed the moon, […]

Brenna Henn researches African genetics, human origins The bookshelves taking up one wall of Brenna Henn’s office are mostly empty. She’s still moving in, having only arrived at the start of this year as a new associate professor in the anthropology department. Henn’s research focuses on evolutionary and population genetics, particularly in southern Africa. “We […]

Universities have a role in reducing racism by altering curricula Executive director of the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center Dr. Shaun Harper spoke at UC Davis about his research on Feb. 22. The seminar, titled “How Universities Sustain Racism in America”, was part of the UC Davis Forums on the Public University […]

Core facilities help faculty members, students share resources across campus Scientists across UC Davis have become part of a co-op where they collectively share laboratory equipment. A relatively new program is helping researchers reduce the cost of experiments as well as employ experts on the technologies that people from any discipline can use. “It’s called […]

The story behind the the common game piece Small objects are a reflection of human history, so it’s no surprise that we can learn a lot about changing worldviews through the evolution of dice. Cubic dice have been found in small numbers at various archaeological sites and date to the last 2,000 years. A recent […]