Science & Technology

Curious behavior of native wildflowers during California’s most recent drought Initially, wildflowers appeared to be mysteriously disappearing from McLaughlin Natural Reserve, which understandably had researchers worried. “We know from other data that some wildflower species appeared to be disappearing from this grassland site,” said Andrew Latimer, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at […]

Distant stars come into focus when light bends around massive galaxies Astronomers have imaged the furthest star yet discovered in the universe and documented an unusually quick brightening and dimming of a different star by using gravity as a magnifying lens. Researchers have given the stars nicknames: the extremely distant star is known as “Icarus” […]

Certain wolbachia strains could spread rapidly through mosquito populations, block transmittance of viruses to humans, UC Davis study shows Wolbachia, a parasitic microbe found in up to two-thirds of insects, was discovered only a few decades ago and is not fully understood. A new study from UC Davis analyzed the interspecific spread of Wolbachia across […]

UC Davis study looks at human evolution through drawing ability Neanderthals, unlike modern humans, have not been credited with artistic abilities, specifically because of the lack of cave art dated to when they existed. Richard Coss, a professor emeritus of psychology at UC Davis, authored a paper that proves his hypothesis that the lack of […]

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, […]