Science & Technology

Whenever there is a discussion on the use of psychedelic drugs, such as acid or psilocybin (mushrooms), for medical rather than recreational uses, two polarized opinions tend to appear. One group will always emphasize the dangers of these drugs: They may tell stories about people who had bad trips, or were arrested for acting oddly […]

UC Davis researchers have found a method for using an electronic nose to detect if fruit has fully ripened, which in the future could reduce costs for farmers harvesting crops, as well as give researchers a more objective tool for measuring fruit flavor and maturity. The electronic nose, called zNose, uses a technique called gas […]

When it comes to fitness, there are a lot of myths out there to talk about. Because people’s bodies can be so different, and because there are many different regimens specially made for different people, wading through all the claims can be very difficult. One movement is known as “confusing your muscles.” The claim is […]

Since its establishment in 1968, the Body Donation Program at the UC Davis Medical Center has promoted the education of medical students and research. “Of the bodies donated, about half go toward anatomical education and the other half go toward research,” said Charlotte Wacker, the director of the Body Donation Program. Donated cadavers are used […]

Of the 5 million Americans who play football in a given year, 3.5 million of them are children ages seven to 13. Despite this, little is known about the effects of the constant head-to-head impact players frequently incur during a typical game. But Stefan Duma, a biomedical engineering professor and researcher at Virginia Tech University, […]

It’s March, and that means that it’s Apple time. Just like with the iPad 2 last year, Apple has once again chosen March as the month to reveal its newest iPad version. Interestingly, Apple has not named the newest iteration, iPad 3; instead, it’s just being called the new iPad. It certainly has some new […]

Researchers have made important new discoveries about the evolution of the senses in animals by identifying a light-based, or “photic,” sense in a multicellular marine animal called hydra. The discoveries are reported in a new article in the journal BMC Biology, written by David Plachetzki, who is currently a post doctoral fellow working in the […]

Many of us are going on trips to see family and old friends for spring break. In the process, many of you will probably be drinking alcohol. This column is going to be half science, half public service announcement. Knowing what happens to the body and brain when you consume alcohol can inform you when […]

Every time we go to sleep, our bodies turn off our senses of sight, sound and smell. However, there is another sense that always remains active, that is affected by almost no diseases and is more crucial to our survival than any other: pain. Without pain, we would never know when we were injured, which […]

Among college students, depression is so common that it is often referred to as the “common cold of mental health concerns” by psychologists. A 2011 survey of UC Davis students, performed by the American College Health Association, showed that 20 percent of students acknowledged feeling so depressed in the last 12 months that it was […]

Pizza, burgers, ramen, burritos and pretty much anything that can be made instantly are part of many college students’ diets. Although these choices might not have immediate health impacts for students beside weight gain, they can lead to a wide variety of problems later in life. “Many students don’t prepare foods for themselves. They get […]

It’s easy to take for granted how well our bodies work, at least most of the time. Bones stay strong and rigid for support, food flows through the digestive tract, and we constantly breathe in and out without conscious thought. Obviously, any one of these things and more can go wrong if you’re unlucky, but […]