Science & Technology

Headline: Beyond the Small Talk

Name: Ayn Reyes

Year: Senior

Major: Human development

What influenced you to choose your major?

I was originally a genetics major, but I realized if I went on that path, I would probably end up going into research. I'm interested more in the human interaction aspects of genetics, and I want to go into genetic counseling, so I can do that with human development instead.

Today

"Reproductive Allocation and Life History Evolution in Variable Environments"

Carol Boggs

122 Briggs, noon to 1 p.m.

Sponsored by the entomology department

Computers might run on infrared light

Computer engineers at the University of Utah have begun to build computers that can harness infrared light, the only part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has not yet been utilized for communication. The engineers expect that in another 10 years they will have built ultra-fast computers that don't run on electricity.

Where electricity is conducted through metal wires, computer circuits built on light rely on fiber optic cables and devices called waveguides to split the light into different colors or "channels" of information.

You hit your snooze button for the third time and suddenly realize you have 10 minutes before your next class starts. You clamber out of bed, jumping around and stabbing a leg through each pant leg while attempting to read the blurry lines of numbers on the bus schedule. As you try to figure out which bus you could catch, you take a chance and hope the bus that arrives in less than a minute will be late.

This game of chance could soon become a distant memory, as Global Positioning System mass transit tracking systems are beginning to be launched through the country's university campuses.

Leading physicists say "God particle" soon to be found

Forty years ago, British physicist Peter Higgs argued that there was a force that gave mass to the universe, enabling life to exist. From this invisible force, named the Higgs field, comes a particle called the Higgs boson. Now, as a particle accelerator in Geneva is nearly ready to begin functioning in May, Higgs says he is 90 percent sure that the particle will be found.

Today

"Determining the Mechanism of Transmission of Xyellla fastidiosa by Sharpshooters"

Elaine Backus

122 Briggs, noon to 1 p.m.

Sponsored by the entomology department

"Cling Peach Mechanization - Chapter 2: Thinning, and the Rest of the Story"

Kitren Glozer

3001 Plant and Environmental Sciences, 12:10 to 1 p.m.

Sponsored by the plant sciences department

Name: Donald Benner

Year: Senior

Major: Mechanical engineering

How did you choose your major?

I wanted to be able to apply math and science, and I know that you had many more options with an engineering degree than you did with a math or physics degree.

Employment opportunities are shrinking, food and gas prices are rising, houses are being foreclosed and banks have stopped their liberal lending policies. Does this mean our economy is in a recession, that daunting word that strikes fear in the hearts of the government and consumers alike? Not necessarily. Does the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States, have a plan to help stimulate the economy beyond a temporary fix? Only time will tell, say economists.

First of all, it must be noted that recession has a complicated definition, and can only be officially announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, said Kevin Salyer, professor of economics at UC Davis, in an e-mail interview.

"A rule of thumb definition is two quarters (6 months) of negative GDP growth," Salyer said. "We are not technically in a recession yet (but some economists believe we are … and today's jobs data suggests that they might be correct)."

Natural selection, a process through which those most suited to environmental conditions survive to reproduce, has been considered central to theories of evolution. However, a study conducted by Tim Weaver, UC Davis professor of anthropology, may give more weight to the theory of genetic drift - the idea that random chance can explain genetic and phenotypic changes in a species over time.

Weaver compared cranial measurements from modern human skulls and Neanderthal specimens to conclude that genetic drift is a plausible explanation of why modern humans and Neanderthals diverged 40,000 years ago.

Virulent wheat fungus spreads into Iran

Puccinia graminis, or Ug99, previously found in East Africa and Yemen, has spread to the bread basket of Iran, putting countries east of Iran at risk.

Approximately 80 percent of the wheat varieties grown in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are susceptible to the fungus, which is capable of decimating entire fields of wheat.

Today

A Tangled Web: Exploring the Interplay of Omnivory and Wound-Inducible Plant Responses

Ken Spence

122 Briggs, noon to 1 p.m.

Sponsored by the Entomology department

The Strange Abjuration of the Last Inca Sovereign

Marco Curatola Petrocchi

5214 Social Sciences and Humanities, 12:05 to 1:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas

What do you do?

I am a type of geologist called a stratigrapher. Stratigraphy is a big word meaning that we read the layers of rock that are basically the pages of history of our planet. From these layers of rock we can tell things like ancient climates [and] ancient environments. The history of evolution is written in the types of rocks that I look at.… In a very broad, general way, I am an earth historian.

How did you get interested in this field?

I became interested in geology as an undergraduate simply because I like being outdoors; I like nature and I like science. It is the same characteristics that all geologists have. You like to combine your interests in science with your appreciation for the outdoors. I like looking at a landscape and understanding and what it means, how it got there and what it is telling me.

I try to convey that in the classes that I teach. I try to get students to look around and understand why the Central Valley is flat, why the Sierras are scalloped, and get them to visualize ice age glaciers and where the granite of the High Sierras came from.

Milk is good for your bones, but its production is creating a big problem with air and water pollution.

According to a recent UC Davis press release, manure being produced in dairies releases chemicals that are impacting air, water and climate quality.

California produces 21 percent of the national milk supply and grosses $6 billion a year in other dairy products, making pollution a large issue for the state.

Everywhere you go, you see little wires hanging from people's heads. Everyone is rockin' out in their own world with their headphones and MP3 players, and you want to do the same. But,[omit tf] buying the right kind of headphones may can be a daunting task for the uneducated consumer.

Chances are,, if you've bought an MP3 player, you want to get decent sound out of it as well.This article aims to clarify the difference between headphone types and help you make a buying decision.

A new drug has been discovered that can prevent programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis. The drug could be a novel therapy for treating heart attack, stroke and neurodegenerative diseases, in which nerve cells are lost.