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As researchers scramble to make sense of the new H1N1 influenza virus that is spreading across the globe, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported encouraging signs last Sunday on the outbreak's severity, but kept a wary stance on how the virus will behave in the future.
High energy physicists at Fermilab in Illinois, with the help of the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, are racing to discover the universe's best kept secret. They smash protons and antiprotons together at nearly the speed of light to find what some call the "Holy Grail of physics" while others just consider it the essential ingredient for life.
As we move deeper into the digital age, some of us may wonder how much faster our cameras can process images while others may rue the carbon footprint left by constantly recharging our cell phone and iPod batteries. The good news, it seems, is that high speed processing and green technology can go hand in hand to power everyday electronics.
Peter Richerson has traveled the world learning about ecology and biology. Since his time as a UC Davis undergraduate and graduate student in the 1960s, he has written two books and has helped pioneer the field of cultural ecology. After returning to UC Davis as a faculty member in 1971 he has done research on topics ranging from plankton populations in Lake Tahoe to the role of culture in human evolution.
Risk of heart disease strongly linked to waist size
Researchers have found more evidence that a larger waist size alone, even in those of normal weight, raises the risk for heart disease significantly.
The strong link was uncovered by analyzing data from over 80,360 Swedish men and women between the ages of 45 and 85 who were enrolled in two long-term health studies over a period of seven years ending in 2004. Over the course of the studies, over 1,100 of the participants were either hospitalized or died from heart disease.
Thirty years after PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were banned in the U.S., UC Davis researchers have discovered how the class of toxic chemicals may cause behavioral disorders in some children, even at the low levels that people encounter now.
The series of three new studies together reveal that PCBs can disrupt cellular signals crucial for normal brain development and function.
Today
Transforming Transportation and Energy: Politics and Technology
Dan Sperling, director, Institute of Transportation Studies, and professor of civil engineering and environmental science and policy - UC Davis
360 Shields Library 12:10 to 1 p.m.
Sponsored by the Institute of Governmental Affairs
Sequential Speciation: Why Are There So Many SMALL Animals?
Andrew Forbes, postdoctoral scholar - UC Davis department of entomology
122 Briggs 12:10 to 1 p.m.
Sponsored by entomology
Signaling in Electric Fish: Behavior, Neurobiology, Molecular Evolution
Harold Zakon, Dr. - University of Texas at Austin
1022 Life Sciences 1:10 to 2 p.m.
Sponsored by Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior College of Biological Sciences
Environmental Protection Agency designates carbon dioxide a pollutant
The EPA formally declared on Friday that carbon dioxide as well as five other heat-trapping gases are pollutants endangering public health and welfare.
The move, which has been anticipated since the election of President Barack Obama, begins a 60-day comment period that must be completed before any regulations can be set in motion.
The National Cancer Institute has awarded UC Davis researchers $1.25 million to fund a five-year project focused on identifying diagnostic biomarkers for kidney cancer. The grant will enable research that sets the groundwork for developing a new, simple test to detect kidney cancer in its early stages when it is most treatable.
With springtime comes festive events like Easter and Mother's Day, and with all the blooming flowers, a bouquet is often the gift of choice. Experts place caution on one kind of flower, however, for the beautiful plant has proven to be toxic - and often fatal - to felines.
Ingestion of even minute amounts of a lily flower or its pollen causes severe kidney damage in a cat, and without treatment, mortality rate is extremely high.
UC Davis researcher Gary Leisorowitz was recently awarded $900,000 to formulate a diagnostic test for ovarian cancer. The test aims to detect ovarian cancer at its preliminary stages. The grant was given by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Leisorowitz, along with fellow researcher Professor Carlito Lebrilla, has been working mostly with glycomics analysis to aid in cancer diagnosis. The glycomics analysis is used as a biomarker that would compare changes in this serum in women who have ovarian cancer versus healthy women.
Study suggests mice produce egg cells after birth
Shanghai scientists say they have detected germ-line cells that produce unfertilized eggs, or oocytes, in both young and old mice.
The scientists worked only with mice, but because all mammals are physiologically similar, any proof that the rodents could produce eggs after birth would encourage research to see if humans could, too.
Researchers at UC Davis and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have captured the first video footage of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) spreading between T cells through contact interfaces called virological synapses.
The groundbreaking study, which was published in the Mar. 27 issue of Science, provides evidence backing virological synapses (VS) as viable targets for developing new drugs to combat HIV infection.
A recent study led by UC Davis researchers helps shed light on the puzzling and rarely researched question as to why certain animals - like skunks and zebras - have evolved to maintain contrasting color patterns.
"Why are skunks so successful?" asked Jennifer Hunter, a recent Ph.D. graduate who conducted the study for her dissertation. "It's because they have this amazing evolutionary tool that fends off predators."
UC Davis professor Art Shapiro has spent most of his life studying butterflies. The Philadelphia native first discovered his love of nature and natural history as a young child, often taking long walks in the woods and New Jersey Pine Barrens.
After obtaining his bachelor's degree in biology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, he earned his Ph.D. in entomology from Cornell University in 1970.
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