Science & Technology

The worldwide food shortage and prices are expected to continue increasing until at least 2010, forcing the United Nations World Food Program to take precautionary measures, according to an article on allheadlinenews.com.

Data from the UN program suggest that the prices of some food items have drastically increased by 40 percent last year in some nations. The global food reserves have also decreased from 169 food-aid days in 2007 to 53 days this year, the lowest in 30 years.

The German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, once observed "Knowing is not enough. We must apply."

This ideal could serve for what prompted 207 undergraduate students to go beyond the classroom and share their research discoveries Saturday at the 19th annual Undergraduate Research Conference.

The conference provided undergraduates with the unique opportunity to present research in a professional atmosphere either through an oral presentation or poster display. Students from all disciplines including communication, psychology and biochemistry participated.

Not only is the conference meant to help students apply what they have learned, but it also serves to give students a taste of what is to come if they wish to pursue graduate or professional degrees.

As the world marvels at non-smelling socks,more effective sunscreens and other products made possible with nanotechnology,researchers are questioning whether this tiny science of the future may have a huge impact on the environment and human health.

According to a2007report by Jennifer Sass,a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council,nanoscale silver ions,like the ones used in non-smelling socks,kill the microbes that cause odor.However,such commercial use permits these ions to enter the waste system and eventually the environment,killing beneficial microbes in the soil.

Today

"The Epidemiology and Control of Malaria- Updating the Classical Paradigm"

David Smith

122Briggs,noon to1p.m.

Sponsored by theentomology department

"Australian Weed Eradication Research"

Dane Panetta

3001Plant and Environmental Sciences,12:10to1p.m.

Sponsored by theplant sciences department

Name: Gordon Ng

Major: Biological Sciences

Year: Senior

What got you interested in your major?

I took a general education course, SAS 20 - Genetics and Society, in my freshman year and that triggered my interest in the sciences. From there on I took more science classes and developed a curiosity for molecular biology and how the human body functions.

Today

"Plant-Mediated Indirect Competitionbetween Insect Herbivores - Implications for Weed Biological Control"

James Nechols

122Briggs,noon to1p.m.

Sponsored by the entomology department

"L-Peach - A Crop Model That Can Be Useful to Horticulturalists,Physiologists,Molecular Biologists and Breeders"

Ted DeJong

3001Plant and Environmental Sciences,12:10to1p.m.

Sponsored by the plantsciences department

What do you teach? Why did you decide to teach it?

Well, I teach physics, and I actually got interested about the seventh grade. There was a brief stint when I wanted to be a forest ranger! The way I sort of got started in physics was because my aunt gave me a Christmas gift when I was in the seventh grade. It was a subscription to a book-of-the month club for children, and one of the first books I got was on the Manhattan Project, and they were describing nuclei and stuff and how big things were, and they said that if you take the nucleus of a hydrogen atom, which is a proton and you laid a quadrillion of them end to end they'd take up about a quarter of your fingernail and I said, 'Wow! How do you measure something so small?' Obviously, you don't pull out a meter stick, so how did they determine that size? The seventh grade science teacher I had basically was clueless, but … basically when I got to college, I learned about the Rutherford experiments and how all these sizes were originally determined using the scattering of particles. So, it was just that quest, how do you measure something so small that got me interested in physics, and sort of held onto me.

Ozone kills

A report released byNational Academies' National Research Council has found significant evidence that ozone leads to premature death,especially in the elderly.Children also can be negatively affected by the gas.Ozone(O3) is produced at the earth's surface when light reacts with other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons.

Ozone oxidizes lung tissue,decreasing lung capacity,causing respiratory inflammation and worsening heart disease.It can worsen lung diseases such as asthma.

The sound of metal clinking carries through the hallway as two students help bring out long pieces of steel through Bainer Hall. The students place the structures inside of a perimeter marked by white tape.

The UC Davis Steel Bridge Team, better known as team "Chrome Ollie," is setting up and about to practice assembling their steel bridge for the upcoming Mid-Pacific Regional Competition on Apr. 26 at the Mondavi Center's Parking Structure from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30.

The steel bridge contest brings out other teams in the region to compete against each other in the design and formation of scale-size bridge structures. While the competition can be stressful, it can also be fun.

A small plane whizzes by, hovering low to the ground. One might think that the pilot is trying to have some fun, but in reality the airplane is ejecting certain chemicals to try to eliminate a pest.

This pest is the light brown apple moth, epiphyas postvittana, a non-native insect to North America. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. It is an invasive pest of California's environment, natural habitat and agriculture. Because the Department of Food and Agriculture is fearful that the moth is capable of devastating California's agriculture, an aerial spraying program has been set up to eradicate the moth.

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.