The wonderful adventure of Pocket Monsters (aka Pokemon) began on the fateful day of Feb. 27, 1996, over 17 years ago.

Looking back, those of us who have religiously played each passing version have either sold our outdated gaming consoles, or simply stored them in the hopes we might find a few minutes in our adult lives to return, nostalgically, to our past avatars — hurling a Blastoise, Venusaur or Charizard towards Lance from the very first elite four challenge, a victory we still hold dear to our hearts.

Ultimately, perhaps the most magical part about Pokemon is the game’s ability to unite every possible societal subculture under one banner. The line of poke-fanatics outside GameStop awaiting their shiny new copy of the sixth generation game included jocks, hipsters, tweens, sorority girls, basement nerds, the occasional professional adult and an impressive sampling of everyone else under the sun. Of course there are those out there who judge us for our Poke-passion, but, to put it very kindly, they have literally no idea what they’re missing — especially now.

The Kalos Region:

Just a few days ago, Pokemon versions X and Y (generation six) were released for the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS gaming consoles, and they are a Game Freak-ing masterpiece to say the very least. Generation six is set in Kalos, a new region of the Pokemon world curiously fashioned to resemble France. The Kalos region features highly realistic geography, where an intricate network of waterways and rivers weave through the region. Vast mountain ranges soar into gelid high altitudes and fall into expansive plains below, and a sizable ocean exists off of the region’s Western Coast.

Characters:

Versions X and Y feature more than 65 new Pokemon, and allow the user to “Mega Evolve” certain party members — such as the original starter Pokemon from the first generation (a comprehensive list of mega-evolution species can be easily found on the web). This new mega-evolution ability is exclusive to the Kalos region, and puts an exciting new spin on some of the oldest pokemon companions.

To get a Pokemon to Mega Evolve, they must be holding a species-specific Mega-Stone, Mega Ring and a Key Stone, all retrieved at specific points during the game. If the Pokemon of interest has these items, the Mega Evolution can occur during battle, allowing a trainer to manipulate the appearance, special abilities, stats and sometimes even the Pokemon’s type, all at the touch of a button. I mean, how cool would a Blastoise be with a few extra water cannons up it’s sleeves?

These games have also seen the introduction of a new type of Pokemon — Fairy, which is super-effective against Dark, and Fighting, immune to Dragon, and not very effective against Fire and Psychic type.

Gameplay:

Pokemon X and Y are a massively impressive departure from old gameplay. They look and feel almost nothing like past versions of Pokemon, yet are 200 percent better. X and Y allow players to walk on an eight-directional grid, which allows more realistic, diagonal movement (previous versions only offered a four-way movement grid).

Additionally, since the game is offered on the Nintendo 3DS console, the game can be played with or without a 3D option engaged. Nintendo fabricated the uppermost screen of the 3DS to create a multi-dimensional gameplay option. The bottom screen remains in 2D, but the top screen can display all gaming images in a three-dimensional fashion. Whether you use it or not is based upon your personal preference and/or tendency to experience headaches, nausea or something else unpleasant. It’s not for everyone, but it certainly is an evolving form of gameplay.

“When I have it on, it makes me feel cross-eyed. And it hurts my brain,” said Clayton Rizzi, a UC Davis alumnus.

“I think the 3D option is more an aesthetic feature than anything else. I usually play with it off, but every once in a while, I like to see how the game looks in 3D,” said Logan Mayne, a UC Davis grad student.

In addition to a 3D option, the true awesomeness of Nintendo’s connectivity settings have certainly manifested in X and Y. Players are able to connect, battle and trade with other trainers via the internet option dubbed the “Player Search System.” This means that, if you have the internet available, you can seek out fellow Pokemon trainers from anywhere in the world. Just to put that in perspective, the game is offered in Spanish and English speaking countries, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Korea and is played in many more.

Pokemon versions X and Y have introduced revolutionary features to the gameplay of the classic Pocket Monster saga. There are innumerable improvements to be found and experienced within versions X and Y, and it is each player’s duty to discover them. Whether X or Y is your first, twelfth, or twenty-third Pokemon endeavor, either version is sure to captivate more hours in your day than you thought previously possible; after all, you’ve “Gotta catch ‘em all!”

EMILY SEFEROVICH can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

As nights grow longer, we need to illuminate our way through these dark times. A great first step for UC Davis students would be to use a bike light. Yes, these are required for everyone who chooses to bike at night, but two factors keep most of us from using one and being safe. Light theft and bad weather can make even the best of us too lazy to protect ourselves. Luckily, two MIT bike geeks have a solution.

Fortified Bicycle Alliance is a company dedicated to bettering the lives of bikers and complicating those of thieves. Founders Slava Menn and Tivan Amour are scientists turned entrepreneurs. In 2011, their friend was hit by a car after having his bike light stolen. This inspired them to fight against bike crime and stand up for the one-in-three city bikers who have also lost their lights to thieves. In addition, they wanted to help out the 80 percent of bikers who frequently forget their lights at home.

Biking at night without a light is not only unsafe but also illegal. Akshay Prabhu, a third-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, works for the Bike Barn on campus and is informed about the law.

“I believe the law is that a front bike light is required but the rear you’re allowed to have a reflector or a rear light,” Prabhu said.

According to CVC 21201, California law requires a white headlight and reflectors any time a bike is ridden at night. Failing to comply can earn a warning, a citation or more.

Sanjam Sawhney, a first-year undeclared in the College of Biological Sciences, said he finds bike lights to be important, especially when biking alone at night.

“I haven’t been in a bike accident yet and I’d like to keep it that way,” Sawhney said.

While some of us may be lucky to get by without lights, Amour knows their true importance.

“The standard reflectors that come stock on bikes are not optimal for being seen at night because … on the average road, the illumination is coming from above … so you don’t have any sort of natural reflection that is going to be able to hit these reflectors … You need a constant source of illumination so that you’re not running a risk of not being seen,” Amour said.

Menn and Amour’s solution, released in April 2012, employs a pill-bottle-like turning mechanism, a unique screw head and a sleek design cut from aluminum. To test their product and improve it, Menn and Amour took it to the MIT campus. With a sign that read “Free bike lights… if you can steal them,” they offered the crowd all kinds of tools. By the end of the day, a few clever students had come close enough to inspire design changes, but no one was able to actually steal the lights.

While the competition in the bike light market is focusing on cheap, quick-release lights to protect against weather damage and possible theft, Fortified Bicycle Alliance employs a different strategy. Their design can handle the elements and comes guaranteed with the “forever promise.” This means that not only are their products built to last, but also if anything does happen to them, their customers are guaranteed a replacement.

Amour says that we are a bit lazy when it comes to our own safety. Some students just forgo bike lights altogether rather than put up with taking them on and off every day.

Sawhney said he would choose detachable bike lights over permanent ones.

“I prefer detachable lights because I’m on a budget and would rather not risk spending money twice on bike lights,” Sawhney said.

To learn more about these products, visit fortifiedbike.com.

CATHERINE MAYO can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

In a study spanning two decades, researchers from an international team witnessed the near-complete extinction of 12 species of small mammals once found on forest islands in Thailand.

The decline in populations was linked to two causes: the isolation of populations after flooding due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam, and the arrival of an aggressively invasive species — the Malayan field rat.

Lead author of the study, Luke Gibson, grew up in Davis and is now completing his doctorate at the National University of Singapore.

“Many native species cannot sustain viable populations in small habitat areas, and the invasive Malayan field rat outcompeted and displaced native species,” Gibson said. “We do not have data to differentiate between these two mechanisms (since all islands had high densities of the Malayan field rat), but it seems pretty clear that its presence was a big factor … The replacement of a group of 12 native species with one hyperabundant generalist species can increase the risk of disease outbreaks in both animals and humans.”

Gibson’s study began five years after a man-made reservoir was flooded. By that time, the Malayan field rat was already abundant on most islands.

“The Malayan field rat probably colonized islands immediately after flooding, so its impact on native species was likely immediate … 25 to 26 years after isolation, we found on average less than one individual — of all native species — per island,” Gibson said.

Sohab Arif, a third-year biochemistry and molecular biology major, also explained the impact of disturbances on animal species.

“Any kind of interference can cause disturbance in the habitat and lead to extinction of that species,” Arif said. “For example the hydroelectric dam, the individuals of a species might rely on different sources of food, but these sources are no longer available thus leading to the extinction of that species.”

Gibson said that the loss of biodiversity is the loss of an ecosystem. What the researchers found was the near-total loss of an entire group of small mammals in the tropical forest ecosystem is akin to the removal of a whole organ from the human body. Without that one piece, the rest will fall apart. In tropical forests, small mammals play important roles as seed dispersers, and thus their disappearance could greatly slow the growth of new forests.

According to Brian Todd, assistant professor of wildlife biology, biodiversity is a necessary part of an ecosystem.

“Biodiversity represents all the cogs in the important machinery of life. When we start to remove the cogs, it’s only a matter of time before the machinery begins to break down and the important services like clean air, clean water and abundant game start to disappear,” Todd said.

Gibson said to avoid further threats to biodiversity, forests should be preserved.

“About half of the world’s forests have already been destroyed. Certainly growing human populations and appetites will require further clearance to provide our food and energy, but if we want to preserve a world with diverse animal communities and without serious threats of disease outbreaks in domestic animals and agricultural crops and in humans, we have got to save a large portion of the remaining forest,” Gibson said. “The future of tropical forests — and our species — depends on it.”

CLAIRE SULLIVAN-HALPERN can be reached at science@theaggie.org.