Latest Blog Posts

From Viruses to Galaxies, How Machine Learning Helps Scientific Discovery

Andy Fell — October 03, 2024

Peruse any news media outlet and you’ll probably find an article touting or warning about the potential impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. With the advent of publicly accessible generative AI models like ChatGPT, the field is having its moment in the sun like never before.

Weekender: Noon Concert is Back; London Phil Coming to Mondavi

Jamie Sara Gelfond — October 03, 2024

Comunidad Anquari is first noon concert of fall

Thursday, Oct. 3, 12:05 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, �ٺ��Ƶ

Navigate college fairs like a pro

Isabella E Beristain — October 02, 2024

The best questions you can ask at a college fair are ones that help you picture yourself on campus and are not answerable through a quick Google search.

(W)ringing in the New California Water Year

Andy Fell — October 01, 2024

Oct. 1 marks the start of a new water year in California, as we head into the cooler, rainier months. In a new blog post, Jay Lund and Alvar Escriva-Bou at the �ٺ��Ƶ Center for Watershed Sciences and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering reflect on the year just ending and what might be ahead for WY2025.

Ongoing Art Exhibits in Davis

Jamie Sara Gelfond — September 30, 2024

Debuting at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art: Phillip Byrne, Beatriz Cortez, Kang Sung Lee, and Candace Lin’s Entangled Writing.

At the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art until Dec. 29, 2024.

Weekender: New Mobile Moo-seum, Movie Screenings, Art Events

Jamie Sara Gelfond — September 25, 2024

'Brenda Mallory: In the Absence of Instruction' now at the Gorman Museum of Native American Art

On view through Sunday, Jan. 26, 181 Old Davis Road, Davis, Free

Taking the Earth’s Temperature Over the Past 485 Million Years

Andy Fell — September 19, 2024

Palm trees in Alaska, crocodiles in Wyoming: Fossils show that Earth’s temperature has changed over hundreds of millions of years. Now a new study co-led by the Smithsonian and the University of Arizona, with Professor Isabel Montañez of the �ٺ��Ƶ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has produced a curve of global mean surface temperatures over the past 485 million years. The new curve, published Sept. 19 in Science, reveals that Earth’s temperature has varied more than previously thought as life has diversified, populated land and endured multiple mass extinctions.

Rohde Awarded Commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress

Jamie Sara Gelfond — September 18, 2024

A �ٺ��Ƶ professor recently received a 2024 commission from the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation ) to write a new work for Brightwork New Music

What Does it Mean To Own Something?

Karen Michele Nikos — September 06, 2024

For most of his adolescence, Gerardo Con Diaz viewed the world through the prism of mathematics. He excelled at numbers and computation, winning mathematics competitions while growing up in Costa Rica and later majoring in the subject while studying at Harvard University. He was enroute to a mathematics career, but something was off.

“There was this nagging sensation that there might be a path I hadn’t considered,” Diaz recalled.

Weekender: Fall Exhibits, Open Studios, and New Art!

Jamie Sara Gelfond — September 05, 2024

This month’s Art Spark theme at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art: Encapsulated

Saturdays and Sundays 1-4 p.m.

Recent Volcanoes on the Moon?

Andy Fell — September 04, 2024

New results from China’s Chang’e 5 lunar samples returned to Earth provide evidence for active volcanoes on the Moon as recently as 120 million years ago. Previously, scientists had thought that any activity with magma (molten rock) rising to the Moon’s surface ended billions of years ago.

California Native Fish in Decline

Andy Fell — September 03, 2024

From mighty sturgeon to tiny smelt, California's native fish are in trouble, under pressure from a variety of causes including drought, habitat loss and diversion of water for human uses, and climate change. A new blog post from Professor Andrew Rypel and Distinguished Professor emeritus Peter Moyle at the �ٺ��Ƶ Center for Watershed Sciences highlights some examples.

Physicist Receives $1.25 Million Grant to Investigate Superconductivity

Andy Fell — August 22, 2024

�ٺ��Ƶ physicist Inna Vishik is among the third annual cohort of Experimental Physics Investigators supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Vishik, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, joins 18 other researchers nationwide who will each receive a five-year, $1.25 million grant to pursue new research goals and explore uncharted, innovative ideas.

How to curate a college list

Isabella E Beristain — August 22, 2024

Get an admissions expert’s tips on how to choose the right colleges, decide how many to apply to and create a college list that fits your goals.

No Evidence of a Common Set of Regeneration Genes

Andy Fell — August 19, 2024

Some animals, especially those that have been around for a long time in evolutionary terms, possess extraordinary abilities to regenerate lost limbs or organs. These animals, such as flatworms, salamanders and zebrafish, are not at all closely related, suggesting that the ability to regenerate goes far back in evolutionary time. Is it possible to find a common set of genes for regeneration, that could unlock a new understanding of this process?

How Do You Take History from the Front Porch to the Streets?

Karen Michele Nikos — August 19, 2024

Dave Peters’ porch in West Oakland is a place everyone in the area knows, partly because of the décor, but mostly because of the effervescent, exuberant man who spends many days there, calling out to neighbors and passersby, letting people know that he is there and letting people know that he recognizes that they are there too.

New Microscope Offers Faster, High-Resolution Brain Imaging

Andy Fell — August 15, 2024

Researchers at �ٺ��Ƶ have developed a new microscope to capture high-speed images of brain cell activity with less harm to brain tissue. The new approach could be used in research with mice to provide a clearer view of how neurons communicate in real time, leading to new insights into brain function and neurological diseases.

The Conversation: What is the Meaning of Kamala?

Karen Michele Nikos — August 14, 2024

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris became a presence on the national scene, her name — a common one for women in India — has attracted a lot of attention, most specifically for its pronunciation.

The three-syllable word should be pronounced “Come-a-laa” (Kamalā), with the final long “a” signaling a feminine noun in Sanskrit. In the United States, it is often enunciated with stresses placed on the first or second syllable.

What Can I Do with a Chemical Engineering Degree?

Tatiana Muniz — August 13, 2024

Learn what chemical engineers do, where they work and how much they earn. Find out how to become a chemical engineer and if it’s the right job for you.

Can Autonomous Vehicles Dream of Electric Traffic?

Andy Fell — August 08, 2024

An engineering professor at the University of California, Davis, is striving to make autonomous vehicles, or AVs, safer by changing how researchers train them.

According to Professor Junshan Zhang of the �ٺ��Ƶ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, AVs struggle when confronted with unforeseen events, such as a car driving on the wrong side of the road.