Driven by Curiosity Content

Fish Teeth Show How Ease of Innovation Enables Rapid Evolution

Andy Fell — February 26, 2025 - 8:00am

It’s not what you do, it’s how readily you do it. Rapid evolutionary change might have more to do with how easily a key innovation can be gained or lost rather than with the innovation itself, according to new work by biologists at the University of California, Davis, who studied how teeth in certain fishes evolved in response to food sources and habitats.

Their work was published Feb. 26 in Nature.

Diving in Antarctica

Andy Fell — February 11, 2025 - 2:06pm

The McMurdo Dry Valleys don’t look like they belong in Antarctica. Largely devoid of snow, the landscape is mostly dirt and rock. When explorer Robert Falcon Scott trekked the area in 1903, he referred to it as “the valley of the dead.”

But that name is a misnomer. While life may not be evident to the naked eye, beneath the icy surface of Lake Fryxell, microscopic communities teem with life. Microbes, nematode worms and tardigrades thrive in this environment.

Creating Nanoislands for Better Platinum Catalysts

Andy Fell — January 28, 2025 - 4:27pm

Noble metals such as platinum can make useful catalysts to accelerate chemical reactions, particularly hydrogenation (adding hydrogen atoms to a molecule). The research team led by Professor Bruce Gates at the �ٺ��Ƶ Department of Chemical Engineering is interested in making platinum catalysts that are highly efficient and stable during chemical reactions.

Men and Women Equally Attracted to Younger Partners, �ٺ��Ƶ Study Suggests

Karen Michele Nikos — January 27, 2025 - 12:35pm

Men and women alike are drawn to younger partners, whether or not they realize it. The conclusion came from a University of California, Davis, study of 4,500 blind dates of people seeking a long-term partner.

New Angle Etching Technique for Making Quantum Devices

Andy Fell — January 24, 2025 - 4:40pm

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated an angle etching method for fabricating quantum photonic devices at the wafer scale in silicon carbide.

Color centers are the essential hub for photons (particles of light) in quantum devices. They are the components that emit and maintain photons, functioning as a quantum memory bank. However, they are challenging to fabricate, particularly for the industrial development of quantum technology.

International Students Boost Startup Creation, Lifting Local Jobs and Revenue, New Research Shows

Karen Michele Nikos — January 14, 2025 - 1:39pm

International graduate students created a disproportionate number of new business startups in the United States in the past decade. They also increased entrepreneurialism among their U.S.-born peers, according to new research from the University of California, Davis.

Is This Universe Tuned to Support Life?

Andy Fell — January 10, 2025 - 3:17pm

For life to flourish, the universe had to meet a nesting doll of conditions. The quantum fluctuations that led to the Big Bang had to be just right to kickstart the cosmological chemistry necessary for star, galaxy and planetary formation. Eventually, conditions on one of these planets — Earth — were just right to support the rise of organic matter, leading to the evolution of life. Leading to us.

Was the universe tuned to support life? Or was it cosmological happenstance?

Genetics of Alternating Sexes in Walnuts

Andy Fell — January 02, 2025 - 11:52am

The genetics behind the alternating sexes of walnut trees has been revealed by biologists at the University of California, Davis. The research, published Jan. 3 in Science, reveals a mechanism that has been stable in walnuts and their ancestors going back 40 million years — and which has some parallels to sex determination in humans and other animals.

Your Smart TV is Watching What You Watch

Andy Fell — December 18, 2024 - 2:45pm

If you’re thinking of buying a “smart” TV for the holidays, you ought to know that your new device is constantly capturing snapshots of what’s on screen and sending them back to the manufacturer — even if you are using the device as a computer monitor and not watching TV at all. The findings come from a recent study by computer scientists at the University of California, Davis; University College London; and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, published in Proceedings of the 2024 ACM on Internet Measurement Conference.

Can You Go Home Again? New Study Looks at the Workplace Effects of Boomerangs

Karen Michele Nikos — December 18, 2024 - 9:44am

While movement from job to job throughout one’s career is expected, little research has evaluated the effects of hiring boomerang workers — those who return to a former employer. A new study by a University of California, Davis, researcher and colleagues suggests that in addition to benefits that boomerangs can bring to organizations with their knowledge, experience and familiarity with a team, current employees can benefit from boomerangs’ helpfulness.