Science Says Blog Posts

Do you do research at UC Davis, and are you interested in sharing your work with the broader Davis community? If your answer to those questions is an enthusiastic "yes," then Posters for the Public is the event for you!

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Our future looks delicious... Or does it? The technology surrounding developing new food products is evolving quickly and hurdling us towards a world of cell-based meat and beanless coffee. As consumer interest in sustainable food production and products continues to grow, several companies have risen to the challenge of developing climate-conscious (but still palatable!) consumables. But how will these new products be perceived? Can a coffee lover be convinced to try out beanless coffee made from date pits?

We often think of soil as “just dirt”—something to be cleaned or discarded, but the truth is soil plays a crucial role in our food system. Soil is made up of microorganisms and nutrients that are required for crops to grow. Despite its importance, however, soil health has historically been disregarded in favor of prioritizing agricultural productivity. Fortunately, a new trend focusing on maintaining soil health has the potential to usher in a New Green Revolution.

From the fields at Standing Rock Native American Reservation, the chant “Mní wičhóni” could be heard reverberating through the gathered crowd of protestors. This Lakota phrase, meaning “Water is life,” was taken up as a unifying message grounding the demonstrators’ mission.

Now in her sixties, Willena Scott-White nostalgically reminisced about the family farm she grew up on, surrounded by other African American-owned farms. Such communities have a long and tortuous history. In the decades after the Civil War, Black sharecroppers cultivated their leased land (where they were often exploited as undervalued laborers).

Do you enjoy a cold, refreshing glass of water on a hot day? Unfortunately, not everyone has that privilege: Over the past three decades, millions of Americans have been exposed to unsafe drinking water.

In 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh that manufactured clothing for several well-known retailers (e.g. Walmart, JC Penny) collapsed, killing more than 1,100 workers and injuring around 2,500 more. It is the deadliest disaster the garment industry has ever suffered.

Disclaimer: This blog post discusses suicide. If you or a loved one are in need of support, please call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

In Greek mythology, the prophet Cassandra foretold the fall of Troy and other tragedies, but she was cursed to never be believed despite her forecasts repeatedly coming to fruition.

We have all experienced nervousness before a social engagement at some point. Perhaps you had anxiety before speaking in front of a crowd or butterflies in your stomach in anticipation of a first date. As social beings, it is normal human behavior to care about what others think of you. But what happens when you care too much? This is the unfortunate reality for individuals who suffer from social anxiety disorder. Remember that feeling you get before you public speak? Imagine feeling that every time you interact with somebody new.

What makes cheese, cheese? Or milk, milk? How does naming food products create such controversy that it inspires lawsuits?

It is finally here. After over six years of studying, pipetting, writing, pipetting, teaching, pipetting, planning, pipetting, troubleshooting, pipetting, attending meetings, pipetting, mentoring and then some more pipetting, the letter stating I have completed all requirements to be awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in Microbiology from UC Davis has arrived. It will be a couple more months until the final diploma comes through the mail and there are still some manuscripts pending review to be published.

Taking a shot at better chances of survival, songbirds encounter stress. Long-distance migration is one of these stressful survival mechanisms. When birds are stressed, their bodies begin to produce hormones (glucocorticoids) which are meant to help the birds cope with stressors. But they become problematic when produced for too long.

It is an understatement to say that the pandemic has dramatically disrupted normalcy in one way or another. For months, going to work or school for many of us has meant not leaving the house. Additionally, we have all been advised to keep our distance from friends and family to avoid spreading the virus, making individuals--particularly adolescents--prone to feeling alone and isolated. Some teens may not even have access to electronic devices that allow them to virtually spend time with friends, making the lack of social contact especially hard for these individuals.

Although our brains remain the same size since early childhood, they continue to rapidly develop all the way into adolescence and even early adulthood. During this critical period in development, the cells within our brains called neurons continue to refine connections with each other so that important connections are strengthened and irrelevant connections are eliminated. Adolescence is also associated with alterations in the amount of chemicals released by neurons and the amount of receptors the chemicals bind to.