Latest Blog Posts

Laser Purified Silica

Andy Fell — October 14, 2024

Materials science and engineering researchers at the ��ϲ�ͼ��, Davis, and materials company Homerun Resources, Inc., have developed a groundbreaking one-step laser-pulse technique to purify raw silica sand to over 99.99% purity. The method is the first phase in a collaborative effort to create a pathway to a carbon-neutral process of deriving silicon from silica sand.

What Can I Do With a Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology Degree?

Jaylynn Clarissa Velhagen-Dizon — October 11, 2024

Passionate about wildlife? From tracking fluffy ducklings to protecting endangered species, ��ϲ�ͼ�� offers a hands-on conservation education like no other.

What Motivates Food Bank Donors?

Jamie Sara Gelfond — October 11, 2024

In a recent study involving ��ϲ�ͼ�� Professor of Human Ecology Catherine Brinkley, 2.97 millions pounds of food-bank donations from 296 organizations were analyzed to understand the dependencies between community food security and local food movements.

Weekender: Visiting Austrian Composer and Musical Theatre Dance Workshop

Jamie Sara Gelfond — October 10, 2024

All that jazz. Art. Music. Speakers. In the ��ϲ�ͼ�� Arts Blog.

Charging, Not Range, is Becoming a Top Concern For Electric Car Drivers

Andy Fell — October 10, 2024

The Biden administration is using tax credits, regulations and federal investments to shift drivers toward electric vehicles.

AI: A Tectonic Shift in Human Society

Andy Fell — October 08, 2024

The first time most people could communicate with a computer that responded like a real person was in 2022 when OpenAI publicly launched ChatGPT. Just two months later, the app set the record for the fastest-growing user base with 100 million monthly active users.

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, ��ϲ�ͼ��

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 ��ϲ�ͼ�� 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 ��ϲ�ͼ�� 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 ��ϲ�ͼ�� 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 ��ϲ�ͼ�� Center for Watershed Sciences highlights some examples.

Physicist Receives $1.25 Million Grant to Investigate Superconductivity

Andy Fell — August 22, 2024

��ϲ�ͼ�� 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.