Exposing wine grapes to sunlight was the key to making a good quality cabernet. But even the toughest grapes may not withstand the extreme heat that comes with climate change. Too much heat, like California has experienced with recent heat waves, can lead to jarringly jam-like wines that are high in alcohol and sugar and […]
UC Davis
Posted inCalifornia
UC Davis Grieves the Loss of Fish
UC Davis issued the following statement today (Aug. 11): We are devastated to report that a catastrophic failure has resulted in the loss of about 21,000 fish at the UC Davis Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture, or CABA. The loss appears to be due to chlorine exposure, to which fish are especially sensitive. We […]
Posted inRegional
UC Davis Launches Clinical Trials to Treat a Deadly Coronavirus Disease in Cats (Not the One that Causes COVID-19)
August 10, 2022 – Scientists from the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine have launched new clinical trials focused on improving treatments for feline infectious peritonitis, or FIP, and are currently enrolling patients at the UC Davis veterinary hospital. FIP is a serious disease caused by a feline coronavirus variant, though not the […]
Posted inRegional
Tahoe State of the Lake Report 2022
The University of California, Davis, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, or TERC, yesterday released its annual Tahoe: State of the Lake Report. The report informs nonscientists about important factors affecting the health of Lake Tahoe and provides the scientific underpinnings for restoration and management decisions within the Lake Tahoe Basin. The report summarizes data collected during 2021 in […]
Posted inLife
Cats Injured in Wildfires at Risk of Deadly Blood Clots
Cats who suffered burns and smoke inhalation in urban California wildfires are at risk of forming deadly blood clots, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. The study, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, follows up on a previous discovery that showed […]
Posted inRegional
Lake Tahoe Clarity Report for 2021
The cobalt blue waters of Lake Tahoe were about as clear in 2021 as they were in 2020. But a broader look at clarity measurements shows there is no pattern of consistent clarity improvement over the past 20 years. The lake also has not fully recovered from a spike of fine particles that flowed into […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Global Food Supply-Chain Issues Call for Solutions
Global supply issues related to the pandemic and war in Ukraine have highlighted yet another global vulnerability — food availability. While international trade allows countries to buffer against domestic food shortfalls and gain access to larger markets, what happens when supplies run short, or the global supply chain slows or even breaks down like it […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Should There Be More Microbes on Your Plate?
May 18, 2022 – Our diets provide us with the building blocks we need to stay healthy and fight disease. The nutrients in foods and beverages can be tallied up to know if we are getting what our bodies need. Yet what if a nutrient has been overlooked? For instance, friendly microbes in raw and […]
Posted inCalifornia
UC Davis Welcomes Native American Opportunity Program for Students
May 5, 2022 – In a continuing effort to make college more affordable and accessible to California Native American students, University of California, Davis, is working now to implement the UC Native American Opportunity Plan, announced by University of California. The plan provides for in-state tuition and fees to be fully covered for admitted students who […]
Posted inRegional
UC Davis Report: California’s 2020 Wildfire Season
Just over 9,900 wildfires burned about 4.3 million acres in 2020. That’s more than twice the previous record of acres burned in California. Yet it is about average compared to burn rates likely experienced before Euro-American settlement, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, that summarizes the 2020 fire season and examines […]
Posted inEnviro
Pathogens Can Hitch a Ride on Plastic to Reach the Sea
Microplastics are a pathway for pathogens on land to reach the ocean, with likely consequences for human and wildlife health, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, is the first to connect microplastics in the ocean with land-based pathogens. It found that microplastics […]
Posted inRegional
UC Davis: Empowering landowners to learn to burn
Smoke billows over the forest like a slow-moving fog. Dried oak leaves singe, crackle and curl into ash. Neighbors, scientists and agency staffers rake the embers, directing the flames with calm, careful control. Ted Odell’s grandson runs along his namesake trail, Henry’s Hill, to adjust a hose. This is Odell’s property in Placer County, where […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Older wildfire smoke plumes can affect climate
Aerosols carried in wildfire smoke plumes that are hundreds of hours old can still affect climate, according to a study out of the University of California, Davis. The research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, suggests that wildfire emissions even 10 days old can affect the properties of aerosols — suspended liquid or […]
Posted inLife
People turned to gardening for stress relief, food access during pandemic
People who turned to gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic did so to relieve stress, connect with others and grow their own food in hopes of avoiding the virus, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) and international partners. The survey report, “Gardening during […]
Posted inCalifornia
Natural Habitat Maximizes the Benefits of Birds for Farmers, Food Safety and Conservation
A supportive environment can bring out the best in an individual — even for a bird. After an E.coli outbreak in 2006 devastated the spinach industry, farmers were pressured to remove natural habitat to keep wildlife — and the foodborne pathogens they can sometimes carry — from visiting crops. A study published today from the […]
Posted inEnviro
How politics, society, and tech shape the path of climate change
Politics and society largely dictate climate policy ambitions and therefore the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, yet climate change models and projections rarely include political and social drivers. A study from the University of California, Davis, simulated 100,000 possible future policy and emissions trajectories to identify relevant variables within the climate-social system that could impact […]
Posted inEnviro
A Possible COVID-19 Silver Lining for Great Ape Conservation
Respiratory illness outbreaks among wild mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park have declined since the start of COVID-19, according to a “Correspondence” report in the journal Nature from Gorilla Doctors and the Rwanda Development Board. Mountain gorillas are susceptible to human-transmitted respiratory pathogens. Respiratory illness is the second leading cause of death in wild, human-habituated […]
Posted inRegional
Amid Snow and Ice Declines, What Happens to Sierra Lakes in the Winter?
How small mountain lakes spend their winters is largely unknown to scientists, despite winter representing nearly half the year in such environments. A study by the University of California, Davis, helps demystify what happens above and below the ice. The study, published in a special issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, is the first […]
Posted inRegional
Just What Is a ‘Resilient’ Forest, Anyway?
January 19, 2022 – What does a “resilient” forest look like in California’s Sierra Nevada? A lot fewer trees than we’re used to, according to a study of frequent-fire forests from the University of California, Davis. More than a century ago, Sierra Nevada forests faced almost no competition from neighboring trees for resources. The tree […]
Posted inCalifornia
UC Davis: Evidence for shared earthquakes between San Andreas and San Jacinto Faults
The San Andreas and San Jacinto faults have ruptured simultaneously at least three times in the past 2,000 years, most recently in 1812, according to a new study by geologists at the University of California, Davis, and San Diego State University. The work was published Dec. 7 in the journal Geology. Large earthquakes involving multiple […]