From a small California winery to a large-scale energy project in China, floating photovoltaics — or “floatovoltaics”— are gaining in popularity. Commonly installed over artificial water bodies, from irrigation ponds and reservoirs to wastewater treatment plants, floating solar projects can maximize space for producing clean energy while sparing natural lands.
Researchers from the University of California, Davis, used cell phone pings from mobile apps to better understand how farmworkers respond to wildfire smoke and other hazards.
As California faces pressure to grow both food and energy while protecting biodiversity — all on a finite amount of land — a trend is emerging in the field of clean energy: multi-use solar projects, or sustainable voltaics.
Sometimes, all it takes to eat better is a little nudge in the right direction. A team of UC Davis researchers is working on a new smartphone app that makes it easier to eat healthy by recognizing what’s on your plate and offering personalized suggestions to improve your diet.
From coastal redwoods and Joshua trees to golden poppies and sagebrush, California is a global botanical hotspot. It’s also a place confronted with extreme heat, wildfires and crumbling coastlines. The state’s natural beauty and history of pioneering conservation efforts make it a test bed for protecting biodiversity in the face of current and future climate change, argues a study led by the University of California, Davis.
Artificial intelligence is already changing how people work, communicate online, create art and manage businesses. Now the technology is being used in every aspect of our food systems.
In a peach processing facility, the air might be filled with the sweet aroma of ripe peaches and the sound of equipment humming as it carries out the canning process. At the California Processing Tomato Industry Pilot Plant on campus, students within the Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) get to see that action firsthand. They can also now experience it – virtually.
Much of the discussion around implementing artificial intelligence systems focuses on whether an AI application is “trustworthy”: Does it produce useful, reliable results, free of bias, while ensuring data privacy? But a new paper published Dec. 7 in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence poses a different question: What if an AI is just too good?
Artificial intelligence could be a valuable tool for the future of food safety. New research out of the University of California, Davis, finds that a technique using AI and optical imaging can quickly and accurately identify bacteria in food, making it a promising approach for preventing foodborne outbreaks and illnesses.
