Science & Technology

Carrots connection to orange, nutrition, and dinosaurs.

Sometimes, the evolutionary history of a species can be found in a fossil record. Other times, DNA and genetic fingerprints replace rocks and imprints.

That is the case for the carrot, the richest crop source of vitamin A in the American diet, whose full genetic code has been deciphered by a team led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison in collaboration with the University of California, Davis.

Facts and Fiction on Livestock and Climate Change

As the November 2015 Global Climate Change Conference COP21 concluded in Paris, 196 countries reached agreement on the reduction of fossil fuel use and emissions in the production and consumption of energy, even to the extent of potentially phasing out fossil fuels out entirely. 

Gene affects germination and flowering; big implications for climate change adaptation

Like most annuals, lettuce plants live out their lives in quiet, three-act dramas that follow the seasons. Seed dormancy gives way to germination; the young plant emerges and grows; and finally in the climax of flowering, a new generation of seeds is produced. It’s remarkably predictable, but the genetics that coordinates these changes with environmental cues has not been well understood.

Swapping vacation for valuable experience

In 2013 Alyssa Obester was a senior majoring in Environmental Science and Management who chose to spend her summer gathering vital information to help a threatened strain of Chinook salmon.

Greenhouse interns cultivate new skills outside the classroom

Students who are interested in a greenhouse internship with Garry Pearson need more than just a passion for plants. They need persistence.

Sophomore greenhouse intern Ariana Ramzian said it took several email inquiries before she heard back from Pearson, who serves as the lead greenhouse manager for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Her persistence paid off, and Ramzian has been an intern at the west campus greenhouses since spring quarter of her freshman year.

Planning, research, and fresh ideas will help shape water policy

One of the most positive outcomes of the four-year drought is how it focused attention on the importance of groundwater and the need for better management of this resource in some areas of the state.

Participating in fieldwork is the high-water mark of summer.

Environmental science students had an opportunity to study water at the source last summer, as they accompanied Professor Sam Sandoval Solis to collect data on California rivers and streams.

The bigger the challenge, the more excited Amanjot Kaur gets about figuring it out.

“It kills me when I don’t understand something — it just makes me more determined,” said Kaur.

Kaur is no stranger to challenge. Born and raised in India, Kaur moved with her family to Livingston, California, when she was in the eighth grade. She found the transition jarring, especially at school, where she struggled to learn English and was the only Indian student.

A common antimicrobial found in common soaps may cause liver damage and raise cancer risk.

Long-term exposure to triclosan, an antimicrobial agent commonly found in a broad array of soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and other consumer products, may have potentially serious health consequences, reports a research team including a UC Davis scientist.