At the most recent Davis Science Café, Professor Tessa Hill, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, discussed the rapid changes occurring in the oceans due to human-induced climate change. But a potential solution may reside in the disappearing seagrass beds hugging the California coastline.
As society reckons with the fallout from this atmospheric chemical change, University of California researchers are seeking solutions to not only mitigate emissions but to harness carbon dioxide waste.
In his most recent book, Professor Hsuan Hsu explores the origin of air conditioning and U.S. dependence on the technology, as well as the consequences of it on the environment, public health and society. He also grapples with when and how air conditioning becomes a need — or even a human right — and when it is a luxury.
A $1.6 million Climate Action Seed Grant is funding a project to survey the landscape and plan climate resilience projects on Indian allotment lands. The UC Davis-led project will utilize landscape surveys, climate modeling, and the expertise of allottees to understand what is on their land and how it has changed over the past 20 years.
In the lab of Professor of Chemistry Davide Donadio, physical chemistry graduate student Maggie Berrens investigates the fundamental properties of the ice surface to better understand how ice acts as a catalyst for environmental reactions.
In the prologue for their book At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans, UC Davis scientist Tessa Hill and writer Eric Simons open with an astute observation about humanity’s relationship with the ocean. While so much of the big blue is still a mystery to us, the beauty and life within it are being affected by our choices as a species. In some ways, the oceans are changing faster than we can study them.
Knowledge about the Earth and its environment is woven throughout these new books, including two from College of Letters and Science faculty, that came out in 2023 or are about to be published. From oceans, fire and evolution to transportation and sustainability, these books inspire action on the world’s most pressing environmental issues.
Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. Research published in Nature Communications combines geology and genetics, showing how changes in the early Earth prompted a shift in how animals eat.
White abalone shells are magnificent structures. Translucent during the marine snail’s juvenile days, the extremely durable shell increases in opacity as the organism ages, gaining its paint-splatter-esque red, brown and white coloring from the algae it eats. But abalone, along with other marine organisms, are facing a crisis, one that affects the integrity of their shells.
Over the course of her career, Distinguished Professor Isabel Montañez has created a
research niche in the fields of geochemistry and paleoclimatology: applying an Earth
systems science approach to recreate Earth from eons past. For her monumental work
in the geology field, Montañez recently received the Geological Society of America’s
Arthur L. Day Medal.
