Category: Environment

Gene editing invasive species out of New Zealand

Posted blbahnPosted in Book Review, Environment, Genetics

By Jessie Lau, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ‘20
Author’s Note: Since the advent of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-CRISPR Associated Protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) discovery and biotechnological breakthroughs thereafter, this revolutionary application has been primarily focused on human health, particularly fostering solutions to numerous debilitating ailments. However, the general public has offered little attention towards the use of this engineering feat in a broader ecological system […]

Genetically Engineered Crops: A Food Security Solution?

Posted blbahnPosted in Book Review, Environment

By Roxanna Pignolet, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 20’
Author’s Note: Since I started working on plant metabolites as an undergraduate researcher in the Shih Lab, I’ve developed a great appreciation for the power of plant genetic engineering to address a wide variety of problems. A uniquely global and increasingly relevant concern is how to continue to feed the world’s growing population in the face of climate change. I decided to write this paper to provide a snapshot of the current research being done to innovate crop species that will survive in the face of climate change. […]

A Chemical Report on Heptachlor (Heptachlor Epoxide)

Posted blbahnPosted in Biology, Environment, Health and Medicine

By Kaiming Tan Author’s Note: This report analyzes and explains the biological, chemical, and environmental importance of heptachlor. More and more in today’s society, we are utilizing synthetic compounds as agricultural insecticides, which makes understanding what these chemicals do to our bodies and the environment of utmost importance. Farming strategies may seem far-removed from our daily lives, but these chemicals do not […]

Davis Downfall According to Sierra Club

Posted blbahnPosted in Environment

By Mari Hoffman Authors note: UC Davis does an immense amount of waste reduction and energy conservation practices, but after writing this essay in my Water Quality at Risk class I wondered if it is enough.  In 2018, UC Davis did not make it on the “Cool Schools” list by Sierra Club Magazine. The previous year we were ranked as […]

Cultured Meat: Teaching an Old Cell New Tricks

Posted blbahnPosted in Environment, Genetics

By Tannavee Kumar, Genetics and Genomics ‘20   Author’s Note Cultured meat has been a topic of great discussion as we try to understand the extent to which animal agriculture contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental issues. While plant-based imitation meats have been on the market for decades, I was particularly interested in this lab-grown alternative when I […]

RoboBees: The Future of Food and Society?

Posted rmhullPosted in Environment, News

By Tannavee Kumar, Genetics & Genomics, ’20 Author’s Note Going into my research on fully automated and autonomous bee swarms, I was aware that there was much controversy on how we as a society should address and work to solve the problem of the drastically declining honeybee population. Upon coming across the large initiative that a team at Harvard University […]

The Relationship Between Genetic Diversity and Disturbance in the Eelgrass Species Zostera marina

Posted rmhullPosted in Environment, Genetics

By Ryan Green   Author’s note: This piece was written for my upper division university writing class, Writing in the Sciences. We were required to write a review article on a topic of our choice, and I chose the relationship between genetic diversity and disturbance of Zostera marina. I decided to pursue this topic because I was concurrently working in […]

Polylactic Acid as a Biodegradable Composite: A Review

Posted rmhullPosted in Environment

By Madison Dougherty, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ‘18 Author’s Note: I wrote this paper for my UWP 104E class. I have always been interested in sustainability, and this paper provided me with an excellent outlet for researching methods related to environmentally friendly packaging options. In recent years, I have become increasingly aware of the harshness of plastics and other synthetic […]

Addressing Eutrophication: Algae as Wastewater Treatment and Potential Biofuel Source

Posted rmhullPosted in Environment

By Sara Ludwick, Environmental Science & Management, ’19 Author’s note: In my Global Environmental Interactions class, we learned a lot about nitrogen and phosphorous as essential elements, but also as sources of eutrophication which threatens life in the ocean by disrupting food chains and causing anoxia. I decided to write a paper about the potential for microalgae to be cultivated […]

A Conversation with Dr. Kate Scow: “I just totally lost my heart to soil”

Posted Aggie TranscriptPosted in Biology, Campus News and Reports, Environment

By Sara Ludwick, Environmental Science and Management, 2019 Author’s note: I read about Dr. Scow’s research while looking for a faculty member to interview for a class assignment. She is a professor of Soil Science and Microbial Ecology at UC Davis, and her research emphasizes microorganisms’ roles in providing ecosystems services. Dr. Scow was featured in an article on a […]