Developing New Technologies to Extend Care to All Families Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Children in rural and other underserved populations tend to be diagnosed with ASD conditions later – leading to delayed treatment and worse outcomes over time. The Autism, Community and Technology Big Idea at UC Davis will pioneer a first-of-its-kind lifespan approach for everyone living with autism. By building partnerships with communities, driving innovation in affordable and accessible technologies, and training doctors, nurses, teachers, employers, and family members, we are creating new ways of advancing science and helping people with autism.

Research Highlights
A Little Stress Could Be Good for Walnuts
California produces 99 percent of the walnuts grown in the United States. A long-term experiment with researchers at UC Davis shows growers can improve crop production if they hold off irrigation until later in the season and directly measure their trees’ water needs.

New Research Illuminates Earth's Formation
New research finds the Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the sun, trapping water and gases in the planet’s mantle. Apart from settling Earth’s origins, the work could help in identifying extrasolar systems that could support habitable planets.
 
How to Fund Roads and Ensure Electric Vehicles Pay Their Share
Since electric vehicles use no gasoline, their drivers pay no gasoline tax. And as more people drive EVs, gas-tax revenue for road repairs is dwindling. UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies recently proposed an innovative and sustainable solution to address the issue in a report submitted to the California Legislature.

Brain Wave Device Enhances Memory Function
According to new research from the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, the entrainment of theta brain waves with a commercially available device not only enhances theta wave activity, but also boosts memory performance.

261 New Genes Linked to Blindness Found in Mice
Hundreds of new genes linked to blindness and other vision disorders have been identified in a screen of mouse strains. Many of these genes are likely important in human eye vision and the results could help identify new causes of hereditary blindness in patients.

Using the Sun and Agricultural Waste to Control Pests
Researchers at UC Davis, are encouraged by early results from collaborative experiments with “biosolarization,” a process that combines the sun’s heat with soil amendments to manage weeds and other soil-borne pests.

Deadly Marburg Virus Found in Sierra Leone Bats
PREDICT provides global surveillance for pathogens to detect and discover viruses of pandemic potential before they spill over from animal hosts to people. The team, in partnership with others, recently detected the Marburg virus, a cousin to Ebola virus that causes similar disease in people.

Innovation News
Human Images From World’s First Total-Body Scanner Unveiled
EXPLORER is a combined positron emission tomography (PET) and X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner that can image the entire body at the same time. Because the machine captures radiation far more efficiently than other scanners, EXPLORER can produce an image in as little as 1 second and, over time, produce movies that can track specially tagged drugs as they move around the entire body. The team recently unveiled the first human images. 

Breakthrough in Rice Plants That Reproduce as Clones From Seed
Plant biologists at UC Davis have discovered a way to make crop plants replicate through seeds as clones. The discovery, long sought by plant breeders and geneticists, could make it easier to propagate high-yielding, disease-resistant or climate-tolerant crops and make them available to the world’s farmers.

UC Davis Selected to Receive $2.2 Million Award to Advance Solar Technologies
UC Davis was selected to receive a $2.2 million dollar award from the  U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office   to advance solar technologies. UC Davis will advance concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) research and development. CSP concentrates incoming sunlight to heat that then generates electricity like a power plant.

Researcher Spotlight
How a Mysterious Box of Tobacco Industry Papers Shaped Dr. Elisa Tong's Medical Career
When Elisa Tong, M.D., was in medical school, she took time off to work on a trove of confidential tobacco industry documents known as “The Cigarette Papers.” Her research with Stanton Glantz at UCSF revealed a calculated campaign by the tobacco industry to undermine study results about secondhand smoking. Now Tong is sounding the alarm about e-cigarettes as well as leading a new statewide program to help people quit smoking.


waiting on link (goes live tonight)
Perspective
How to Stop Mass Shootings
Recent research suggests that background-check policies, as commonly designed and implemented, fall short of their expected effectiveness when it comes to reducing population-level rates of violence. B ut the findings do not support a conclusion that background-check requirements are fundamentally ineffective.

Featured Events
Sacramento Valley Regional Climate Symposium
This workshop will highlight key findings from the Sacramento Valley Regional Report, which provides the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability at the local scale and informing resilience actions.
February 6, 2019

3 Revolutions Policy Conference
The 3 Revolution Policy Conference is the only major conference that addresses policy solutions for vehicle automation, shared mobility, and electrification.
March 18-19, 2019


North Lake Tahoe Science Expo
The 14th annual family Science Expo for 2019 has the theme of Physical Sciences. Topics included 1) Forces and Motion, 2) Properties of Matter, and 3) Energy.
March 18-22, 2019

South Lake Tahoe Science Expo
The annual Science Expo event is designed to increase student excitement and interest in science through interactive, hands-on activities, games and demonstrations.
April 2-5, 2019

Citizen Science Association's 2019 Conference
Join us in the City of Oaks to connect with other leaders and learners from many backgrounds. We deepen our own work as we share our diverse perspectives and practices – no matter what we investigate or what we call our efforts.
March 13-17, 2019

Save the Date: Annual Research Expo
A half-day event where researchers across UC Davis can learn about the services and programs available to help them succeed.
April 10, 2019
Honors and Awards
Student Team Wins Amazon Alexa Artificial Intelligence Challenge

10 From UC Davis Elected as AAAS Fellows

Professor D. Ken Giles Elected to Inventors Academy

 View more awards and rankings
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Research at UC Davis is made possible by funding from government agencies, industry sponsors, nonprofit organizations and donor gifts.
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