Science | UC Davis College of Letters and Science

Mantle Neon Illuminates Earth’s Formation

The Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the sun, trapping water and gases in the planet’s mantle, according to research published Dec. 5 in the journal Nature. Apart from settling Earth’s origins, the work could help in identifying extrasolar systems that could support habitable planets.

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Why we need #ClimateFriday

Concerned that recent climate reports might not receive the public attention they deserved, scientists began using the #ClimateFriday hashtag on Twitter to highlight findings of the reports.

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First Jellyfish Genome Reveals Ancient Beginnings of Complex Body Plan

Jellyfish undergo an amazing metamorphosis, from tiny polyps growing on the seafloor to swimming medusae with stinging tentacles. The first in-depth look at the genome of a jellyfish — the moon jelly Aurelia aurita — reveals the origins of this successful survival strategy.

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Thermal Transistor Handles Heat at the Nanoscale

You’ve felt the heat before — the smartphone that warms while running a navigation app or the laptop that gets too hot for your lap.

The heat produced by electronic devices does more than annoy users. Heat-induced voids and cracking can cause chips and circuits to fail.

Schematic of the experimental thermal transistor. A slice of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) sits on a piece of silicon dioxide, bathed in a solution of lithium ions. (Sood et al, Nature Communications)

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Veronica Vriesman: Research at the intersection of climate science, paleontology, and archaeology

Veronica Vriesman is a doctoral student at UC Davis with bachelor's degrees in geology and Spanish from Colgate University in New York. She divides her time between the Davis campus and Bodega Marine Laboratory. In this interview, Vriesman shares her experiences in science and her goals for the future.

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Shocking Results

As a kid, planetary scientist Sarah Stewart spent her free time reading science fiction novels. Now, much like her favorite sci-fi authors, she is a world-builder — pursuing research that helps us better understand our own planet.

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Astronomers Find a Cosmic Titan in the Early Universe

An international team of astronomers has discovered a titanic structure in the early universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang. This galaxy proto-supercluster, nicknamed Hyperion, is the largest and most massive structure yet found at such a remote time and distance.

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Professor's Gift Establishes Experimental Thermodynamics Award

The American Ceramic Society has a new award to recognize innovative contributions to experimental thermodynamics of solids technical literature. The Navrotsky Award for Experimental Thermodynamics of Solids was established through a gift from Alexandra Navrotsky, Interdisciplinary Professor of Ceramic, Earth, and Environmental Materials Chemistry at UC Davis.

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QMAP Grabs Grants for Quantum Information Science

The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced $218 million in new grants for “Quantum Information Science” and researchers with the Center for Quantum Mathematics and Physics (QMAP) at UC Davis are among the recipients.

The QMAP initiative at UC Davis is aimed at fundamental research in theoretical and mathematical physics.

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Free Textbooks Project Gets $4.9 Million Grant

A library of free and open-source educational resources for college courses will expand thanks to a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the LibreTexts Project, led by the University of California, Davis.

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