COVID-19 Beliefs Influenced by Politicians, Not Scientists, Researchers Suggest

As COVID-19 upended societal norms when it swept through the United States in 2020, a second pandemic — or “infodemic” — was also on the rise. An analysis of Twitter users by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Texas, Austin, suggests that Republican-identifying people who believe their local government has positive intentions are vulnerable to believing politically fueled COVID-19 misinformation. The study did not find the same trend among Democrat-identifying Twitter users.

UC Davis Scholar and Activist Isao Fujimoto Dies at 89

Isao Fujimoto, a beloved senior lecturer at University of California, Davis, known for his intense energy, curiosity and ability to bring people together across diverse communities, has died.

Fujimoto, 89, came to Davis in 1967 and helped found the Asian American Studies and Community Development programs through which he mentored generations of students and faculty.

Four Faculty Receive Grants for International Projects

UC Davis Global Affairs awarded grants to four College of Letters and Science faculty for international projects focused on renewable energy, biodesign, tuberculosis and democracy.

Jesús M. Velázquez, assistant professor of chemistry, and colleagues at UC Davis and in Mexico received a $7,500 award from a Global Affairs grant program aimed at achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

UC Davis Alumnus Brings Attention to Armenian Genocide With Lecture Series

When Shant Garabedian was a student at UC Davis, he and a few others founded the Armenian Student Association to draw attention to the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century. Garabedian and his wife, Robin, recently made a donation to establish a lecture series as part of the Human Rights Studies program. “This is a way to continue what I started 30 years ago,” said Garabedian.

A Zero-Sum Game

New York comedy duo Nehemiah Markos and Jed Feiman have released a 50th anniversary edition of the racially conscious Monopoly-style game, Blacks & Whites, created in 1970 by the late psychology professor Robert Sommer.

Art History Colloquium Examines Women’s Representation in 20th-Century Western Asia

The annual Templeton Colloquium in Art History at UC Davis this year brings together scholars speaking about the women’s movement and how women were portrayed in the media during 20th-century modernization in Tehran, Cairo, Istanbul and Beirut.

The presenters, coming from around California, Michigan, Indiana and Lebanon, will show the shifting ways women activists and organizers were encouraged to be modern, then criticized and satirized for doing so.

Few Hourly Workers Receive Pay Required by Law for Shift Cuts

In California and seven other states, and Washington, D.C., some hourly workers, by law, have to be compensated if they report to work only to have their shift cut short. But some hourly workers may not be receiving this pay, and if they are not, it’s often on the employees to call attention to the law, according to a UC Davis study.

In Memoriam: Ed Costantini

Political scientist Edmond Costantini traced his keen interest in politics and current events to a decade he spent as a youth delivering newspapers in Manhattan in New York, where his customers included future President Dwight D. Eisenhower and activist Eugene Debs. Costantini, who died Jan. 10 in Davis at age 89, would later become a sought-after news source himself for his expertise on California elections and politics.

Forum Explores Context, Consequences of Capitol Insurrection

A year ago on Jan. 6, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. What is the historical context of the attack and what does it mean for the future of the nation? Four UC Davis historians will discuss the insurrection and its implications for the midterm congressional elections at an online forum on Tuesday, Jan. 11, from 3:10 to 4:30 p.m. PST.

How Has DACA Improved Birth Outcomes Among Mexican Immigrant Mothers?

Undocumented pregnant immigrant mothers and their newborn children often experience health difficulties because of the looming threat and fear of deportation. UC Davis sociologists looked at DACA’s positive impact on birth outcomes among a portion of Mexican-immigrant women in the United States. “We found that DACA was associated with improvements in the rates of low birth weight and very low birth weight, birth weight in grams, and gestational age among infants born to Mexican-immigrant mothers," they write in a new policy brief released by the UC Davis Center for Poverty and Inequality Research.

Denisovans or Homo Sapiens: Who Were the First to Settle (Permanently) on the Tibetan Plateau?

The Tibetan Plateau has long been considered one of the last places to be populated by people in their migration around the globe. A new paper by archaeologists at UC Davis highlights that our extinct cousins, the Denisovans, reached the “roof of the world” about 160,000 years ago — 120,000 years earlier than previous estimates for our species — and even contributed to our adaptation to high altitude.