Is it possible to predict earthquakes?
For decades, earthquake researchers like Distinguished Professor John Rundle have explored various methods attempting to tackle this question. Rundle and his colleagues are exploring “nowcasting,” which uses methods inspired from the fields of finance, economics and meteorology to determine the earthquake potential of a region through time. In this video, Rundle discusses his interest in earthquake nowcasting and why this field of research is more important than ever.
Caden Williams is among 413 college students nationwide selected from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants to receive the prestigious STEM scholarship, which was established by Congress in 1986 to honor the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. The award provides up to $7,500 for college expenses. This is the sixth consecutive year that a UC Davis student has been named a Goldwater Scholar.
People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word. A study from the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences synthesizes climate trends across the Western U.S. during a relatively young and lesser-studied period of Earth’s history — the Holocene Era, which stretches from the present day to the past 11,000 years.
For roughly five years, Alba Rodríguez Padilla, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has studied the physics and geology underlying earthquakes. Her research will help inform policymakers and engineers responsible for creating earthquake insurance policies and building new infrastructure.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Geerat Vermeij, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, will deliver the upcoming New Emeriti Distinguished Lecture scheduled for Feb. 15.
A new study of an old meteorite contradicts current thinking about how rocky planets like the Earth and Mars acquire volatile elements such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and noble gases as they form.
Goabaone Jaqueline Ramatlapeng can vividly remember when she would go without water from domestic pipes for days. Growing up in Kopong, a rural village in Botswana, Ramatlapeng and her family faced a plight that those in surrounding villages knew as well: water scarcity. And when the water did flow, it was salty. Ramatlapeng’s research could help inform the development of sustainable water management policies in the region.
Three faculty members from the University of California, Davis, have been elected as members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are among 120 new members and 30 international members announced by the academy May 3.
In 2006, the Cassini spacecraft recorded geyser curtains shooting forth from “tiger stripe” fissures near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus — sometimes as much as 200 kilograms of water per second. A new study suggests how expanding ice during millennia-long cooling cycles could sometimes crack the moon’s icy shell and let its inner ocean out, providing a possible explanation for the geysers.
Sarah Stewart, professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Davis, will discuss planetary collisions and the discovery of a new type of astronomical object at a public lecture supported by the Winston Ko Professorship in Science Leadership. Stewart’s presentation will be “A New Creation Story for the Earth and Moon.”
