October 2022

Air Pollution, Wildfires and Children’s Health

New research uses data gathered from federal monitors in the Sacramento area to correlate air pollution (including pollution generated during significant fires) and health problems in children. The study was authored by Anna Parenteau, a doctoral student, and Camelia Hostinar, associate professor, both from the Department of Psychology.

Understanding Super-Earth Waterworlds

Of the thousands of exoplanets so far discovered in our galaxy, the most common type is one that isn’t found in our solar system: a “super-Earth,” larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. Researchers from UC Davis and UC Berkeley have used computer modeling to address what the interior of these giant waterworlds might be like.

Momentum Computing: The Next Cool Thing?

Electronic circuits generate a lot of heat, as you will have noticed if you have had a laptop in your lap. That represents wasted energy, and even more energy has to be used to keep racks of servers cool. James Crutchfield, a physics professor and director of the Complexity Sciences Center at UC Davis, and graduate student Kyle Ray have a cooler proposal, and it involves a fundamental shift in how computers handle information.

Most Twitter Users Don’t Follow Political Elites

While social media platforms are the primary source of political information for a growing number of people, a majority of Twitter users do not follow either members of Congress, their president or news media, a new study suggests. They are much more likely to follow Tom Hanks or Katy Perry than an elected official.

HONORS

Andreas Albrecht, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, gave an Elon Musk Public Lecture at the University of Pennsylvania last month. His talk is titled: "Cosmic Inflation: My Journey to the Edge of Science.”

Estella Atekwana, a geophysicist and dean of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science, was named a fellow by the American Geophysical Union.

Two faculty in the Department of Economics received honors from the Economic History Association:

• Distinguished Professor Gregory Clark received the 2022 Jonathan Hughes Prize for excellence in teaching economic history and was elected an EHA fellow for substantial scholarly contributions to the field of economic history.
• Distinguished Professor Alan M. Taylor received the association’s Engerman-Goldin Prize for creating, compiling and sharing data with other scholars.

Annaliese Franz, professor of chemistry, was selected as a 2022 American Chemical Society Fellow. She is also interim associate dean for academic programs and planning in the College of Letters and Science.

Pratik Gandhi, an astrophysics doctoral candidate, was selected by the Texas Advanced Computing Center for a Frontera Computational Science Fellowship.

Justin Lee Haruyama, who received his doctorate in anthropology in June, received the 2022 David M. Schneider Award from the American Anthropological Association.

MEDIA MENTIONS

The Fraught Quest to Account for Sex in Biology Research

Nature

Eliza Bliss-Moreau, professor of psychology

The Science of Attraction

Newstalk

Paul Eastwick, professor of psychology

Why Ancient Romans Used Asymmetrical Dice With Lopsided Probabilities

Popular Mechanics

Jelmer Eerkens, professor of anthropology

New Data Suggests Our Fundamental Model of the Universe Is Wrong, And Scientists Are Racing to Solve It

Vice

Nemanja Kaloper, professor of physics, and Arsalan Adil, a doctoral student in theoretical physics 

How Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut Ad Came to Be — and Why It Still Reflects His Legacy

The Washington Post

Jenny Kaminer, professor of Russian

Restoring a culture: One Indigenous leader’s fight for her people

Aljazeera

Beth Rose Middleton Manning, Native American studies

The Labor Shortage Will Get Worse and May Last for Decades

MarketWatch

Giovanni Peri, professor of economics and director of the UC Davis Global Migration Center

Here’s How Long Droughts Can Make Flash Flooding Worse

KCRA

Nicholas Pinter, the Roy J. Shlemon Chair in Applied Geosciences and associate director for the Center for Watershed Sciences

How To Encourage Electric-Car Use 

The Economist

David Rapson, professor of economics

You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, Gotta Hand It To America Firsters

Talking Points Memo

Eric Rauchway, Distinguished Professor of History

This Bike Company Launched a Black Reparations Program. Then the Lawyers Called.

Outside Online

Matthew Vernon, associate professor of English

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