News | Big Ideas

Farm Robots Need to Be Trusted to Tell Crops From Weeds

Robots will move along fields either spraying herbicides through a pen-like nozzle or pulling weeds as soon as 2019 after their makers perfect programming them to distinguish weeds from crops like tomatoes.

Closing the loop on sustainable aquaculture

Sustainability

On a farm just outside of Sacramento, hundreds of prehistoric-looking fish swim around in 50-foot diameter tanks. These are white sturgeon, the largest freshwater fish in North America. They’ve been around since dinosaurs, can grow more than 7 feet long and lay hundreds of thousands of eggs at a time.

UC Davis Among Top Producers for Gilman Scholarships for Programs Abroad

Education

UC Davis was recently recognized as a top producer of Gilman scholars for 2016-17 with the third highest number — at 47 — among universities with more than 15,000 undergraduates.

Learning Enhances Synapses Between “Memory Cells” in Mice

Health

When making memories, certain neurons form larger, denser connections, according to a study published April 26, 2018 in Science.

The Smart Farm Initiative: the future of precision agriculture

Sustainability

At UC Davis, a team of professors have kicked off the Smart Farm Initiative. Lead by biological and agricultural engineering professor David Slaughter, the initiative strives to utilize and progress technology in agriculture to increase productivity and transform farm work to a STEM-based industry.

Researchers are looking for ways to make farming a little smarter with robots and drones that could one day revolutionize the way our food is grown.

UC Davis MIND Institute Turns 20

Health

Twenty years ago, a small group of Sacramento-area parents of children with autism decided to search for more medical research into understanding and treating autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The result was the creation of the UC Davis MIND (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, which is marking its 20th anniversary. Dr. Leonard Abbeduto, director of the MIND Institute, and one of the founding parents, Chuck Gardner, join Insight host Beth Ruyak in studio to talk about why they began this journey and how the last 20 years might influence the future of autism.

Smart Farming—Automated and Connected Agriculture

Sustainability

There are more humans alive on Earth right now than ever before—7.3 billion—and that number is still growing, with UN projections that it will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. A population of this magnitude brings a lot of challenges, food production chief among them.

Thousands in the San Joaquin Valley Have Unsafe Drinking Water, But Clean Water Is Close

Sustainability

Tens of thousands of people living in the San Joaquin Valley’s unincorporated, rural, low-income communities have unsafe drinking water pouring from their taps. That water is delivered from a patchwork of community water systems that often don’t meet state or federal standards for drinking water, or from private wells that are not tested.

UC Davis Firearm Violence Prevention Expert Garen Wintemute On Parkland Shooting

Health

Dr. Garen J. Wintemute, champion of the Center for Violence Prevention Research Big Idea, is a leading scholar investigating the data behind shootings and the policies that have proven effective in preventing them. He’s been outspoken since Parkland about background checks, gun violence restraining ordersand federal funding for gun violence research, and he shares his ideas on Insight.

UC Davis Leads World in Veterinary Science, Second in Agriculture

Health

The University of California, Davis, continues to be ranked first in the world in veterinary science for the fourth year in a row, according to the 2018 QS World University Rankings by subject released February 28.

Former Student Driver Takes Unitrans Into the Next 50 Years

Sustainability

Jeff Flynn ’05, general manager of Unitrans, has his eye on the future — in particular, the fuel source for Unitrans buses. Most of the fleet today runs on compressed natural gas. Unitrans is working with campus administrative and academic units — Design and Construction Management, and the Institute of Transportation Studies — on an electrification plan in support of the university’s Big Idea, Carbon Neutrality Leadership Initiative.

Gun Hero

Health

The country’s first publicly funded center devoted to the study of gun violence, the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center, was launched last summer at the UC Davis Medical Center. Now, UC Davis is pursuing a vision to unite researchers across disciplines to prevent violence in all its forms through the creation of the Center for Violence Prevention Research. Director Garen Wintemute, M.D., discusses how understanding the underlying problems that cause violence can help us prevent it.