Comments by UC Davis community members regularly appear in a wide variety of media outlets around the country. Among the recent citings in prominent publications:

Graduate student Louie Yang's research on cicadas has appeared in various media over the past month, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, New York Newsday, CNN, the New Scientist and the Christian Science Monitor. Yang, who researches at the Center for Population Biology, found that when hordes of cicadas die, they can increase forest growth by fertilizing the soil. "They can be just as important dead as they are alive," he said …

In more insect news, entomology professor Philip Ward contributed to a story documenting the early appearance of ants in California this year. In the Dec. 6 Los Angeles Times article Ward said, "We had quite the early rainfall this year. I think that instigated the movement." …

Microbiologist Mark Wheelis was quoted in the Los Angeles Times the next day on the threat of bioterrorism. "My sense is it's not likely that any terrorist organization on the planet now has anywhere close to the expertise to cause mass casualties with a bioterrorist attack," he said. The lecturer in the Division of Biological Sciences made a similar comment on CNN the same day. …

Just in time for the holidays, psychology professor Robert Emmons was quoted in four stories in a two-day period commenting on the health benefits of gratitude. In the Nov. 24 New York Daily News, Emmons said, "Grateful people have a higher probability of being happier and doing better in life." He was also referenced in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Salt Lake Tribune and the Courier-Post of south New Jersey. …

A Dec. 3 story in the Chronicle for Higher Education on the lack of female professors at research universities cited several members of the UC Davis community, including law professor Martha West. West suggested that some female graduate students may "self-select out" of academic careers after seeing the difficulties faced by their female mentors. …

In USA Today, also on Dec. 3, history professor John Smolenski contributed to a story on the possibility of an amendment allowing Gov. Schwarzenegger to run for U.S. President. (See related article on page 3.) Smolenski doubted such an amendment would pass, but said, "The idea that this would even be on the table is purely a testament to him."…

Andrew Frank and his team from the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Center were mentioned in a Dec. 4 story in The Economist on the future of the automobile industry. The researchers are working on a car that could run completely on electricity for short distances, rather than using an electric motor to supplement a conventional engine like most standard hybrids on the road today. …

The asthma research of professor Charles Plopper of the School of Veterinary Medicine appeared in the Dec. 8 Chicago Tribune. Plopper, a cell biologist, tested a new vaccine in asthmatic rhesus monkeys and found that it not only stopped asthma in its tracks but also reversed lung damage caused by the disease within a year. "Most of us were pretty stunned that it was as successful as it was," Plopper said of the vaccine, made with synthetic pieces of bacterial DNA. …

Mary Delany of the animal science department was cited Dec. 9 in both the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune for her part in mapping the chicken's genome -- the first genome of a livestock or bird species to be sequenced. "Before the chicken genome was sequenced, we as researchers were essentially blind," said Delany, a poultry geneticist and co-author and coordinator for the analysis. "But now we are able to see the genome more easily and explore the mechanisms by which it operates."…

Fortune magazine's Dec. 13 issue highlighted the work of Gang Sun, a professor in the textiles and clothing department known for applying chemistry to make more apparel safer and more functional. Sun recently created a process to make hospital sheets more resistant to germs that has been successful in China and Pakistan. He is now shifting his sights to making clothes for agricultural workers that will neutralize pesticides. …

Meanwhile, food science professor John Krochta's research on an edible whey-based food coating was cited in a Dec. 15 Associated Press story. Krochta's innovation would prevent food from spoiling and reduce packaging. "Our concept," he said, "is rather than putting the oxygen barrier in the package, put it on the product so that you can get away with a smaller package that uses less material and is cheaper."…

Bruce German, another food science professor, contributed to a Jan. 3 Washington Times article on the health benefits of dairy products. The story highlighted recent research showing that milk can aid weight loss. "We're now realizing that it's one food that we can use to make healthy people even healthier," German said. …

Director of UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center Geoffrey Schladow was quoted in the Los Angeles Times Dec. 21 about rising temperatures in Lake Tahoe. "The temperature at the bottom has changed nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit," he said, "and that is greater than at any other time in recorded history." Schladow and his researchers also contributed to stories in a number of other California newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News. ...

Physics professor John Rundle was quoted in the New York Times the next day about the unpredictability of earthquakes. He suggested a statistical method for identifying earthquake hot spots is the best hope for temblor predictions, but added, "It only tells you where but not exactly when."…

-- By Mike Sintetos