Science and Climate Content

EPA Removal of Vehicle Emissions Limits Won’t Stop the Shift to EVs

Katherine E Kerlin — February 13, 2026 - 1:18pm

The U.S. government is in full retreat from its efforts to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, which it had been prioritizing, along with state governments, since the 1970s.

Frog Love Songs and the Sounds of Climate Change

Katherine E Kerlin — February 12, 2026 - 8:00am

A good love song tells female frogs when the time is right for mating, finds a 51�ԹϺ�� Davis study showing male frogs change their tune as the weather warms.

H5N1 Causes Die-off of Antarctic Skuas, a Seabird

Katherine E Kerlin — February 05, 2026 - 7:00am

More than 50 skua deaths in Antarctica from H5N1 mark the first confirmed die-off of wildlife from bird flu on the continent, reports study from 51�ԹϺ�� Davis and Erasmus MC.

Tell Me Something Good … About Salmon

Katherine E Kerlin — January 29, 2026 - 1:22pm

For every bad thing happening in the world, there are good people trying to make things right. Sometimes they even win. That’s why I’m starting a new series on this blog called “Tell Me Something Good.”

I’m opening it up with Carson Jeffres, a 51�ԹϺ�� Davis Center for Watershed Sciences researcher who helped inspire the idea, simply by telling me something good. I needed to hear it. Maybe you do, too.

Some Corals Can Stand the Heat — Could They Help Those That Can’t?

Jocelyn C Anderson — January 26, 2026 - 8:45am

51�ԹϺ�� Davis researchers are studying why some corals can stand heat and heal from bleaching. The answers could help protect coral reefs from climate change.

Expedition to Antarctica: 51�ԹϺ�� Davis Tracks Melting Glaciers

Katherine E Kerlin — January 23, 2026 - 1:31pm

51�ԹϺ�� Davis scientists are in Antarctica to deploy Gull, an autonomous underwater vehicle known as a glider, that will help us understand how fast one of the world’s biggest and most important glaciers — Thwaites — is melting. Thwaites Glacier and neighboring Pine Island Glacier are potential glacial flow from the West Antarctic ice sheets. If this system collapses, it could raise sea levels across the world.

Finding that Ripe Cone Sweet Spot: Looking Back to Help the Future

Katherine E Kerlin — January 21, 2026 - 10:15am

California’s wildfire seasons are becoming more intense, and the state’s public bank of seeds to help replant and reforest lands after blazes is understocked by thousands of pounds.

A new research project out of University of California, Davis, aims to help solve that problem by using decades of data from historical cone collection records to model when cones in coniferous trees from wild stands will ripen.

LA Fires: Chemicals From the Smoke Lingered Inside Homes Long After the Wildfires Were Out

Katherine E Kerlin — January 06, 2026 - 12:16pm

When wildfires began racing through the Los Angeles area on Jan. 7, 2025, the scope of the disaster caught residents by surprise. Forecasters had warned about high winds and exceptionally dry conditions, but few people expected to see smoke and fires for weeks in one of America’s largest metro areas.

Lessons from the Caldor Fire’s Christmas Valley ‘Miracle’

Katherine E Kerlin — December 19, 2025 - 9:00am

The Lake Tahoe communities of Christmas Valley and Meyers were spared during 2021's Caldor Fire. A 51�ԹϺ�� Davis study reveals which pre-fire fuel treatments worked best to bring about the Christmas Valley "miracle."

Record Returns: 2,100 Salmon Spawned in Putah Creek

Katherine E Kerlin — December 17, 2025 - 10:32am

A record-breaking 2,100 Chinook salmon returned to spawn in restored Putah Creek this fall. 51�ԹϺ�� Davis fish biologists and partners are tracking and monitoring the run.