UC Davis continues to show why it’s one of the nation’s leading public universities and a top research institution.
As a Research 1 university, UC Davis is conducting research at the highest level. Fewer than 200 institutions in the U.S. have this classification, and as a result UC Davis can offer students the opportunity to participate across all fields.
For the third consecutive year, UC Davis exceeded $1 billion in research funding, a year to year increase of over $30 million. Last fiscal year, researchers generated 140 records of invention, submitted 208 patent applications and secured 109 patents and plant certificates.
Here are some of our favorite stories from 2024 highlighting Davis’ advancements in research, and the unique faculty and students who make it all possible.
Power of science
Love Songs Lead Scientists to New Populations of Skywalker Gibbons in Myanmar:
A UC Davis-led study spurred efforts to conserve skywalker gibbons in Myanmar, where they are threatened by habitat loss and political strife. Scientists from UC Davis and other institutions followed these endangered monkeys, known for their distinctive mating songs, to locate 44 new groups of Skywalker gibbons in two regions of Myanmar.
Anti-Anxiety and Hallucination-Like Effects of Psychedelics Mediated by Distinct Neural Circuits:
The term “psychedelics” has been traditionally associated with “hallucinogens.” A new UC Davis research suggests, however, that it could be possible to separate treatment from hallucinations when developing new drugs based on psychedelics, with hopes to further explore the therapeutic qualities of such drugs. Read how this breakthrough was made through an unlikely exercise where mice navigated a maze and buried marbles in their bedding.
Close Encounters of the Whale Kind
UC Davis and scientists held a remarkable 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback whale named Twain, described as the first such communicative exchange between humans and humpback whales in the humpback “language.” On the Unfold podcast, hear how the exercise was also designed to inform how we might communicate with extraterrestrial life in the future. Watch a clip below and head to Unfold for the full story.
Our changing climate
Dammed No More, Klamath River Salmon Return
After the world’s largest dam removal project, salmon regained access to 400 miles of historical spawning habitat their species has been cut off from for more than a century. UC Davis scientists are playing a key role helping to answer a big question: Will it work? Will a diverse population of salmon thrive again now that the dams are removed?
Avian Flu Spread to Mammals
A study from UC Davis and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in Argentina found that the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 has adapted to spread between birds and marine mammals, posing an immediate threat to wildlife conservation and marking the first genomic characterization of the virus in marine wildlife on the Atlantic shore of South America.
The Reach of Ƶ Wildfire Smoke
Sometimes drifting from hundreds of miles away, wildfire smoke touched nearly every lake in North America for at least one day per year from 2019 to 2021, according to a new UC Davis published in the journal Global Change Biology.
