Three-Minute Egghead

Conventional wisdom says that our eyes are drawn to objects that stand out from the background. But this "magpie theory" of visual attention is wrong, says John Henderson of the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain. A new study from Henderson's lab shows that attention is drawn to areas of a scene that are "meaningful" instead.

South American capuchin monkeys are curious animals that readily learn new skills. UC Davis graduate student Brendan Barrett talks about his work studying how these monkeys learn from each other.

Melting Ice by Andy Fell, UC Davis

UC Davis planetary scientist Sarah Stewart proposes a new kind of planetary object, a giant spinning mass of vaporized rock called a "synestia."

Plant biologist Siobhan Brady talks about the science of roots, and how important they are for plants to survive and thrive.

Neanderthals were our closest relatives, and bits of their DNA live on in our genome. UC Davis evolutionary biologist Graham Coop talks about his work on the fate of Neanderthal DNA in the modern human genome.

UC Davis astronomer Marusa Bradac is looking for the first galaxies that appeared in the universe. She's using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck telescopes in Hawaii, as well as a gigantic lens in the sky to spot objects emerging from the fog of the cosmic dark ages.

Even the simplest organisms are hard to predict. Computer scientist Ilias Tagkopoulos. UC Davis Genome Center, talks about the model he and colleagues have built for the bacterium E. coli. The model could act as a 'crystal ball' that helps researchers design better experiments. Tagkopoulos says this is an exciting time to be on the interface of biology, computer science and engineering.

Growing sunflowers follow the sun during the day, and turn back overnight so they face the rising sun in the morning. UC Davis biologists now show how this is controlled through the plant's circadian clock.

UC Davis microbiologist Katy Ralston has discovered that a parasitic amoeba kills other cells by taking small bites or "nibbling." This turns out to be a fundamental process in cell biology.