Unfold

Unfold

By UC DavisScience
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Unfold episodes

  • Nature Tells Its Story, Part 1: Fish Eyes and Ears

    A fish can’t talk, but its eyes and ears can. Scientists have discovered that each layer of a fish’s lens reveals a different part of its life history, including what it’s eaten throughout its life. While you’ve probably never heard of fish otoliths, these ear bones tell us not only a fish’s age, but what rivers it has traveled. Understanding this could help wildlife managers know what habitats to protect to help imperiled species. In “Nature Tells Its Story Part 1,” Unfold looks at the eyes and ears of fish.   

     

    In this episode: 

    Miranda Bell Tilcock, assistant specialist researcher, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences 

    Carson Jeffres, senior researcher and fish biologist, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

    14 min
  • Why is that Song Stuck in My Head?

    Earworm, brainworm, whatever word you choose, it’s that song that gets stuck in your head. Research shows that more than 90% of us experience earworms. UC Davis researchers have found that they may play an important role in helping us form memories, not just for the song, but for life events. In this episode of Unfold, we examine music, memory and what earworms can teach us about how the brain works. 

    In this episode:

    Petr Janata professor, UC Davis Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain 

    Ben Kubit, postdoctoral researcher, UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain 

    23 min
  • Unfold Season 3: Driven By Curiosity

    Coming Sept. 28, Unfold brings you stories of awe, wonder and discovery as we explore how UC Davis researchers are driven by curiosity. Curiosity can lead to some of the greatest discoveries, like why songs get stuck in your head or what real-world engineering concepts you can learn from comic book superheroes. This season, we examine an archaeological discovery that raises new questions about the sexual division of labor in early hunter-gatherer societies. UC Davis researchers reveal what they found by peeling back the layers of a fish’s eye and by studying cute, pink, baby-faced axolotls. We have lots of surprising and curious stories to tell this season — even a spooky, dark and murderous one, just in time for Halloween.

    5 min
  • How Climate Change is Punishing the World‘s Poor
    In Kenya, climate change is threatening a way of life for pastoralists. It’s driving families deeper into poverty. When drought hits, men travel for weeks in search of water and greener pastures for their livestock herds. The women and children are left behind with no stable source of food or income. UC Davis agricultural economists are researching the pairing of two intervention programs, including a type of climate insurance policy, to keep these vulnerable populations from falling so deep into poverty that they have no way to recover.
    In this episode:
    Michael Carter, professor of agricultural and resource economics, and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience at UC Davis, with research in Kenya funded by USAID.
    Tom Lenaruti, Project Coordinator, BOMA Project
    Nathan Jenson, economist at the International Livestock Research Institute
    29 min
  • Transitioning to Low Carbon Transportation
    In California, 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions comes from transportation. Emissions from this sector will make it difficult to meet the state’s 2030 climate goals. There is a myriad of solutions: electric vehicles, public transportation, ride share, e-scooters and more. But people’s behaviors and habits as well as bad land-use planning make this one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize. In this encore episode of Unfold, we’ll look at how we can transition to low-carbon transportation.
    In this episode: 
    Giovanni Circella, Director of 3 Revolutions Future Mobility Program, Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis
    Lew Fulton, Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways Program Director, Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis
    Dan Sperling, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies and California Air Resources Board Member
    25 min
  • Decarbonizing Energy
    A quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from heating and electricity. In this encore episode of Unfold, we talk with Alissa Kendall, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering about our energy use. We’ll discuss renewable energy and other decarbonizing technologies and the importance of life-cycle analysis when discussing climate change solutions. 
    In this episode:
    Alissa Kendall, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
    11 min
  • Oceans Under a Changing Climate
    Oceans have always done us a favor, absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But now rising greenhouse gases are warming the ocean and changing its chemistry. All of this is putting marine species and ecosystems at risk, threatening food security and the livelihoods of people along its shores. In this encore episode of Unfold, we’ll take a deep dive into the ocean to examine the effects of climate change.
    In this episode:
    Priya Shukla, Ph.D. student at Bodega Marine Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science and Policy
    Tessa Hill, professor and oceanographer, Bodega Marine Laboratory.
    17 min
  • Rock Dust: A Climate Change Solution?
    Agriculture is responsible for 24 percent of our global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, UC Davis researchers say agriculture holds huge potential to be one of the biggest solutions to climate change. Carbon farming may hold the key. In this encore episode of Unfold, we examine how scientists are adding rock dust to crops to see if it can sequester carbon while also increasing yields for farmers.
    In this episode:
    Ben Houlton, affiliate faculty member, former director of the John Muir Institute of the Environment at UC Davis
    Maya Almaraz, program manager in the Houlton Lab and terrestrial biochemist
    Iris Holzer, graduate student in the Houlton Lab
    Derek Azevedo, executive vice president, Bowles Farming Company in Los Banos, California
    George Dias, Specialty Granules in Ione, California
    17 min
  • California Wildfires Under a Changing Climate
    California wildfires burned more than four million acres in 2020, destroying entire towns and killing people. As wildfires become more difficult to control and more deadly, scientists say it will only get worse. Now, wind-driven wildfires like the Santa Anas that Southern California experiences, are moving further north and striking when conditions are hotter and drier. This encore episode of Unfold examines how fire is changing California’s landscapes and how we might manage this going forward.
    In this episode:
    Malcolm North, UC Davis associate professor and research forest ecologist, United States Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station
    Andrew Latimer professor, Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis
    Derek Young, postdoctoral researcher, Andrew Latimer Lab, Department of Plant Sciences
    Hugh Safford, affiliate faculty in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, United States Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region
    Emma Underwood, research scientist at the Information Center for the Environment, Department of Environmental Science and Policy
    24 min
  • Becoming Arizona
    By 2100, Sacramento is expected to feel much like Phoenix, which in 2019 had more than 100 days over 100 F. In this encore Unfold episode, co-host Kat Kerlin discusses her “Becoming Arizona” series, which looks at how to prepare for a hotter future. We also examine how cities nationwide are dealing with triple threats: rising temperatures, racial inequities and a pandemic. And we’ll discuss the efforts needed to build socially just, climate-resilient communities. 
    In this episode:
    Mary Cadenasso, professor, and landscape and urban ecologist at UC Davis
    Stephen Wheeler, professor of landscape architecture and urban design at UC Davis
    Helene Margolis, associate adjunct professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine
    Adrienne Lawson, senior director for the UC Davis Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
    Victoria Dearborn, graduate student in the Cadenasso Landscape and Urban Ecology Lab 
    Victoria Vasquez, South Sacramento NeighborWoods organizer, Sacramento Tree Foundation
    21 min

About Unfold

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Unfold, a UC Davis podcast about science, innovation and discovery, unfolded through storytelling. We make complex topics relatable and reveal answers to questions you’ve always been curious about.…