News
Welcoming our new Assistant Professor of Sustainable Aquaculture and Coastal Systems
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sean Godwin to the Bodega Marine Laboratory and Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute community. He will be joining the Environmental Science & Policy department as Assistant Professor of Sustainable Aquaculture and Coastal Systems and will be based at Bodega Marine Laboratory beginning in September 2023.
Announcing the new Associate Director of Bodega Marine Laboratory
The Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kristin Aquilino as the new Associate Director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML).
Confronting Climate Anxiety
Climate anxiety is a valid, natural response to a changing, warming world. In 2020, more than half of Americans reported feeling anxious about climate change’s impact on their mental health, and most of us (67%) are anxious about its impact on the planet.
So what do you do when it’s your job to witness and document climate change?
In this eight-part series, we talk with scientists spanning several generations whose work is deeply, tangibly connected to the Earth and its ecosystems. They’re tracking changes across the planet in search of solutions, working through anxiety with action — and sometimes even a little joy.
Research Rockstars
Students from 2021's BIS 124 (Coastal Marine Research) class won first and third prize, plus two honorable mentions, in the 2022 Research Rockstars Undergrad Slam Video Contest. Congratulations to Su Chung and Yessica Gonzalez for winning first prize, Michaela Lai and Nicole Cox for winning third prize, and Tena Dhayalan, Adri Penix, Jacquie Rajerison, and May Schulz for their honorable mentions.
Learning From Jellyfish and Ancient Cholesterol
A jellyfish might seem very different from a person, but studying the way the undersea creatures can heal themselves may eventually be applicable to humans, this month’s guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May said.
“At the genetic level, they truly aren't that different,” David Gold, an assistant professor of geobiology and paleobiology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said of jellyfish and humans. “And so understanding which genes are allowing them to reverse their life cycle, postpone aging, deal with the cellular damage that occurs — those might be things that we can apply to ourselves as well.”
Gold sat down with Chancellor Gary S. May to discuss his research, how he first got interested in science, the music currently on his playlist and more.
Reef Fish Evolution Driven by Biting
Coral reefs are home to a spectacular variety of fish. A new study by biologists at the University of California, Davis, shows that much of this diversity is driven by a relatively recent innovation among bony fish — feeding by biting prey from surfaces. The work is published the week of July 25 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Although jawed fish appear in the fossil record almost 500 million years ago, feeding by grazing, nibbling or gnawing food off rocks and corals didn’t appear among the teleosts (the group that includes most bony fish) until after the dinosaur-killing mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 60 million years ago, according to the new study.