UCDavis
Latest
California is set to hit its green-energy goals a decade early
California is both the nation's leading renewable-energy proponent and one of the few states to actually put its power where its mouth is. In November, the California Energy Commission released its annual Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) report which found that the state's three investor-owned utilities -- Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric -- are on track to collectively offer 50 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2020. That's a full decade faster than anyone had anticipated. Reports like these have been used to promote clean-energy production throughout the US and the rest of the world since the 1970s. However, it wasn't until 2002 that California codified the practice. But despite being in effect for only 15 years, California's mandatory reporting has become a potent tool in fighting greenhouse-gas emissions throughout the state.
Researchers build a 1,000-core processor
You may have heard of many-core processors before, but you probably haven't seen anything like this. UC Davis has developed the KiloCore, a CPU that (as the name suggests) packs a whopping 1,000 cores -- extremely handy for very parallel tasks like encryption, crunching scientific data and encoding videos. And importantly, it's not just about performance. Thanks to its ability to shut down individual cores, the chip can handle 115 billion instructions per second while using 0.7W of power. That's enough that you could run it off of a lone AA battery, folks.
UC Davis apologizes for trying to bury pepper spray incident
After leading UC Davis through some admittedly hard times, the school's chancellor Linda Katehi has issued something of a mea culpa for the way her communications department handled the fallout from the widely reported pepper spray incident in 2011. In her official release, Katehi takes "full responsibility" for the university's futile attempt to prevent it from showing up in search results, while also trying to shed some light on just what the heck they were thinking.
UC Davis tries to erase references to pepper spray incident
When you try to suppress or scrub information that's already out there, it tends to have the opposite effect. Barbra Streisand and Beyonce learned that the hard way, and now you can add the University of California, Davis to that list. According to the Sacramento Bee, UC Davis spent at least $175,000 in an effort to remove references of the 2011 pepper spray incident from the internet. The Bee got its hands on documents showing the university's contract with one of the PR companies it hired to combat all the negative writeups against it.
Augmented reality sandbox lets you change the course of rivers, won't get you wet
Ask any kid, playing in the sandbox is fun enough on its own, but too much moisture will turn your grainy playground into a lumpy mess. Researchers at UC Davis have cooked up one solution: an augmented reality sandbox. Much like last year's SandyStation, the project uses a Kinect sensor in conjunction with a digital projector and a bit of software to overlay topographical data and simulated water over a traditional -- and dry -- sandbox. The end result is an augmented environment that can be used to teach geographic, geologic and hydrological concepts. The team hopes the project will help them develop hands-on exhibits for science museums, teaching visitors about contour lines, watersheds, catchment areas and more. Check out the video above for a full demo, or scope out the source below for the technical nitty-gritty.
Barobo's Mobot goes up for pre-order, slinks toward your impressionable children (video)
In what may be the first notable instance of a product actually losing the "i" in favor of building out its own persona, Barobo's iMobot is not only not going by Mobot, but it's also up for pre-order. The modular robotics platform can be claimed for $269.95 (with extension plates and the like available as optional extras), and we're told by the company that these will be on the move by August at the latest. Moreover, a grant has been secured to provide "at least $500,000 over the next two years to Barobo, with potential for up to another $500,000 in matching funds if the company can make sales and attract venture capital." Folks involved with the project are hoping to see Mobot used as a tool for teaching robotics as early as third grade, and given the choice of tinkering with one of these or fiddling with a TI-83 Plus... well, you know. For those unaware of Mobot's potential, head on past the break for a freshly cut video.
iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video)
It may not look like much, but this little modular robot's got the stuff to give Keepon a run for its money -- oh yeah, and according to its creators, iMobot's got big implications for the field of robotics too. Sporting four degrees of freedom, two rotating joints, and a pair of faceplates that act as wheels, the patent-pending device can crawl, drive, and potentially act as an autonomous camera platform. The surprisingly agile hunk of machinery was developed by two UC Davis professors who say their versatile invention could aid in search and rescue, as well as education and research. We think it's super cool that iMobot could be a hero, but really, we just want to see it bust a move. Check out a video of our new robo love after the break.
Green Energy will replace fossil fuels by 2050 if you really really want to
The year 2050 is what the year 2000 was to futuristic thinkers like Walt Disney and Arthur C. Clarke. It's the new year that everything will change: robots will outperform us on the field of play, computers will outwit us in matters of reason, and nerds will never be lonely again. It's also the year that 100 percent green energy will be possible according to a bunch of neo-maxi zoomdweebies from Stanford and the University of California-Davis. That's right, in 40 years we could be saying goodbye to fossil fuels in favor of renewables like solar and wind power. The biggest challenge to achieving the goal, say researchers, isn't related to the underlying technologies or the economics required to fuel the change, rather, it's whether we earthlings have the collective will and political gumption to make it happen. Interesting... we'll look into that claim just as soon as we're done with our Nero fiddling and telling all our friends about this amaaazing story we just read in the National Enquirer.
Artificial muscles let cadavers (and someday paralyzed humans) wink with the best of 'em
The above contraption, aside from looking really uncomfortable, is the latest advance in electroactive polymer artificial muscle technology. Using soft acrylic or silicon layered with carbon grease, EPAMs contract like muscle tissue when current is applied -- making 'em just the ticket for use in UC Davis's Eyelid Sling. Billed as the "first-wave use of artificial muscle in any biological system," the device is currently letting cadavers (and, eventually paralyzed humans) blink -- an improvement over current solutions for the non-blinking, which include either transplanting a leg muscle into the face or suturing a small gold weight into the eyelid. Look for the technology to become available for patients within the next five years.
Research shows live bacteria can lessen earthquake damage
Bacteria aren't lookin' too shabby these days, aiding in digestive health and even moonlighting as a fuel source. Recent studies also show that the use of live bacteria could very well solidify deep, sandy soils that make for treacherous grounds when an earthquake strikes. The new findings hint at a promising alternative to the use of bonding epoxy chemicals, which can boost toxicity levels in soil and water. The mighty microbe, Bacillus pasteurii to be exact, essentially transforms loose sand back into sandstone by depositing calcite (calcium carbonate) throughout the grains, fusing them together. Buildings sitting atop soils treated with the bacteria are predicted to experience considerably less devastation than those on the loose soil that tends to liquefy beneath them in the event of a quake, typically resulting in collapse. The research, partially being developed at UC Davis, is restricted to the lab at the moment, however plans to scale up are on the table. So the next time all you coast-dwellers fall violently ill from some ratfink bacteria, remember that his cousin might save your apartment, or even one day, your life.[Thanks, Sid]
