🌌 A new chapter in astronomy has begun. The Vera Rubin Observatory has launched its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, creating what will become the most comprehensive time-lapse record of the Universe ever made.

Our faculty are shaping conversations far beyond campus. 🌎 From the future of the universe to immigration, psychology, politics, and public health, Letters and Science researchers were featured in news outlets around the world this June. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more:

This month's Books of the Month highlight essay collections and interviews from Letters and Science authors exploring identity, migration, history, culture and belonging — including the newly released Freedom by English professor Zinzi Clemmons. @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdavislibrary.bsky.social

Are you in charge of your social media algorithm? Where do you normally get your news? Check out Letters and Science Professor Amber Boydstun on Minds Over Matters. @ucdavis.bsky.social

Social future is different for boys and girls. A new study @ucdavis.bsky.social Center for Mind & Brain found that high activity in the amygdala when an adolescent looks at a face showing emotions predicts their social health 2 years later. www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/... @ucdavismind.bsky.social

Scientists @ucdavis found that melting icebergs in the Pacific Ocean can weaken a massive ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean. @natcomms.nature.com @ucdlands.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/news/melting...

How do people learn about AI? UC Davis researcher Tina Law is analyzing 50,000+ YouTube videos to better understand how artificial intelligence is explained online — and how that influences AI governance and public oversight. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more at the Letters and Science Magazine:

Scroll break 😌 For today's break, we bring you yet another beautiful sunny day on campus, complete with the sounds of UC Davis. •••••• Video description: People are walking and talking on campus. The frame focuses on a portion of the walkway with a full bike rack and a large tree overhead.

Why does one bad experience have the power to overshadow an otherwise good day? UC Davis Psychologist Alison Ledgerwood recently joined Shankar Vedantam to discuss why our minds are drawn to losses and threats, and what it takes to rebalance our attention. @ucdavis.bsky.social Listen in:

From mycelium bricks to protein engineering, the UC Davis BioInnovation Lab gives undergraduate students hands-on experience tackling real-world research questions. It's experiential learning with real scientific impact. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more at the Letters and Science Magazine:

Professor David E. Olson has been named editor-in-chief of ACS Chemical Neuroscience. A leader in chemical neuroscience and psychoplastogen research, Olson will help guide one of the field's premier journals while continuing groundbreaking neuroscience research. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more:

Is there anything we can really do about climate change? This week, we're joined by sedimentary geochemist and paleoclimatologist Isabel Montañez, whose research suggests the guide to our future may lie in climates of the past. YouTube: https://bit.ly/4fbVJW2 Apple: https://apple.co/4pb2U5e

What makes a city thrive? At this month’s Davis Science Café, UC Davis professor Catherine Brinkley discussed how city planning, environmental justice, and community engagement shape healthier communities — and why residents should help guide that process. @ucdavis.bsky.social Learn more:

UC Davis psychology Ph.D. student Emily Noyer is studying how personality traits and social support shape recovery outcomes. Inspired by her own experience overcoming chronic pain, her research explores the science of resilience. Read more at the Letters and Science Magazine: @ucdavis.bsky.social

How do you study something you can't see? UC Davis physicist Nancy Aggarwal is developing new technologies to detect gravitational waves and improve the search for dark matter, potentially revealing some of the universe's biggest mysteries. @ucdavis.bsky.social

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday to uphold the 14th Amendment, but what is Birthright Citizenship? Has it been challenged before? We sat down with an expert from UC Davis to dive into the history of citizenship in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Read more: @ucdavis.bsky.social

Andreas Albrecht, professor emeritus in the UC Davis Department of Physics and Astronomy, is featured in the latest installment of #AmongTheAcademies. Read more about Albrecht's journey from being the first cosmologist hired at UC Davis and beyond: https://ucdav.is/3QsKOio

What role do metal micronutrients play in human health? UC Davis chemist Marie Heffern is studying how metals like copper, iron, and zinc influence hormones, disease biomarkers, and conditions such as diabetes, advancing the emerging field of metalloendocrinology. @ucdavis.bsky.social

What does it take to manage one of the nation's leading psychedelic science institutes? Sarah Solar helps coordinate the work at the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics, supporting research that could shape future treatments for brain and mental health disorders.

A #commencement #mace represents a college's unique history and identity. From a "Harry Potter" style vine globe to a laser-cut DNA crystal, a truth-symbolizing white orb, a multi-point star, and an eggbeater rotor, each #UCDavis mace holds a deeper meaning.

UC Davis physicist and astronomer Andrew Wetzel has been selected for the U.S. Defense Science Study Group, a prestigious program that brings together leading scientists and engineers from across the country. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more about the program:

Congratulations to UC Davis' Sandra J. Carlson on receiving the 2026 William B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service from the American Geosciences Institute. The award recognizes Carlson's decades of leadership, service, and commitment to advancing the geosciences. @ucdavis.bsky.social

On June 19, 1865, the last enslaved African Americans in Texas learned about their freedom. This day is now known as #Juneteenth but has been celebrated under many names such as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Cel-Liberation Day, Second Independence Day, and Emancipation Day.

Calling all student clubs and organizations! The L&S Fall orientation resource fairs are coming, and we're looking for clubs and organizations to join us in welcoming the next generation of Aggies! Visit https://bit.ly/4wKQ1Ch to learn more and sign up! @ucdavis.bsky.social

How do I get experience if every job wants experience? The Global Career Accelerator is designed to help students build practical skills and real-world experience before graduation — while earning UC Davis credit. Learn more at https://www.careeraccelerator.ucdavis.edu/ @ucdavis.bsky.social

What do dark energy, EV ownership, public health communication, online education, and tea cultivation have in common? They're all topics that Letters and Science experts helped break down in the news this month. Check out our latest media mentions: @ucdavis.bsky.social

SB 895, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act, would place a multibillion-dollar bond on the Nov. ballot. The bill is supported by University of California & UAW, representing our graduate student researchers. https://leadership.ucdavis.edu/news/support-sb-895-and-uc-davis-research

For nearly 60 years, UC Davis researchers have tracked Lake Tahoe's famed blue waters. The 2025 Clarity Report is out, showing water clarity continues to hold steady at an average of 69.2 feet. Read the full findings https://ucdav.is/4oEEjFR

UC Davis students have launched DOZEY, a startup making vaccination records portable, secure, and accessible worldwide. The platform helps reduce costs and delays caused by lost medical records — and is part of a growing student entrepreneurship ecosystem at @ucdavis.bsky.social. Learn more:

New UC Davis research explores how queer joy, social connection and positive psychology help LGBTQ+ people build resilience, improve well-being and thrive even during challenging times. @ucdavis.bsky.social Read more on the Letters and Science Magazine:

A study, led by @ucdavis.bsky.social researchers suggests that loneliness plays a much stronger role in cognitive impairment and shorter life spans than social isolation on its own. Learn more. @ucdlands.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/news/lonelin...

Anthropologist Marisol de la Cadena has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for her research on Indigenous knowledge, language, and “ways of knowing.” Her work explores how anthropology can expand how we think about the world and one another. Read more: @ucdavis.bsky.social

Congratulations to the Letters and Science Class of 2026! 🎉🎓 We are so proud of all of your hard work and cannot wait to see the future you help create. You did it! 🥳 @ucdavis.bsky.social

Congratulations to all of the Masters, MFA and Doctoral graduates in the #ClassOf2026! Tune in to the Graduate Studies Master's Commencement Ceremony livestream at 10:00 AM (https://ucdav.is/4uxlRjN) and the MFA and Doctoral Commencement Ceremony at 3:00 PM (https://ucdav.is/4xn04hd#ClassOf2026. #UCDavisGrad

This month's Books of the Month highlights authors that explore gender, sexuality, queer history, identity, health, and belonging. From queer theory and transgender health care to Indigenous feminisms and LGBTQ+ history, these works invite readers to see the world from new perspectives.

UC Davis mathematicians have published research challenging the standard model of cosmology, suggesting the accelerating expansion of the universe may be explained by instabilities already built into Einstein's equations. @ucdavis.bsky.social Learn more at the Letters and Science Magazine:

Congratulations to UC Davis sociology major Rianna Herrera on receiving a 2026 Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research. Her honors thesis explored the experiences and aspirations of Filipina and gender-non-conforming Filipinx American college students. @ucdavis.bsky.social

UC Davis alum Harry Shontz recently received the prestigious Milken Educator Award, one of the nation’s top honors for K-12 teachers. His approach to teaching history focuses on critical thinking, civic engagement and meaningful student relationships. Read more at the Letters and Science Magazine.

To restore California's #salmon, researcher Carson Jeffres says we must build a "salmon society." By routing juvenile #Chinook through floodplains like the Yolo Bypass, where food is 100x more abundant, they grow 8x faster than in the river.

Early‑stage research matters. $1.2M in W.M. Keck Foundation Bridge Funding is supporting six @ucdavis.bsky.social research teams tackling challenges from viruses to carbon capture. @ucdavisengineering.bsky.social @ucdavishealth.bsky.social @ucdlands.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/news/12-mill...

At Davis Science Café, @ucdavis.bsky.social fish ecologist Carson Jeffres discussed salmon restoration, floodplain habitat and why rebuilding California salmon populations is a societal effort — not just a scientific one. Read more about the research at the Letters and Science Magazine.

Congratulations to Jack Jacobs and Morgan Strong, recipients of the Letters and Science's top undergraduate awards for 2026! From expanding AI ethics research opportunities to creating a new student art exhibition tradition, they've made UC Davis stronger for future generations of Aggies.

UC Davis chemistry Ph.D. student Cocoro Nagasaka has been selected for the prestigious U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research program. Read more at the Letters and Science Magazine.

UC Davis students partnered with the City of Davis to improve language access for Spanish-speaking residents by translating city documents and public information into Spanish. Students say the experience strengthened both their professional skills and their connection to the community.

How do I get experience if every job wants experience? The Global Career Accelerator is designed to help students build practical skills and real-world experience before graduation — while earning UC Davis credit. Learn more at https://www.careeraccelerator.ucdavis.edu/ @ucdavis.bsky.social

Experience the future of art, design, and technology at the UC Davis Arts & Humanities Graduate Exhibition! Discover work by graduate students exploring technology, environment, health, performance, design and identity through installations, sculpture, multimedia and live performance.

UC Davis economist Ina Simonovska has been appointed to California’s Council of Economic Advisors, where she will help guide policy discussions on trade, tariffs, AI, labor and the state’s economic future. Visit the Letters and Science Magazine to read more. @ucdavis.bsky.social

We are proud to announce the 2026 Faculty Awards recipients! 🎉 These awards recognize exceptional achievement in research innovation, mentorship, and community building across Letters and Science. Congratulations to this year’s honorees! @ucdavis.bsky.social

Using particle accelerators at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, UC Davis physicist Matthew Citron is searching for evidence of dark matter. Visit the Letters and Science Magazine to read more. @ucdavis.bsky.social

Why do some stories dominate the news while others barely make the cut? New @ucdavis.bsky.social research breaks down the three ingredients behind “media storms” and why events like George Floyd’s killing sparked massive, sustained coverage while similar stories often do not. Read more: