DISCOVERIES
Super yeast! Although yeast has long been renowned for performing well under extreme conditions, UC Davis microbiologists have developed a new strain that grows twice as well after being frozen or dehydrated. It may be able to survive longer in frozen dough, make more bread with less grain and cut dough-rising time in half, according to associate professor of microbiology Daniel Klionsky.
A peek at life's peaks. Ever wonder how creative you'll be in your later years? A UC Davis psychology professor has developed a theoretical model that could predict just that. Dean Simonton's theory shows that older people's creative productivity rate, though half that of their career peak, will actually exceed the level they achieved during the first decade of their careers. In addition, career choice appears to play a role in creative peaking: Those in such fields as history and philosophy tend to have a peak later in life. Late bloomers who start their creative career later than usual can also expect to be going strong in their last years.
As the fossil turns. According to UC Davis anthropology professor Henry McHenry, who has studied human evolution for a quarter of a century, new fossil discoveries in South Africa provide additional evidence that our early ancestors didn't follow a straight and narrow evolutionary path to become modern humans. After analyzing recent finds from Sterkfontein, South Africa, McHenry and a colleague report that Australopithecus africanus, a possible human ancestor dating from 2.6 million to 2.8 million years ago, displays ape-like body proportions and human-like teeth and skulls. In contrast, earlier Australopithecus species like the famous Lucy, dating back some 3.6 million years ago, have more human-like body proportions but primitive teeth and skulls. McHenry suggests that limb proportions must have been more adaptable to changing environments than previously thought.
Protein-epilepsy link. Diets deficient in amino acids--chemicals that make up proteins--can significantly increase susceptibility to epileptic seizures in rats, according to the results of a study led by Dorothy Gietzen, a professor and neurophysiologist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The findings, which may have implications for epilepsy in humans, show for the first time that a lack of amino acids can increase seizure severity, shorten the time before a seizure occurs and lessen the level of chemical stimulant needed to cause an attack. According to Gietzen, the study underscores the importance of making sure that people everywhere, particularly those in underdeveloped countries, consume an adequate level of high-quality protein.
French flip hunch. In the last 4 million years, the Earth's magnetic north and south poles have switched places at least 11 times, the most recent flip happening about 780,000 years ago. Recently, in conjunction with the University of Hawaii, UC Davis geology professor Kenneth Verosub and research geophysicist Andrew Roberts provided the first independent confirmation of a 1993 hypothesis about those bouncing poles. Three years ago, Parisian researchers found that magnetic field strength soared after a pole shift and then bounced up and down, gradually weakening until the field bottomed out before the next pole reversal. Verosub and Roberts re-analyzed data from the two most recent pole reversals and reproduced the Parisians' results.
