BY BARBARA ANDERSON Our freshperson class We're all well aware that time marches on, but there's nothing like being in the midst of a new crop of UC Davis students to make you think you're measuring time with a sun-dial while they're using atomic clocks. Consider the following, culled from a list compiled by the staff at Wisconsin's Beloit College to give the faculty a sense of the year's incoming freshmen: * The people starting college this fall were born in 1980. * They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War. * Bottle caps have always been twist-off and plastic recycled. * Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums. * They have never owned a record player. * They have likely never played Pac-Man and have never heard of Pong. * There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. There used to be beige ones? * The compact disc was introduced when they were 1 year old. * As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents. * They have always had an answering machine. * They have always had cable. * They cannot fathom not having a remote control. * Roller skating has always meant inline for them. * They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool. * Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave. * They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player. * They don't know who Mork was or where he was from. * They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is. * Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America and Alabama are places, not groups. * There has always been MTV. Drums across the hallway At the beginning of fall quarter the bookstore held a sale of all those gadgets every student needs when setting up housekeeping away from home. Along with the usual lamps, extension cords, picture frames and kitchen trinkets were items guaranteed to set the apartment manager's phone ringing: bongo drums. The feet smell of success Anyone who's ever taken a gym class can recall that, um, distinctive aroma that pervades the locker room. Even if you're the kind who took your gym clothes home every night and put them through two wash cycles, the less-than-sterile habits of your classmates pretty much guaranteed that everything ended up at the ripe end of the olfactory scale. Now, this eye-watering experience may be a thing of the past. Gang Sun, a UC Davis assistant professor of textiles and clothing, has developed an antimicrobial fabric coating that not only prevents bacteria--the cause of the odor--from growing in the first place but can be "recharged" simply by rinsing in a chlorine solution. HaloSource Corp., the company that's developing the technology, expects to have odor-resistant products on the market by next year--probably athletic socks and other active wear. Seminars we're sorry we missed Amid all the seminars on such arcane and inscrutable topics as the implications for interpreting paramagnetic shifts and post-post-genomic era challenges associated with physiologically significant substrates, now and again there appear a few that might be downright fun. A recent chemistry seminar, for instance: "Morphogenesis in streptomyces--sex, drugs and rock and roll." Not sure what streptomyces are, or if morphogenesis is a good or bad thing for them, but at least they don't lead a boring existence. And how about "Memories of a flying seahorse," presented by the neurobiology, physiology and behavior section--is it science, poetry or past-life regression? But for a true mind-expanding expedition, the Institute of Theoretical Dynamics is the place to be when they discuss "Locating life's limits with bioportentous dimensionless numbers." Or maybe they're just talking about their credit card balances. Passing Time 50 years ago "Co-eds will rule for entire week: The Aggies are in for a great time next week when the co-eds reign. The notorious Co-ed Week begins on Sunday, Dec. 4, during which there will be a slight reversal on the campus when the girls take over and date the boys for a change. For seven days, the girls can have full priority to their hearts' desire, footing the bills, of course, and the boys can sit back and take it easy while listening for the phone to ring." The California Aggie, Dec. 1, 1949 25 years ago "For both [graduate and undergraduate students], dogs running loose on campus present a more serious problem than getting to know the opposite sex. Half as many (13%) graduate/ professional students as undergraduates (25%) consider cheating on examinations a serious campus problem. Both rate such concerns as amount of outside lighting, bicycle and pedestrian safety on campus and cigarette smoking in class as more serious than cheating." The California Aggie, Dec. 4, 1974 Illustrations by Paiching Wei.