Art Shapiro’s annual Beer for a Butterfly contest is over, and he has again netted the first cabbage white butterfly in the region and will be treating himself to a beer.
He made the find last Friday (Jan. 25) in Suisun City, recording the fourth-earliest flight in that city of a Pieris rapae — which needs a string of warm days to take flight — in his almost five decades of studying of biological responses to climate change.
“I kept Friday open because I had the overwhelming feeling yesterday (Jan. 24) that the first flight of Pieris rapae was due,” the professor of evolution and ecology wrote.
He said Suisun City was a longshot as far as locations go, because places like West Sacramento usually warm up sooner — but the Solano County city warmed to 68 degrees that day, and he snagged the winning butterfly during a two-hour trip.
Read more on the Bug Squad blog.
Twitter: Professors go behind the scenes at TEDMED
Rebecca Calisi: Ever wonder what goes on behind the making of @TEDTalks? Previous #TEDMED speaker & @ucdavisbiology colleague @phylogenomics & I go behind the scenes of @TEDMED, TED's science, health & medicine edition, to show you: #scicomm #TED #TEDtalks @ucdavis [Click for link]
Students explain Unitrans referendum
Next month, UC Davis students will vote on a proposal to increase in the undergraduate fee for Unitrans. The transit agency faces a budget deficit, and increased its cash fares last year.
Learn more about the fee from the Aggie Studios video above.
Office workouts from UC Davis Health
Stuck at your desk all day? That's no reason to forgo exercise, UC Davis Health sports medicine director Brandee Waite says. See her suggestions to stay active as an office worker in the above video.