We’ve all heard the advice, “Eat more fiber.”
But the reality behind that seemingly simple recommendation is much more complex when it comes to human health. As part of a $3.7 million National Institutes of Health-funded project, UC Davis scientists are building a library of biomarkers associated with specific fiber food sources as they pass through the gut. The goal is to build a comprehensive understanding of the structural diversity of fibers and how those structures influence digestive health.
When Queen Máxima of the Netherlands visited San Francisco this week to celebrate her country’s economic ties with California, a UC Davis couple was on hand to celebrate their own Dutch connections and to represent the campus. Husband and wife psychology professors George “Ron” Mangun, who is American, and Tamara Swaab, who is Dutch, were invited guests at a Sept. 6 royal reception at San Francisco City Hall.
The UC Davis Global Tea Initiative’s seventh annual colloquium, titled “Tea and Beyond: Bridging Science and Culture, Time and Space,” will bring together scholars from around the globe presenting on topics such as tea and general health, anxiety, meditation, use of teas by Indigenous people and specific ethnic populations, and examining non-tea infusions that are often marketed as tea. Taking place Jan.
Katia Vega, an assistant professor of design, is breaking ground in creating the “interactive body.” Her recent research has included bio-sensitive tattoos that give information about body chemistry, conductive makeup that allows one to turn lights on and off with the blink of an eye, and paying for purchases though microchips attached to fingernails.
“I’m interested in creating seamless technology; the goal is to make it indistinguishable from our body,” she says.
