Could a bag of chicken scraps help protect an endangered species? The answer is yes.

In early September, Ryosuke Motani stood in Anhui Province, China at the foot of a cliff called Turtle Mountain, watching a backhoe scrape part of the mountain’s precious fossil record into dust. The cliff is part of a limestone mine that is the center of the local economy, but it also happens to house one of the world’s richest deposits of ichthyosaur fossils. Motani, a UC Davis professor of paleontology, visited the province last month on a twofold mission: to excavate fossils, and to petition local governments to conserve sites like this one.

Thirty-six million years ago, in the land of modern-day Peru, lived a five-foot tall penguin. Scientists announced on Friday the discovery of Inkayca paracacensis, a flightless seabird that makes today’s emperor penguins look shrimpy. Fossils of the giant penguin show that it had twice the body mass of an emperor penguin and a pointy beak about 23 centimeters long.

Who to watch: UC Davis has been looking for a second scoring threat to compliment the play of Lance Patterson. Freshman forward Nick Grigoriev might be poised to fill the role.

Davis’ reputation as the most bike friendly city in the United States can now tack world record on to its growing list of honorary bike-related titles.

In response to this weekend’s global call out for climate action work parties, Davis is throwing its own celebration

Last week we looked at whether it would be possible to clone Abraham Lincoln from the hair and blood samples preserved in a museum. Sadly, it wouldn’t (the DNA is probably too degraded). But the issue of cloning a celebrity brings up the age-old nature vs. nurture debate. How much of your personality is governed by your environment and how much do you owe to your genes?

With the average college student spending $900 on textbooks annually, CalPIRG is working to bring cost-reducing options to campus.

TODAY: Disney Theme Parks and Resorts Internships Info Session; Poetry in the Arboretum: Professor Xico Gonzalez; Woodland Corn Maze.