Beer is a beverage that many college students may be familiar with as a simple refreshing drink, but the complexity of the brewing process is another story. While brewers throughout the world may differ in the types of beers they make, the consistency of the brewing process remains. The complex process of brewing a beer has withstood a long history, so how is a beer made and what are the brewer’s goals? “It’s very difficult to produce a good beer,” said Charles Bamforth, professor at the department of food and science technology at UC Davis. “It’s confidently the most complicated and demanding process in the food and beverage industry.” According to Bamforth, the process starts out with barley grain being made into malt. After the soaked malt sprouts, it is allowed to dry, when different flavors and colors are produced. The sprouted and dried malt is stored for a month, and then it is ground up and milled to produce smaller particles. These small particles are then mixed with hot... ...

The Tulare and Salinas Basins – home to half of California’s cow population and 40 percent of its irrigated agricultural land – are vital assets to the state of California. But the area also possesses a significant threat to its 2.6 million residents, and until now most of them were unaware of it. A recent report compiled by researchers at UC Davis investigated the safety of drinking water in the Tulare and Salinas Basins. The study was performed in response to state legislation passed in 2008 requiring a detailed examination of nitrate levels in the Tulare Lake Basin, which includes Fresno and Bakersfield, and the Salinas Valley, which includes Salinas and areas near Monterey. “These are two areas that have a history of pretty high nitrate contamination in their ground water,” said George Kostyrko, director of the Office of Public Affairs at the California State Water Resource Control Board. According to the report, “Addressing Nitrate in California’s Drinking Water,” they found that one in 10 people living in these areas... ...

The UC Davis Cancer Center has recently achieved a “comprehensive” designation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland. The new “comprehensive” designation signifies that the Cancer Center, now called the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, has demonstrated major levels of achievement in research and patient care, according to Ralph de Vere White, the director of the center. The National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, was set up to defeat cancer. However, the NCI “can’t do everything to defeat cancer in Bethesda,” de Vere White said. The UC Davis center will receive continued infrastructure funding from NCI to support its comprehensive activities. Funding from NCI for the infrastructure of the UC Davis program has grown from $8.8 million to $35 million in the last 10 years. “Our center crosses the whole campus,” de Vere White said.  “We see ourselves as a campus-wide resource.” In addition to the patient services provided by the Comprehensive Cancer Center, there are six programs under which the center’s... ...

Do you take multivitamins? If you do, take a look at the back of the bottle at the ingredients list. Apart from vitamins A, B, C and E, how many of the ingredients do you recognize? Unless you’re a nutrition student, I’m guessing many of the names are unfamiliar. Most of these compounds are what are called micronutrients. Like the name implies, these are nutrients that people only need in tiny amounts, unlike things like carbohydrates or protein (which are called macronutrients). For the most part, taking more than these tiny amounts usually isn’t necessary and can sometimes be harmful. Any more than small amounts of vitamin C, for example, is usually passed harmlessly but pointlessly through the body into the urine. Overdose of iron, however, can cause black and/or bloody stool, nausea, low blood pressure or even convulsions; this is why iron is often not an ingredient of multivitamins meant for children. When I was looking at the back of a vitamin bottle, many of the ingredients were either... ...

For those looking to volunteer in or around town, a single website has the information needed to get started. The Davis Volunteer Network site debuted eight months ago to publicize volunteer opportunities and charitable events within the Davis community and the UC Davis campus. UCD graduate Daniel Donnelly began Davisvolunteernetwork.org in early July 2011, but he created a new site, volunteer-net.org, to allow for more flexibility and engagement with both users and organizations. Donnelly, who is originally from Santa Cruz, received a bachelor’s degree in international relations in 2011. He works part-time in town, along with developing his website. He previously had an internship at a nonprofit in Valencia, Spain until April 2011. He came up with the idea for the site in Fall 2010. “I tried to start a nonprofit with another firm, but it didn’t work out,” he said. “I had the idea because I wanted to represent nonprofits and wanted to start nonprofit. It’s the best way to contribute to communities and provide more support for nonprofits... ...

While it has long been known that smoking can cause serious health problems, researchers at UC Davis have been conducting research that shows how smoking causes an immune response that compounds the harm of smoking. The focus of the research has been on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and the surprising discovery is that COPD arises from excess immune cells entering the lung tissue. “Eighty percent of people with COPD are smokers,” said Kent Pinkerton, a professor in the UC Davis School of Medicine and director of the Center for Health and the Environment. “COPD is related to both asthma and emphysema. It is a serious disease that makes it hard to breathe and causes tissue damage in the lungs.” COPD is considered a very deadly disease, killing nearly three million people every year just in the United States. In patients with COPD, tissue inflammation in the lungs skews the delicate balance of cells that line the airways. This leads to increased vulnerability to infection and a reduced ability... ...