Davis Forever!

Toilets overwhelmed as thousands of UC Davis students return to campus

Last weekend saw the arrival of nearly 5,000 new students on campus. Of course, this causes all sorts of logistical problems for the staff at UC Davis who have to oversee this operation. In addition to the more fundamental problems (thousands of SUVs all trying to unload stuff at the same time, traffic problems etc.) there are also the many, many questions from concerned parents who wonder if the 'one square inch of peeling paint' in the dorm hallway is going to prove a health issue for their darling John/Jane. 

However, on top of all of these problems there are the things that you never predict. The events that can't be predicted. One of those problems is...what would happen if too many of those many thousands of students all try flushing their dorm toilets at approximately the same time? Apparently this situation is known as the 'big flush' and is usually more of a hypothetical concern of architects and plumbing engineers than a real-world scenario. But UC Davis likes to be a trend setter, and so it came to pass that on Sunday morning, the campus suffered a bout of rather unpleasant congestion as the 'nightmare scenario' of the big flush came true. I'll spare readers too many details of the after-effects. Suffice to say that things are now flowing smoothly again and the smell has almost dissipated.

Men's brains are more redundant says UC Davis scientist

Scientists have been looking at differences in the brains of men and women. Science News magazine contains a summary of some research that looked at the numbers of connectors in the brain (they're technically called 'synapses' but I'm not sure if that will help you much). Men have more of these connectors than women it seems (though it seems a little odd that this research only comes from the brains of epilepsy patients).

Anyway, the point of all of this is that a UC Davis scientist - Edward Jones - who works at the Center for Neuroscience on campus was asked for his opinion on the research. He noted that the difference in men and women's brains might not be because men have better spatial perception but might just be because "men's brains are just more redundant".

Ah, I love it when scientists discover something that we already knew to be true!!!

Getting high in Davis

Davis is not exactly noted for a cityscape of high-rise buildings and tower blocks. In fact, it is pretty hard to find any building where you might have to contemplate using an elevator. The record for height currently belongs to Sproul Hall on the UC Davis campus (pictured below). This nine-storey building is as high as you can get in Davis (and for that matter Yolo county), but not for much longer.

Plans have now been submitted to the City Council for a new sculpture that would become the largest structure in Davis that you can ascend. The permanent artwork is titled 'Above the clouds' and will - if planning permission is granted - take the shape of a giant tree which will be more than double the height of Sproul Hall.

The central trunk would contain an elevator allowing visitors to ascend to a viewing level from which they would be granted a 200-mile view across the causeway to Sacramento and beyond. The designer of the sculpture (Gary Gunderson) says "Above the clouds will be a wistful, dreamy experience for the people of Davis. You will be able to literally ascend into the heavens and view the beauty of Davis and beyond from up high". The choice of the tree design is meant to reflect the prominent role of Davis on many green issues, and will also "symbolize the ever branching diversity of both Californian culture and cuisine".

The plans propose to site this sculpture in Central Park so that it will be a focal point for Davis and easily accessible by visitors. Should the team behind this sculpture get the go-ahead, work will start next summer and will take approximate 2 years to complete at a cost of over $3 million. The structure will be based on a mixed steel and concrete core, but the outside will be coated in rubber that is reclaimed from recycled car tires.