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UNFOLD

a UC Davis podcast

The world is a complicated place with tantalizing questions and troublesome problems. Each sound-rich episode of Unfold makes these complex topics relatable and reveals answers to questions you’ve always been curious about. We take you into the field with leading researchers and scholars working to feed a growing population, adapt to climate change and improve the health of people, animals and even the planet itself. Hosted by public radio veteran Amy Quinton and co-hosted by Kat Kerlin and Marianne Russ Sharp.

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Latest Episode

The Better Meat Co. has developed a new fungal based protein, shown here as a replacement for meat on three tacos. (Better Meat Co.)

The Promise of Alternative Proteins



Three black phoebe chicks are nestled in a soft, blue cloth bag. (Amy Quinton/UC Davis)

Little Bird, Big City



Aerial view above Iron Gate Dam on Klamath River in 2023

That Dam Removal Project



AI-generated graphic showing a cell phone in a field on a farm. UC Davis researchers are advancing AI technology in our food system.

Harvesting Intelligence: AI’s Journey From Farm to Table



A humpback whale breaches the water. UC Davis and SETI Institute scientists are studying whale communication. (Getty)

Close Encounters of the Whale Kind



Matthew Treviño holds a canister of a hormonal birth control gel for men while in his home in Sacramento. He is part of a clinical trial at UC Davis Health testing the new drug.

Hormonal Birth Control – It’s a Guy Thing, Too



Woman talking to her Siri-based device. UC Davis researchers find that most of us speak differently when talking to voice AI. (Getty)

Hey Siri, Why Do I Speak Differently to You?



Diverted water spills into an almond orchard in Modesto, CA in November of 2016 to help recharge the aquifer beneath the field. UC Davis scientists are studying managed aquifer recharge as a solution to California's groundwater overpumping. (Curtis Jerome Haynes)

The Water We Eat: Tackling the Groundwater Dilemma



Unfold Season 4


Season 4 of Unfold explores the most cutting-edge technologies and treatments that advance the health of both people and animals. Hosts Amy Quinton and Marianne Russ Sharp unfold the story of a courageous couple going through the first human clinical trial that uses surgery and stem cells to treat their developing baby’s spina bifida. You’ll hear how veterinarians and physicians are working together to fight cancer. You’ll learn why amputees often abandon their high-tech prosthetic devices and how surgeons and engineers are working together to solve that problem. You’ll hear lots of remarkable and hopeful stories about health in Season 4 of Unfold.

 

 

Season 4 Episodes

We'll soon spring forward into Daylight Saving Time. A sleep medicine expert says there is a reason it takes our bodies so long to adjust.

Bonus: Is Springing Forward Bad for Your Health?



Vietnamese refugees in a small boat being loaded onto a U.S. amphibious command ship in 1982.

Linking Wartime Trauma to Dementia in Vietnamese American Communities



A robotic hand reaches out to another human hand.

The Human Machine: Reimagining Prosthetics



Izzy Hack. a veterinary student dressed in scrubs, examines a chihuahua pug mix puppy.

Connecting Health Care to People and Pets



Big brown and black dog named Boone sits on a boat with Lake Sonoma in the background. He went through a clinical trial at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine to treat his cancer.

How Dogs Could Help Doctors Find the Next Cancer Treatment



Tobi Maginnis at 3-months-old sitting on an exam table. He was one of the first babies born after a treatment involving surgery and stem cells to treat his spina bifida.

Hope For a Spina Bifida Cure, Part 2



Photo of Myrtle, a brown, tan, and white English bulldog, as a puppy wearing a rainbow outfit

Hope For a Spina Bifida Cure, Part 1



Unfold Season 3


Unfold brings you stories of awe, wonder and discovery as we explore how UC Davis researchers are driven by curiosity. Curiosity can lead to some of the greatest discoveries, like why songs get stuck in your head or what real-world engineering concepts you can learn from comic book superheroes. This season, we examine an archaeological discovery that raises new questions about the sexual division of labor in early hunter-gatherer societies. UC Davis researchers reveal what they found by peeling back the layers of a fish’s eye and by studying cute, pink, baby-faced axolotls. We have lots of surprising and curious stories to tell this season — even a spooky, dark and murderous one, just in time for Halloween.

Season 3 Episodes

Two yellow butterflies in pin case

Cockroaches for Dessert



Photo of woman's mouth in front of microphone

The Poet's Voice



Graphic of six superheroes

The Science of Superheroes



Photo of axolotl

Chonk the Axolotl: How Life is Super Amazing



Artist's rendering of a public execution in 18th century Germany.

Murder, Suicide and the Macabre



Woman hunter

*Was* She a Badass?



Five UC Davis researchers inside marble rock formations of cave

Nature Tells Its Story, Part 2: Caves and Really Old Water



The eyeball of a fish

Nature Tells Its Story, Part 1: Fish Eyes and Ears



Songs and memory photo

Why Is That Song Stuck in My Head?



Unfold Season 2

The Earth’s climate is changing. Temperatures around the world are rising. Traditional weather patterns are shifting, and extreme weather events are happening more often. In Season 2 of Unfold, hosts Amy Quinton and Kat Kerlin will talk to researchers who believe this unprecedented crisis calls for unprecedented solutions, including projects that pull CO2 out of the air. From carbon farming to electric cars, we’ll examine the best ways to transition to a low-carbon future. We’ll travel from California to Kenya to examine how climate change is punishing the world’s poor and how insurance might protect them when drought hits. We’ll also examine what the coronavirus crisis is teaching us about the climate crisis.

Season 2 Episodes

A child in northern Kenya stands next to his camels.

How Climate Change is Punishing the World’s Poor



man enters low-carbon transportation car

Transitioning to Low-Carbon Transportation



Photo of electricity wires.

Decarbonizing Energy



ocean tides

Oceans under a changing climate



Researcher holds bag of rock dust to be added to agricultural soils.

Is Rock Dust a Climate Change Solution?



A student types an email on a laptop computer.

E-Commerce and Climate Change



northern california wildfire at evening

California Wildfires In a Changing Climate



sunset in california

Becoming Arizona



Photo of Earth wrapped in coronavirus

Coronavirus and Climate Change



Unfold Season 1


Climate change threatens to make sustainably feeding two billion more people by 2050 a seemingly impossible task. We’ll need to grow more food, more efficiently and waste less. In Season 1 of Unfold, hosts Amy Quinton and Alexa Renee talk with UC Davis researchers working to make agriculture more sustainable about potential solutions to the challenges that lay ahead.

Season 1 Episodes

A young woman holds a handful of strawberries on her open palms.

Bonus Bite: What Happened to Flavor?



Purple grapes hang on a vineyard.

Bonus Bite: Climate Through the Grapevine



Maynard Amerine pictured working in a lab next to a colleague. An image Pinot Noir grapevines with handwritten notes below.

Bonus Bite: The Father of Wine



Photo of Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences Emeritus in a brewing classroom.

Bonus Bite: Stranger Beers with Charlie Bamforth



Girl eating a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant

Food Politics



Hens on traditional free range poultry organic farm grazing on the grass

Is the Chicken Local?



Visual of DNA genome sequencing.

The Future of Food



carrot farmer food waste research uc davis

You've Come a Long Way, Baby Carrot



A field of corn seen against a clear blue sky.

GMO OMG



cows grazing in field

What's the Beef With Beef?



2022 Gold Signal Award Winner Badge
2022 Bronze Signal Award Badge

Communications award


CASE Award of Excellence - Gold

From the Judges

This podcast is exceptionally well done, indistinguishable from podcasts being produced by the big names in podcasting. The marketing mix among the social media platforms and website is tightly integrated and beautifully designed. The storytelling in the podcasts and the balance of airtime among the hosts and the UC Davis experts gives you a feel of being at a dinner party with fascinating and insightful individuals who bring you deep into a conversation that opens your perspective and makes you think. The music and ambient sounds provide both "visual" context to the story and also brief pauses to let the provocative ideas sink in.