Los Angeles, California - Halloween-themed plates at a Labor Day party. A bride in a green gown with her groom in a purple tuxedo and no wedding party. An obituary that declares of the deceased: “Regina had no hobbies, made no contribution to society, and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life.”

Davis, California - With a potential increase in avian influenza this fall when wild waterfowl migrate south from their northern breeding grounds, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine reminds chicken owners to be extra vigilant to help avoid their birds contracting or passing the virus.

Davis, California - Improving lettuce crops is the aim of a new, $4.5 million grant, awarded to University of California, Davis, researchers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

San Diego, California - Roughly one in nine people on Earth do not have enough food to eat. And climate change is only making it harder for farmers to meet the global demand for food, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). By 2030, the IPCC expects climate change to reduce crop and pasture yields by as much as 14 percent in some parts of the world. Adapting crops, livestock and fisheries will be critical for global food security.

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:

Stanford, California - Stanford engineers have created a plastic "skin" that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.