Processed food is everywhere—and chances are, you're eating more of it than you think. In this episode of Unfold, we go beyond the ingredient list to uncover the science and public perceptions of processed and ultra-processed foods. Are these foods addictive by design, unsafe or just misunderstood? With insights from food scientists and cultural experts, we’ll examine how modern food manufacturing may be shaping our health, our public policy and even our understanding of what food is.

In this episode:

Alyson Mitchell, professor and food chemist, UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology

Charlotte Biltekoff, professor in UC Davis Departments of Food Science and Technology and American Studies

Read our In Focus story: “What to Know about Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods.”

Learn more about processed foods from nutritionists and food scientists in our “Ask the Experts” article.

Read Biltekoff’s latest book, Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge

Consumers once complained about the short range of electric vehicles, but not so much anymore. Now, finding reliable public charging has become the top concern for EV drivers. Chargers can be broken, slow or just inaccessible for multiple reasons. In this episode of Unfold, we talk to UC Davis researchers studying public charging woes and tag along as they drive all over California to test thousands of chargers.

In this episode:

Alan Jenn, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies

Gil Tal, director, Electric Vehicle Research Center at the UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies

If you’ve perused grocery store shelves lately, you may have noticed a trend – food and beverages labeled probiotic or prebiotic. It’s even on sodas! Labels claim the products “support gut health” or “help boost your immune system.” But is this proliferation of probiotics and prebiotics just marketing or are these microbes really good for you? In this episode of Unfold, a UC Davis microbiologist separates hype from health.

In this episode:

Maria Marco, microbiologist and professor in the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology

Learn more about probiotics, prebiotics and friendly microbes in this Q&A and test your knowledge with a fun quiz! Go to our website at www.ucdavis.edu/unfold to find links.

Some call it fake meat – but the burgers of the future could come from a lab, a fungus, a plant or a hybrid that combines animal meat with alternative proteins. UC Davis researchers are looking at ways to bring these proteins to market on a large scale. Experts say it may be the only sustainable way to meet the world’s demand for meat. In this episode of Unfold, you’ll learn more about alternative proteins and the challenge of getting meat eaters to embrace them.

In this episode:

David Block, director of the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein at UC Davis

Ruihong Zhang, professor, UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Anna Denicol, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Animal Science

Lucas Smith, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Cody Yothers, UC Davis graduate student researcher, co-founder Optimized Foods

Zane Starkewolfe, CEO of Optimized Foods

Doni Curkendall, executive vice president of operations, Better Meat Co.

Moran Farhi, executive vice president of technology, Better Meat Co.

Learn more about the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein in our multimedia feature story, also available at ucdavis.edu/food.

A tiny songbird called a black phoebe is trying to adapt to city life – and it’s not an easy job. They didn’t naturally evolve in the city, and they face different threats than they might in their natural habitat. Black phoebes may encounter tougher predators, more chemical pollution and hotter temperatures in the city. In this episode of Unfold, we’ll talk to researchers hoping to find a way for humans and the backyard bird to happily coexist. What they learn could help us understand how to protect other bird species whose habitat is threatened by urban sprawl.

In this episode:

Sage Madden, UC Davis ecology Ph.D. student

Jacob Johnson, UC Davis animal behavior Ph.D. student

Ian Haliburton, UC Davis master’s candidate in animal behavior

Learn more about Project Phoebe by visiting our webpage, www.ucdavis.edu/unfold.

The world’s largest dam removal project is underway along the 250-mile Klamath River in California and Oregon. By the end of 2024, four of the river’s six dams will be demolished. UC Davis scientists are studying whether it will help salmon populations rebound. The fishes’ ear bones could hold clues to their future. In this episode of Unfold, host Amy Quinton discusses the topic with co-host Kat Kerlin, who has written a multimedia feature story about whether restoring the river to its natural state will also restore decimated salmon populations.

In this episode:

Rob Lusardi, aquatic ecologist, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences

Beth Rose Middleton Manning, professor, UC Davis Department of Native American Studies

Barry McCovey, director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department

You may not know it, but artificial intelligence may be responsible for the food on your table. AI is transforming nearly every aspect of our food system, from before a seed is planted up to the moment that food is eaten. AI could even help you decide what food you should eat based on your own health profile. In this episode of Unfold, we take you on AI’s journey from seed to plate. Host Amy Quinton and guest co-host Andy Fell examine the ways “Big Data Comes to Dinner.”

In this episode:

Ilias Tagkopoulos, director of the Artificial Intelligence Institute for Next Generation Food Systems at UC Davis

Christine Diepenbrock, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences

Mason Earles, assistant professor, UC Davis Departments of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Viticulture and Enology

Christopher Simmons, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology

Danielle Lemay, associate adjunct professor, UC Davis Department of Nutrition and USDA-ARS Western Health Nutrition Research Center

Dan Vincent, former president and CEO of Pacific Coast Producers

Can communication with a humpback whale teach us how to talk to extraterrestrials? Researchers from UC Davis and the SETI Institute want to find out. In the waters of Southeast Alaska, scientists believe they’ve had what might be the very first human-whale communication. The interaction was designed to eventually help us detect and interpret signals coming from outer space. In this episode of Unfold, you’ll hear about the scientists’ remarkable 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback named Twain and what we can learn by studying nonhuman communication on Earth.

In this episode:

Brenda McCowan, professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Josephine Hubbard, postdoctoral researcher, UC Davis

Laurance Doyle, astrophysicist, SETI Institute

Fred Sharpe, president, Olympic Peninsula Prairies