The story is rarely more than a few lines, usually peppered with saucy puns or sly asides. The buxom blonde was taking an evening trip on the city’s famed hills when her cable car crashed. Pretty Gloria went head-first into a pole, turning her ordinary brain into a mind obsessed with doing the deed. So Gloria took her case to the courts, suing the city of San Francisco for turning her into a sex fiend. She won, taking home a $50,000 payout. 

In early January, a team of UC Merced and affiliated researchers released the Fourth Regional Climate Change Assessment, illustrating the biggest problems — and possible solutions — facing California’s vast and diverse biomes and communities, from the coasts to the mountains and forests to deserts.