It’s the first night back after Lotus Pub’s annual two-week holiday break, and at 5 p.m. when the doors swing open on this frigid Friday in January, a line has already formed.

In recent years, avian influenza (or “bird flu”) has been on a rampage, wiping out wild and domestic birds, disrupting the environment, and causing a shortage of eggs and poultry meat. The Davis-based startup AgriNerds aims to help farmers to identify potential risks and protect poultry against the threat of diseased ducks.

This may have happened to you: You call a restaurant, and instead of a live person, you get a recorded voice telling you to leave a message and someone will get back to you. Or even worse, you go online looking for a restaurant’s phone number, only to discover there isn’t one.  

Your experience of social media may be as a fun time-waster, an angst-producing FOMO (fear of missing out) machine or the reason you know your Uncle Dennis believes in ancient aliens. But to many restaurant owners, social media is a necessity.

If you can’t get enough of the holiday season and want to surround yourself with sparkling, glittering decorations while sipping on a craft cocktail adorned with cranberries and sprigs of rosemary, a pop-up bar is just for you.

As California grew into a vast agricultural region during the early 20th century, native grasslands, forests and riparian habitats were gradually replaced by farmlands and orchards. Though green things thrive on farms as a matter of business, there’s very little biodiversity on a traditional farm — and not much room for pollen specialists.

A sneaky viroid has been spreading invisibly for months at a time in cannabis plants across the country, decimating crops right as they’re about to flower. The so-called hop latent viroid is now the “biggest concern for cannabis growers worldwide,” according to a recent scientific paper. 

Winning a Michelin star is something ambitious chefs spend a lifetime dreaming of and working toward. A star from the world-famous Michelin Guide promises life-changing benefits: Money. Customers. Fame. There’s even a term for it: the Michelin effect.

The solution to one of the wine industry’s most costly and threatening problems may be coming soon from Lodi — and it will trot out on four feet, tails a-wagging, with noses keener than even advanced scientific equipment.