Technically, Atocera Inc. is the result of a shaving accident.

Back in 2012, Saif Islam, a UC Davis professor of electrical and computer engineering, was in the campus labs building silicon micro-walls for solar panels. During the process of cutting semiconductor material into small slices, something unexpected happened.

Each month, Comstock’s online features a different Startup of the Month. As 2016 comes to a close, we take one last look at these startups to see how they stack up.

But Anpac Bio’s major innovation is not about where, but when. Catching cancer in the earliest stages has been Yu’s goal since the company launched in 2010. With so much medical research focused on treatment and imaging, he set his sights on early detection as the key to prevention. His ideas were unconventional.

In May 2015, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center pioneered a life-saving idea. It was remarkably simple, relatively inexpensive and would help address a public health crisis. Nurses would ask every mother of a newborn leaving the hospital if her baby had a safe place to sleep. If not, Kaiser would send the parent home with a free, portable Pack-N-Play.

With about two months to go before it hands over the White House — and potentially Obamacare’s fate — to Trump, the Obama administration is making a final push to get people into the program.

Feeling stiff at work? Want to stretch out but don’t have the space or social courage to get up and bust out some exercise moves in front of your coworkers? Fear no more: We’ve compiled a bunch of stretches that can all be done in an office setting and best of all — ranked them from least attention-getting to the most disruptive.

Stand Up Placer has been serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence since 1978. Survivors and the children of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking can find refuge, emergency services and advocacy around the clock in our 55-bed safe house. Victims get to us either by calling our 24/7 crisis line, visiting one of our service centers in Roseville or Auburn, or from law enforcement referrals.

Taking parental leave whether you’re the mom- or dad-to-be is no easy undertaking, and it’s not always guaranteed. If you’re traditionally employed, paid maternity leave is at the discretion of private companies.

When Latino kids grow up not seeing doctors, cops or college professors that look like them, they begin to think that those are not viable career choices: Those are jobs for other people. It is hard to encourage anyone to go into those professions when they don’t know people already in them.

The U.S. medical profession is changing for its practitioners. There are fewer and fewer self-employed physicians, as more turn to employment by a medical group or hospital. In general, the U.S. will face a projected shortage of up to 90,400 physicians by 2025.