Katharine Chi

May 29, 2025

Best of Scientific Breakthroughs

By Jesse Chamberlain, Jessica Arocho, John Cho, Katharine Chi, Olivia Lohrer, Rebecca Raymond, Saanvi Tiwary, Yumiko Florando

A look back on notable scientific happenings and achievements at UCSB during the 2024-25 school year.

January 30, 2025

The hidden environmental cost of groundbreaking AI models

By Katharine Chi

Although large language models are an exciting piece of innovation that have vastly transformed the landscape of information technology, the environmental impacts of AI are often ignored and swept under the rug. How does...

November 14, 2024

Letter from the editors: What does a second Trump presidency mean for the fate of science?

By Olivia Lohrer, Katharine Chi

In light of last Tuesday’s election, we are faced with an urgent question: what will a second Trump presidency mean for public trust in the integrity of science?

October 10, 2024

Simply Stated: The mind game of fantasy football

By Katharine Chi

Fantasy sports are on an upward trend of popularity, but what are the psychological motivations and effects of this new form of gambling that is now becoming an American pastime?

July 31, 2024

The CrowdStrike crisis

By Katharine Chi

On July 18, 2024, a CrowdStrike update caused the major I.T. outage whose effects were widely felt on the following day, impacting every Microsoft Windows operating system that had the CrowdStrike application installed a...

May 30, 2024

Best of Scientific Breakthroughs

By Nandini Kuppa, Kaitlin Lee, Katharine Chi, Olivia Lohrer

A look back on notable scientific achievements from UCSB researchers during the 2024-2025 year.

May 2, 2024

Simply Stated: The science behind blacking out

By Katharine Chi

After a night of heavy drinking and regrets, one can experience fear and anxiety when all the memories of the previous night are nowhere to be found.

February 15, 2024

Simply Stated: Are aphrodisiacs a hoax?

By Olivia Gil de Bernabe, Katharine Chi

What is an aphrodisiac? An aphrodisiac is a substance or food that can provoke arousal, sexual desire, behavior and even pleasure. There are three typical usage types for aphrodisiac foods: increasing libido (sexual desi...

November 9, 2023

UCSB Lab Studies Emergence and Disease Risk of Mosquito-Borne Viruses

By Katharine Chi

Diseases like dengue are becoming much more common due to the expansion of the range of the mosquito species that transmit it. Andrew MacDonald, an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental...

April 27, 2023

MethaneMapper: A new effective AI-based tool for methane detection

By Katharine Chi

From erratic weather patterns to increasing occurrences of hurricanes, the climate crisis is worsening by the minute. The main component of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions, with methane in particular accountin...

April 24, 2023

Simple Dicho: ¿Que tan poderoso es ChatGPT?

By Katharine Chi, Meenakshi Manoj

Desde el comienzo de la pandemia, el aprendizaje en línea ha tentado a los estudiantes a abandonar la integridad académica. Algunos programas familiares incluyen Photomath, Quizlet y Socratic, que están diseñados par...

February 2, 2023

Simply Stated: How Powerful is ChatGPT?

By Katharine Chi

ChatGPT is foreign waters. There is a possibility for more school systems to regulate or even ban the use of the program. With how realistic the results are to human-made products, the differentiation of authentic human ...