Matter & Energy

2023 annular solar eclipse visible from UCSB

The stars aligned over Goleta’s Camino Real Marketplace on Oct. 14, putting on a celestial performance that captivated both astronomy enthusiasts and curious onlookers.  The Santa Barbara Astronomi...
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UCSB alum oversees program achieving fusion ignition breakthrough

In December 2022, the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a historic breakthrough in science by facilitating a successful fusion ignition — a game changer f...
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Europa: A new hope

NASA observes Europa, the smallest of Jupiter's four Galilean moons, and its great potential to harbor life beneath its surface.
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New UCSB Data Science Program Provides Support for Students Underrepresented in Field

As the technology within our society advances, the demand for data scientists continues to grow. Although this field is clearly advancing technologically, much growth is necessary in terms of societal...
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Firefly’s Alpha rocket reaches orbit on second attempt

The Texas-based rocket company Firefly Aerospace successfully reached orbit last Saturday, Oct. 1, in its sophomore launch attempt out of Santa Barbara County’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
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Weld Lab Makes Waves, Detects Quantum Boomerang Effect

The Weld Group at the UC Santa Barbara Department of Physics has recently published their results demonstrating the first observation of the “quantum boomerang” effect.
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Las Cumbres Observatory Searches for Supernovae

The Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), located in Goleta, California, is one of the many worldwide observatories where robotic telescopes are designed to collect astronomical data. There are many ongoing ...
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UCSB’s Young Lab Pioneers New Method of Inducing Superconducting State

For the UCSB researchers, having a superconducting ground state allowed them to subject the sample to a battery of experimental conditions without destroying the sample.
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UCSB Physics Professor Proposes New Planetary Defense System

The project proposes a way to break up incoming cosmic objects, instead of just deflecting them as past efforts have sought to do.
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Every Last Sun Drop: UCSB Researchers Increase Solar Cell Efficiency With Perovskite Crystals

“It may not be long before people are putting hybrid-perovskite-based solar cells on their roofs."
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The Physics Circus Travels To Cyberspace, a Detour Brought on by COVID-19

In response to the pandemic, the team had to rethink their methods of outreach to disseminate learning in a safer, yet still exciting and effective way. 
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UCSB STEM Disciplines Come Together To Study Cell Polarization

Banavar and her collaborators were interested in understanding how cells understand their own geometry and maintain polarity.
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UCSB Professor Who Invented Blue LEDs Wins Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

Since 1995, Nakamura has received numerous accolades for his achievements in the field, namely his efforts to create cheap and efficient sources of light.
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Advancing Green Chemistry With Professor Adeyemi Adeleye

Adeleye spoke on two particular ways that his graduate students have been developing methods and processes to improve pollution remediation with green chemistry. 
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Assessing Sand Demand for a Low-Carbon Transition in Infrastructure

With ecological sustainability in mind, researchers aimed to highlight the limitations of a future that implements a low-carbon transition in infrastructure when utilizing natural sand as “relief”
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