Science & Tech

OPINION: Phones may be “rewiring” our lives

March 16, 2025 by

Alongside an uptick in social media and phone usage in the early 2010s, the prevalence of loneliness has increased sharply among U.S. adolescents.
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Author Richard Powers speaks on the intersections of science, literature and environmental loss

March 6, 2025 by

On Feb. 23, bestselling author Richard Powers prompted an audience of nearly 800 people in Campbell Hall to consider the environment as more than just a literary backdrop but a living, breathing and e...
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The Buzz Around the bee exhibit: A look at Santa Barbara’s pollinators

March 6, 2025 by

An exciting new exhibit, “Through the Looking Glass: A Microscopic Look at our Native Bees,” has been installed at the UC Santa Barbara library to showcase some of the true local bees in the area ...
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Simply Stated: Is the ‘frat flu’ part of the college experience?

February 27, 2025 by

For students outside of Greek life, fraternity lingo can feel like a foreign language, yet one term has transcended the Greek glossary: “frat flu” colloquially describes the wave of viral upper re...
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The cost of a virus: the politics of the U.S. bird flu outbreak and its public health implications

February 20, 2025 by

Amidst growing fears of human-to-human transmission, “bird flu” is no longer just a grocery store problem — it’s exposing instability in our new administration’s approach to public health. S...
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SBIFF 2025: “Walk with Me” navigates Alzheimer’s disease

February 20, 2025 by

Among the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s lineup of feature films was “Walk With Me,” a film covering the lived experience of people with neurodegenerative diseases as well as t...
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Simply Stated: Siblings or dating? The science behind attraction

February 13, 2025 by

While doom-scrolling through posts on social media, you may have come across cheeky posts captioned: “siblings or dating?” The photos depict look-alike pairs and invite viewers to guess if the duo...
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The mission to Mars: Can SpaceX put the U.S. flag on the red planet?

February 13, 2025 by

SpaceX has long set its sights on Mars, and has made the bold promise that they will land humans on Mars in 2029, which will eventually pave the path for chief executive officer Elon Musk’s plans fo...
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Simply Stated: Companionship in the age of AI

February 6, 2025 by

Artificial intelligence (AI) companions are rapidly gaining popularity, created to mimic meaningful relationships and serve as personalized mental health support, often feeling unnaturally human.
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Trump’s first two weeks: actions to transform science public policy

February 6, 2025 by

With President Donald Trump’s return to office, questions have arisen about changes in public policy that pertain to science. His first term saw significant shifts in scientific priorities, environm...
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The hidden environmental cost of groundbreaking AI models

January 30, 2025 by

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 und...
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Research in Review: frog extinction, plastic pollution, and cancer studies in animals

January 23, 2025 by

New UCSB research on frogs, plastic pollution, and cancer in animals.
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TikTok, time is up: to be banned or not to be banned?

January 23, 2025 by

News of the looming nationwide TikTok ban concerned many of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users. The nationwide ban was set to take place on Jan. 19 unless Tiktok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteD...
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Simply Stated: Is gossiping a nasty habit or human nature?

January 16, 2025 by

While gossiping is often portrayed as a malicious activity, science shows that “spilling the tea” has significant roots in both evolutionary biology and social psychology.
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This May Help: Maintaining agency and preserving mental well-being amidst political uncertainty

January 16, 2025 by

For professor Erin Khuê Ninh, this collective emotional response to political inequities was heightened by the recent election and became the decisive catalyst for launching This May Help.
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