Science & Tech

April 16, 2015

Tech Talk: Affordable Hack to Avoid Expensive Cell Phone Plan

By Danny Luo

A year ago, my cell phone bill was $100 a month — which was incredibly expensive for a college student on a budget. Factor in the total cost for the entire year and my wallet was running dry. Luckily, I found an easy w...

April 9, 2015

Anticipating Effects of Global Warming on Marine Biodiversity

By Kendra Witt

Hidden in its depths, the Santa Barbara basin contains a trove of ancient marine specimens, providing a glimpse at how marine biodiversity changes over geological ages. A recent study published by the Proceedings of the ...

April 9, 2015

Costs and Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

By Sayeh Akhavan

Over the past couple of years, omega-3 fatty acids have received profound media attention due to their wide range of health benefits. Although they serve as a powerful source of nutrition, excess omega-3 fatty acids can ...

April 2, 2015

This Week in Science

By James Perez

Sometimes, you can only find out what something is by clarifying what it is not. Astronomers are studying dark matter in a similar conceit — observing how the elusive substance behaves during collisions between vast co...

April 2, 2015

Researchers Discover Deep Sea Microbes Using Self-Mutation to Survive in Extreme Environments

By Karla Bernardo

Hundreds to thousands of meters below sea level there exist unique single-celled microorganisms from the domain Archaea. Many Archaea are biology’s adrenaline junkies flourishing in Earth’s extreme environments — f...

March 5, 2015

Researchers Probe Conformations of Protein Involved in Alzheimer’s Disease

By Karla Bernardo

UC Santa Barbara researchers recently studied the biophysics of the regulation and aggregation of Tau, a protein critical in regulating several intracellular functions and believed to play a role in the development of Al...

March 5, 2015

Got Health? Awareness Week Comes to Campus

By Priyanka Shindgikar

For many of us, college means eating a bag of Doritos between classes because you don’t have enough time for a real meal, and drowning in coffee during late night study sessions. Many students struggle with eating heal...

March 4, 2015

A Brief Salvo of Science from 2014

By Brigitte Naughton

Scientists recently discovered a sea slug that can survive for months on photosynthesis­­ – much like a plant­ – by incorporating genes from algae into its own chromosome. The V. litorea algae found on the E. chlo...

March 4, 2015

Excel in Office on the Cheap

By Danny Luo

Gauchos know that making a dollar stretch as far as possible is a top priority. One course tool that nearly all students use that is not only overpriced, but also costs a student-budget fortune, is Microsoft Office. Your...

February 19, 2015

UCSB Hosts Sustainable Seafood Summit

By Danny Luo

As part of the University of California Global Food Initiative, UCSB hosted its first “Food from the Sea” summit yesterday, which focused on the role of fisheries and aquaculture in global food systems. Experts share...

February 12, 2015

UCSB Researchers Tackle Pediatric Diabetes With Artificial Pancreas

By Karla Bernardo

Type 1 diabetic patients know that the responsibilities necessary to manage life with the disease are all routine: monitoring food consumption, maintaining a balance in physical activity and tracking precise times to tak...

February 5, 2015

UCSB Microbial Oceanographer Receives Prestigious Award

By Karla Bernardo

Craig Carlson of UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology was awarded the prestigious G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) f...

January 23, 2015

Tricking Soil Bacteria to Grow in Lab: Discovering a Class of Antibiotics to Combat Drug-Resistant Bacteria

By Kendra Witt

Finding new antibiotics to combat the growing list of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is crucial to fighting infections and maintaining food supplies. Now, scientists are introducing the first new class of antibiotics d...

January 15, 2015

Size Matters: Smaller Fish and Endangered Reefs

By Kaitlin Cuskey

UC Santa Barbara research biologist Jenn Caselle recently published a study revealing the importance of and threats to the California sheephead fish (Semicossyphus pulcher) in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems. Casel...

January 15, 2015

UCSB Alums Found – and Grow – Apeeling Food Technology Company

By Kendra Witt

Apeel Sciences is a start-up that aims to reduce worldwide food waste and pesticide-use through ultrathin film-like crop sprays that extend the shelf life of produce and camouflage the growing crops from pests. James Rog...

December 4, 2014

UCSB Researchers Successfully Immortalize Rodent Stem Cells

By Kendra Witt

Researchers led by UC Santa Barbara Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology professor James Thomson recently found a way to hold mouse stem cells on the threshold of differentiation, allowing them to self-renew and pro...