Science & Tech

April 17, 2025

Simply Stated: ‘Trash pandas’ on our campus: can we coexist?

By Rebecca Raymond

Spotting a raccoon at night is an experience shared frequently by students at UC Santa Barbara but what brings them onto our campus?

April 10, 2025

Spotlight: female UCSB alumni making strides in S.T.E.M

By Cassie Cruz

The following women are exceptional UC Santa Barbara alumni that have paved the pathway to empower future women and girls to pursue their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S.T.E.M.) aspirations.

April 10, 2025

Research in Review: mosquito studies, methamphetamine reinforcement in rats and shark conservation efforts

By Yumiko Florando

New UCSB research on mosquitoes, rat appetites, and shark overfishing

March 16, 2025

The power of reminiscing: Nicole Albada highlights the value of ‘remember when’ for memory retention

By Jessica Arocho

On Feb. 26, Nicole Albada delivered a lecture on “Personal Memories and Successful Aging” as part of the Aging and Longevity Lecture Series at the Direct Relief facility in Goleta.

March 16, 2025

OPINION: Phones may be “rewiring” our lives

By Cassie Cruz

Alongside an uptick in social media and phone usage in the early 2010s, the prevalence of loneliness has increased sharply among U.S. adolescents.

March 6, 2025

Author Richard Powers speaks on the intersections of science, literature and environmental loss

By Olivia Lohrer

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 ever-changing charact...

March 6, 2025

The Buzz Around the bee exhibit: A look at Santa Barbara’s pollinators

By Jesse Chamberlain

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 in an effort to chan...

February 27, 2025

Simply Stated: Is the ‘frat flu’ part of the college experience?

By Roxanna Reid

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 respiratory infections...

February 20, 2025

The cost of a virus: the politics of the U.S. bird flu outbreak and its public health implications

By Roxanna Reid

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. So, how can we contex...

February 20, 2025

SBIFF 2025: “Walk with Me” navigates Alzheimer’s disease

By Isabella Barragan

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 their loved ones who ...

February 13, 2025

Simply Stated: Siblings or dating? The science behind attraction

By Yumiko Florando

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 is romantically inv...

February 13, 2025

The mission to Mars: Can SpaceX put the U.S. flag on the red planet?

By Rebecca Raymond

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 for Mars colonization ...

February 6, 2025

Simply Stated: Companionship in the age of AI

By Zoey Contos

Artificial intelligence (AI) companions are rapidly gaining popularity, created to mimic meaningful relationships and serve as personalized mental health support, often feeling unnaturally human.

February 6, 2025

Trump’s first two weeks: actions to transform science public policy

By Saanvi Tiwary

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, environmental policies and p...

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...