Science & Tech

February 19, 2013

UCSB Researchers Conduct Study on Cocaine Addiction and Treatment

By Daniel Saleh

UC Santa Barbara researchers have found that the impaired brain function and learning difficulties that are caused by cocaine addiction can be treated and potentially cured. UCSB scientists Karen Szumlinski, Tod Kippin a...

February 19, 2013

The Importance of Mindset: Fix Your Results By Unfixing Your Beliefs

By Brandon Shin

“Good job! You must be very intelligent.” “Good job! You must be very hard-working.” These two compliments are nearly identical, yet a single word’s deviation can mean a world of difference in terms of achievem...

February 19, 2013

Life Finds A Way: The Evolutionary Science Behind Jurassic Park Dinosaurs

By Chris Nebergall

This spring, Steven Spielberg’s dino-adventure classic “Jurassic Park” will be turning 20, and Universal will be celebrating by re-releasing the movie in 3D. That’s all in anticipation of 2014’s “Jurassic Par...

February 5, 2013

Researchers Examine Connection Between Sleep Deprivation and Memory Loss

By Brigitte Naughton

A recent study conducted by scientists at UC Berkeley linked poor sleep habits and brain degeneration in the elderly with memory loss. The study focused on how older adults between the ages of 60 and 80 store memory duri...

February 5, 2013

Scientists Study Arthritis Friction

By Priyanka Shindgikar

The research of UC Santa Barbara scientists from the Dept. of Chemical Engineering and the Materials Dept. is making way for new, low-cost methods of early arthritis detection. Jacob Israelachvili, UCSB professor of chem...

February 5, 2013

Copyright Law Strikes Again: Unlocking Your Cell Phone Now Illegal in US

By Evan Crook

If you recently purchased a cell phone and were planning on unlocking it, beware — unlocking a phone without the carrier’s permission has recently been declared illegal in the United States. The U.S. Copyright Office...

January 29, 2013

Professor Receives Academy Award For Innovative Visual Effect Technique

By Andrea Weinstein

Theodore Kim, an assistant professor in UCSB’s Media Arts and Technology Program, is the first sitting UCSB professor to earn an Academy Award. Kim is among a group of researchers that created a smoke-and-fire visual e...

January 29, 2013

Daily Habits: How the Greatest Determinant of Success Could Be The One You Don’t Think About

By Brandon Shin

We are creatures of habit. If you think yourself the exception, look no further than where you choose to sit every day in class. Chances are you haven’t moved much from your original location since the beginning of Win...

January 29, 2013

“Prometheus” Steals Fire From The Gods of Crackpot Science

By Chris Nebergall

Last summer, “Prometheus,” the long-anticipated prequel to the “Alien” franchise, was marketed as a thought-provoking science fiction film. What we got was a classic sci-fi trope with some added references to act...

January 22, 2013

UCSB Recieves National Science Foundation Funding For Research

By Priyanka Shindgikar

Two UCSB research teams have received multimillion dollar long-term research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund their studies of kelp forests and coral reefs along the Santa Barbara coast. The Sant...

January 22, 2013

Ubuntu Phone Platform To Rival Android, iOS

By Evan Crook

Are you a phone fan who’s looking for the latest developments in mobile technology? An iOS or Android user tired of your current platform? A hipster who feels that current offerings in the mobile market are too mainstr...

January 15, 2013

UCSB Physicists Examine Quantum Entanglement

By Brigitte Naughton

Physicists at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics recently designed a computer system that details characteristics of quantum entanglement, a state in which a pair of electron spins are entangled with one another...

January 15, 2013

Gender-Bending Fish: Why “Finding Nemo” Really Should Have Been A Mother-Son Story

By Andrea Weinstein

I’m a child at heart. I listen to One Direction and wake up for Saturday morning cartoons. Now that I’ve taken zoology classes, I’ve taken it a step further and made the connection between my childhood animal carto...

January 8, 2013

The Low Fat Myth: Why A Fat-Deficient Diet Could Prevent a Slim Waistline

By Kiyan Rajabi

At some point, most people have set a New Year’s Resolution to improve some aspect of their health, wellness or fitness. We all know it’s January when every gym in America is offering a New Year’s Special. Navigate...

January 8, 2013

UCSB Researcher Conducts Study On Avian Cognition

By Priyanka Shindgikar

Junior research fellow at UC Santa Barbara’s SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind, Corina Logan, has recently began studying cognition in wild birds by examining foraging techniques. During her visit to Costa Rica sev...

November 13, 2012

NASA Attempts to Take the Science Fiction Out of Warp Drive

By Chris Nebergall

Whether or not you know anything about “Star Trek,” you’ve probably heard of the warp drive, that fictional technology that can fling a starship light-years away in mere minutes, opening up the universe to our expl...