Science & Tech

October 23, 2012

UCSC Study Shows Sea Otters Can Reduce Carbon Dioxide

By Daniel Saleh

Two UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered that besides being adorable, a large number of sea otters can help reverse one of the main sources of global warming by assisting in the spread of sea kelp beds. UCSC profess...

October 16, 2012

UCSF Researcher Earns Nobel for Revolutionary Stem Cell Discovery

By David Wallace

UCSF researcher Shinya Yamanaka was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that mature cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells. Yamanaka was the first to produce induced ...

October 16, 2012

A Brief History of the Plastic That Holds Today’s Gadgets Together

By Andrea Weinstein

The cell phone: the one thing we’ve all become completely dependent on. Imagine a world without rubber, a world without silicon, a world without those pieces of plastic that are in your hand right now. It all started i...

October 9, 2012

Bioengineers Create Accessible Diagnostic Tests

By Priyanka Shindgikar

Bioengineers from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Rome, Tor Vergata recently patented a technology for rapid medical diagnostic tests using inspiration from natural processes mirrored in...

October 9, 2012

Beneficial Bacterias: The Friends Your Belly is Aching For

By Kiyan Rajabi

When I hear the word bacteria, I still get chills imagining the endless wait on a freezing chair at the doctor’s office with those fluorescent lights glaring at me. Though bacteria has received a bad rap because of its...

October 2, 2012

UCSB Scientists Recieve Award For Artificial Pancreas Research

By Daniel Saleh

A team of researchers from UCSB and the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute were recently selected from a pool of 128 entrants to receive the 2nd Annual Wyss Institute IEEE EMBS Award for Translational Research for their ...

October 2, 2012

Researchers Study Diagram Literacy

By Andrea Weinstein

A team of researchers from UCSB, Vanderbilt University and West Carolina University presented their work, a study on the effects of diagram orientation on interpretation abilities, in the most recent issue of Bioscience....

August 22, 2012

Get To Know a Researcher: Thomas Weimbs

By David Wallace

Thomas Weimbs, an Associate Professor in the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department since 2007, has a lab at UCSB focuses on uncovering the underlying mechanisms of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney ...

August 22, 2012

Make the Most of Your Years at UCSB

By Kiyan Rajabi

Ah yes, College. The habits you adopt during your time here are likely to stay with you for life. As I approach my last year at this incredible institution, there are a few tidbits I wish I knew earlier during my career ...

August 22, 2012

Curiosity Arrives on the Red Planet

By Andrea Weinstein

The latest Mars rover Curiosity departed from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station last November and landed safely on the surface of the Red Planet on Aug. 5, 2012 making it the fourth American rover successfully sent to Mar...

August 22, 2012

UCSB Environmental Research Teams Spearhead Groundbreaking Projects

By Staff Report

Urban Water Contamination Study Backed by a $1.25 million contribution from veteran water industry exec- utive Henry Wheeler, Jr., UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management Environmental micro- biology pro...

May 29, 2012

UCSB Lecturer Creates Visual Arts-Based Physics Teaching System

By Andrea Weinstein

Jatila van der Veen, a lecturer in the College of Creative Studies as well as a research associate in UCSB’s Physics Dept., created a new method in teaching introductory physics called “Noether Before Newton.” The ...

May 29, 2012

The Down Low on Dopamine

By Kiyan Rajabi

Do you find yourself taking Facebook breaks every five minutes? Well, it may just be your human nature. According to a recent study conducted by Vanderbilt University, researchers found the neurotransmitter dopamine is c...

May 22, 2012

Astronomers Use New Technique to Study the Expansion of Black Holes

By Kyle Naughton

An international team of astronomers in Chile employed three powerful telescopes to peer into the heart of a galaxy tens of millions of light years away. The astronomers observed the hot accretion disk of matter falling ...

May 22, 2012

Updated Marine Mapping Program Near Completion

By Daniel Saleh

UCSB Marine Science Institute project scientist Will McClintock is currently completing SeaSketch, a new version of the free web-based marine mapping and spatial planning program, MarineMap. The program was relatively li...

May 15, 2012

UCSB Researchers Identify Semi-Conductor Polymers, Further Printable Electronics

By Daniel Saleh

UCSB researchers teamed up with North Carolina State physicists to determine why certain materials are better than others for use in printable electronics. Through the use of powerful X-rays that can be used to see down ...