Science & Tech

January 25, 2024

Finding Focus: UCSB researchers develop customizable app to strengthen attention skills and minimize mind wandering

By Olivia Gil de Bernabe

In an age where our attention is considered a new currency, a constant barrage of distractions make focusing on what’s important to us an endless challenge. Finding Focus, a new mobile app developed by a collaborative ...

January 25, 2024

Simply Stated: What caused the massive waves on the California coast?

By Kaitlin Lee

  If you were anywhere on the California coast last month, you were likely one of millions receiving high surf warnings and coastal flooding advisories. On Dec. 28, 2023, Santa Barbara experienced 20-foot waves that...

January 18, 2024

Simply Stated: What is an El Niño year?

By Saanvi Tiwary

If you are like me, you may have heard the explanation, “because it’s an El Niño year” as a response to any questions about why it has been raining so much or why it has been so warm all of a sudden. Santa Barbara...

January 18, 2024

Data sheds light on what COVID-19 is like for inmates at CDCR institutions

By Nicole Xu, Collin Tran, Sophia Zhu

Due to the recent continuous drop in COVID-19 cases in CDCR institutions and the high vaccination rates among the population throughout the state’s prisons, their reopening guidelines have loosened.

December 31, 2023

UCSB’s iCTF security competition celebrates 20 years

By Tanvi Ladha

UC Santa Barbara’s International Capture the Flag (iCTF) hacking competition celebrated its 20th anniversary from Dec. 2-8. UCSB’s Department of Computer Science has hosted the event since 2003 and it is one of the w...

December 28, 2023

Closing the Loop: UCSB’s A.S. Department of Public Worms’ sustainable solution to food waste

By Olivia Lohrer

For most people, the moment their scraps fall and join the leftovers at the bottom of the dining commons’ green compost bins marks what they believe to be the end of the line for that food. In reality, like the long jo...

December 23, 2023

Simply Stated: Why do holiday lights make us happy?

By Isabelle Kang

A walk around Isla Vista during the month of December reveals the community glowing under holiday lights and decorations. From the shining Christmas tree on Embarcadero del Norte and Pardall Road to the cozy string light...

December 18, 2023

UC Santa Barbara faculty take part in United Nations Plastics Treaty negotiation

By Qien Feng, Isabelle Kang

UC Santa Barbara’s Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory recently joined the United Nations in making historic progress toward a plastic-free world. Over 175 countries around the globe convened in Nairobi, Kenya on Nov. 13 ...

December 4, 2023

Simply Stated: Which genre reigns supreme for your perfect study soundtrack?

By Tanvi Ladha

As final exams creep closer, are you finding yourself wondering about how to improve the effectiveness of your study habits?

November 30, 2023

Simply Stated: Do we really have free will?

By Cassie Cruz, Cassandra Cavallo

When you decided to read the Science & Tech section of the Daily Nexus today, was it really a choice? Or is this action, and every action you have ever taken, predetermined? Hard determinists would say you never had ...

November 22, 2023

Simply Stated: Do “guilt-free” prebiotic drinks actually make you healthier?

By Leah Cierzan

Have you found yourself grabbing a Poppi or Olipop prebiotic drink from the Arbor before class, reassured with the prebiotic labeling, or adding that free “gut health” supplement into your Blenders smoothie of choice...

November 20, 2023

A conversation with SB Channelkeeper on the legal battle against nitrate pollution

By Michael Foley

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, an organization with the mission of protecting and restoring local water resources, has joined a broad coalition of environmentalists, fishing organizations and Latinx and farmworker communit...

November 16, 2023

UCSB Decarbonization Study Project Committee launches clean energy master plan

By Sierra Ferrante

In a virtual kickoff meeting, UC Santa Barbara’s Decarbonization Study Project Committee launched its official campus Clean Energy Master Plan.  The initiative is a joint effort of both UCSB officials and Introba, a t...

November 16, 2023

A warming ocean: What’s happening below the surface with the Hofmann Lab?

By Madasyn Mueller, Kat Brydson

With marine heatwaves facing our oceans as a climate stressor, UC Santa Barbara’s Hofmann Lab draws attention to just how drastically marine organisms may change in response.  As a relatively recent phenomenon, marine...

November 9, 2023

“River Undammed”: Largest dam removal in history underway, researchers optimistic

By Michael Foley

Decades of hard-fought activism of the Yurok and Karuk tribes have borne fruit in the beginnings of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Hopes are high for the future of the Klamath River Basin, but, as Aliso...

November 9, 2023

UCSB Lab Studies Emergence and Disease Risk of Mosquito-Borne Viruses

By Katharine Chi

Diseases like dengue are becoming much more common due to the expansion of the range of the mosquito species that transmit it. Andrew MacDonald, an assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental...