A new 66 million-year history of carbon dioxide offers little comfort for today
A massive new review of ancient atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels and corresponding temperatures lays out a daunting picture of where the Earth’s climate may be headed.
UCSC’s 2023 iGEM team grabs fourth consecutive gold medal and nomination for best software tool at international competition
A team of UC Santa Cruz students won a gold medal at the 2023 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Grand Jamboree, marking their fourth consecutive year of bringing home the prize, and were nominated as best software tool for the first time.
New eDNA Explorer provides a powerful new resource for conservation
CALeDNA has launched a prototype of their new eDNA Explorer, an open-source tool that provides a powerful and easily accessible platform for sharing, exploring, and analyzing data from projects that use environmental DNA.
Dwarf planet Eris is squishier than expected
University of California, Santa Cruz Professor of Planetary Sciences Francis Nimmo recently co-authored a Science Advances paper about the internal structure of the dwarf planet Eris.
Design begins for new Interdisciplinary Instruction and Research Building (IIRB) on Science Hill
UC Santa Cruz is moving forward with preliminary design for a new building that will accommodate the undergraduate teaching programs currently held in Thimann Laboratories.
NASA’s Webb Identifies Methane In an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed the exoplanet WASP-80 b as it passed in front of and behind its host star, revealing spectra indicative of an atmosphere containing methane gas and water vapor.
Environmental toxicologist Don Smith receives Outstanding Faculty Award
Don Smith, distinguished professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology, has been awarded the 2022-2023 Outstanding Faculty Award from the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences. The annual award is the division’s highest honor for faculty achievement, recognizing combined excellence in research, teaching, and service.
Life Beyond the Redwoods: Benny Mosqueira participates in groundbreaking research one year after graduating from UCSC
One year after graduating from UCSC, Benny Mosqueira is a research assistant for MCD Biology Assistant Professor D’Juan Farmer’s lab at UCLA.
Worldwide leaders convene to protect, advance global biodiversity
UC Santa Cruz hosted the APEC University Leaders’ Forum with UC Davis and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities
A major new site expansion at Lick Observatory is on the horizon
Lick Observatory’s positioning in the Northern Hemisphere enables observation of a substantial portion of the Milky Way galaxy where there are a multitude of stars, billions of potential sites for life. Making Lick Observatory a perfect home for PANOSETI, or “Panoramic SETI or Pulse All-sky Near Infrared Optical SETI.”
Giving Day 2023 breaks records
UCSC’s biggest fundraising event of the year raises more than $1.5M
UC Santa Cruz students win three categories at Orange County Sustainability Decathlon
An interdisciplinary team of UC Santa Cruz students, many from the Rachel Carson College Sustainability Minor program, designed and built EcoHus, an innovative, affordable, net-zero house. The EcoHus team was selected to receive a $100,000 grant to participate in the 2023 Orange County Sustainability Decathlon (OCSD) held on Oct. 5-15, where they won first place in three categories, and secured second and third place in other categories.