American Astronomical Society honors four UC Santa Cruz affiliates at national meeting

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) honored four scientists affiliated with UC Santa Cruz for outstanding contributions to the field. At this week’s AAS national meeting, the society named UC Observatories Director Bruce Macintosh and two alumni, Laura Lopez and Mark Phillips, among the 24 new fellows chosen for 2025.




$7.5 million awarded to UC Santa Cruz to support leadership in salmon-recovery science

UC Santa Cruz has received nearly $7.5 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to vault scientific research on imperiled Pacific salmon populations into one of the nation’s most powerful collaborations between the agency and academia to save the vital species.




Former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan honored for historical narratives of his field

The American Physical Society awarded former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan on October 15 with its Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, citing his “important contributions to the history of post-World War II physics, including the discovery of quarks, the invention and development of the transistor, and the search for the Higgs boson.”



Understanding landslides: a new model for predicting motion

Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and landslides are commonly prefaced by the phrase, “not if, but when.” This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable thanks to researchers at UC Santa Cruz and The University of Texas at Austin, who found that conditions known to cause slip along fault lines deep underground also lead to landslides above.


Science Division debuts ‘degree-defining experiences’ drawing on UC Santa Cruz’s unique strengths

The Science Division has received a $1 million donation to begin a major new program on “degree-defining experiences.” The program will pilot 17 projects across campus that aim to profoundly inspire undergraduate students and fill them with the kind of optimism that forever changes how they see their time at UC Santa Cruz and their future careers.


Ending jet lag: Scientists discover secret to regulating our body clock

Scientists have discovered a revolutionary way to put an end to jet lag by uncovering the secret at the tail end of Casein Kinase 1 delta (CK1δ), a protein that regulates our body clock. This breakthrough, achieved by researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School and the University of California, Santa Cruz, offers a new approach to adjusting our circadian rhythms, the natural 24-hour cycles that influence sleep-wake patterns and overall daily functions.