https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from University of California - Santa Barbara The structural complexity of coral reefs creates a vibrant underwater city populated by a diverse assortment of characters. Ironically, this same complexity can impede coral recovery after disturbances. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-dead-coral-skeletons-hinder-reef.html Ecology Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:11:05 EDT news646575061 A federal multibillion-dollar effort that subsidized internet service providers to bring broadband to underserved areas has provided much-needed high-speed internet to some of the country's remote and rural areas. However, according to UC Santa Barbara researchers, once the federal subsidies ended, so did much of the service. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-federal-broadband-subsidies-boosted-rural.html Telecom Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:43:12 EDT news646566183 Pregnancy is a transformative time in a person's life where the body undergoes rapid physiological adaptations to prepare for motherhood—that we all know. What has remained something of a mystery is what the sweeping hormonal shifts brought on by pregnancy are doing to the brain. Researchers in Professor Emily Jacobs' lab at UC Santa Barbara have shed light on this understudied area with the first-ever map of a human brain over the course of pregnancy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-reveals-brain-pregnancy.html Neuroscience Obstetrics & gynaecology Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:00:01 EDT news645694561 While a mosquito bite is often no more than a temporary bother, in many parts of the world it can be scary. One mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, spreads the viruses that cause over 100,000,000 cases of dengue, yellow fever, Zika and other diseases every year. Another, Anopheles gambiae, spreads the parasite that causes malaria. The World Health Organization estimates that malaria alone causes more than 400,000 deaths every year. Indeed, their capacity to transmit disease has earned mosquitoes the title of deadliest animal. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-mosquitoes-infrared-body-track-humans.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 22 Aug 2024 17:27:05 EDT news643566421 The body has a veritable army constantly on guard to keep us safe from microscopic threats from infections to cancer. Chief among these forces is the macrophage, a white blood cell that surveils tissues and consumes pathogens, debris, dead cells, and cancer. Macrophages have a delicate task. It's crucial that they ignore healthy cells while on patrol, otherwise they could trigger an autoimmune response while performing their duties. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-macrophages-appetite-cancer-cells.html Oncology & Cancer Immunology Mon, 12 Aug 2024 11:00:01 EDT news642675183 The world is going to need a lot of weird metals in the coming years, according to chemistry professor Justin Wilson at UC Santa Barbara. But he isn't talking about lithium, cobalt or even beryllium. Wilson's interested in dysprosium, which is so hidden in the periodic table that you'd be forgiven for thinking he made it up. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-advanced-chelators-efficient-eco-friendly.html Biochemistry Tue, 06 Aug 2024 10:11:15 EDT news642157867 Computers benefit greatly from being connected to the internet, so we might ask: What good is a quantum computer without a quantum internet? https://phys.org/news/2024-07-bright-prospects-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Physics Wed, 31 Jul 2024 06:27:17 EDT news641626032 There's an experiment going on in conservation in Africa. With biodiversity imperiled, and nations facing financial and political crises, some governments are transferring the management of protected areas to private, non-governmental organizations (NGOs). https://phys.org/news/2024-07-outsourcing-africa-ngo-poaching-boosts.html Ecology Sat, 27 Jul 2024 05:12:26 EDT news641275910 The field of science aims to be objective, repeatable and justified in its choices and methods. These principles are what distinguish accepted scientific findings from pseudo-science. Yet the experience of learning and working in the field of science, including graduate school activities and scientific conferences, might not always follow the same principles. These practices and gatherings of scientists may be just as organic and random as evolution. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-academic-traditions-alternatives-debate.html Social Sciences Education Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:41:28 EDT news640885285 Earth is facing a biodiversity crisis. Fueled by human activity, species are going extinct, habitat is disappearing, and ecosystems are breaking down. In response, the countries of the world have committed to expand protections over the land and sea. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-marine-reserves-redistribute-global-fishing.html Environment Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:34:05 EDT news640341242 Coral reefs, those vibrant underwater cities, stand on the precipice of collapse. While rising ocean temperatures and coral bleaching grab headlines, a new essay in Current Biology reveals a hidden layer of complexity in this fight for survival: the often-overlooked roles of the reefs' smallest inhabitants. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-coral-reefs-battlegrounds-survival-climate.html Ecology Mon, 08 Jul 2024 17:35:04 EDT news639678902 If there's one thing we humans are good at, it's producing heat: significant amounts, and in many cases most of the energy we generate and put into our systems we lose as heat, whether it be our appliances, our transportation, our factories, even our electrical grid. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-comprehensive-characterization-extraordinary-thermoelectric-properties.html Nanomaterials Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:57:09 EDT news638722623 Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth's warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger Dryas. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-reveals-comet-airburst-evidence-years.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:10:04 EDT news638633390 Computers have come so far in terms of their power and potential, rivaling and even eclipsing human brains in their ability to store and crunch data, make predictions and communicate. But there is one domain where human brains continue to dominate: energy efficiency. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-06-platform-brain.html Computer Sciences Machine learning & AI Wed, 26 Jun 2024 07:01:10 EDT news638604027 The countries of the world have agreed: Our planet needs more protection from human activity. And with the globe facing an assortment of environmental crises, they realized the plan needed to be ambitious. Thirty-by-thirty was their proposal: protect 30% of the planet by 2030. But while conservation is popular in principle, the costs of actually enacting it often stall even the most earnest efforts. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-incentivize-global-ocean.html Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:37:05 EDT news637515422 Thirty by thirty. It's an ambitious answer to growing calls for protecting more of our planet's surface. The goal is to conserve 30% of the Earth's oceans, lands and freshwaters by 2030. While this may seem a lofty aim, the diversity and coverage of conservation areas today might be greater than what's currently recognized by global tracking systems. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-approach-tracking-reveals-greater-diversity.html Ecology Wed, 05 Jun 2024 13:20:50 EDT news636812447 A great armada entered the North Atlantic, launched from the cold shores of North America. But rather than ships off to war, this force was a fleet of icebergs, and the havoc it wrought was on the ocean current itself. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-historic-iceberg-surges-insights-modern.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 May 2024 14:25:05 EDT news636297901 UC Santa Barbara researchers are building out the repertoire of chemical reactions, using light. In a paper published in the journal Nature, chemistry professor Yang Yang and collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh report a method using photobiocatalysis to produce non-canonical (not naturally occurring) amino acids that are valuable building blocks of peptide therapeutics, bioactive natural products and novel functional proteins. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-method-enable-generation-canonical-amino.html Biochemistry Materials Science Thu, 30 May 2024 14:22:04 EDT news636297721 Mantis shrimp are small creatures known for their superlatives. Their eyes have 12 to 16 different color receptors versus our own three, and can detect the polarization of light. Their punches are famously fast, accelerating on par with a 22-caliber bullet. They use these strikes on prey, predators and competitors alike. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-mantis-shrimp-defend-high.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 10 May 2024 10:52:03 EDT news634557121 Finding reliable, eco-friendly power sources is crucial as our world grapples with increasing energy needs and the urgent call to combat climate change. Solar energy offers one solution, with scientists devising ever more efficient materials for capturing sunlight. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-05-energy-high-solar-cells.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 08 May 2024 10:39:03 EDT news634383541 In one of the first studies of its kind, UC Santa Barbara researchers have found that the immune status of postpartum mothers shifts with how she feeds her baby. According to a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, certain inflammatory proteins—substances that are secreted as part of an immune response—peak at different times of day, correlating with whether the mothers breastfeed, pump or formula-feed their babies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-mother-immune-status-varies-strategy.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Immunology Wed, 08 May 2024 10:25:22 EDT news634382718 Researcher and technologist Matt Beane, an assistant professor in the Technology Management Department at UC Santa Barbara, is calling attention to an immediate and hidden concern in the modern workplace—and offering a surprising path forward. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-05-skills-modern-workplace-world-ai.html Business Machine learning & AI Wed, 01 May 2024 15:22:04 EDT news633795721 Proteins are the workhorses of life. Organisms use them as building blocks, receptors, processors, couriers and catalysts. A protein's structure is critical to its function. Malformed proteins not only fail to carry out their tasks, they can accumulate and eventually gum up the inner workings of cells. As a result, misfolded proteins cause a variety of degenerative diseases, from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to the blinding disease retinitis pigmentosa. These disorders are currently incurable. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-reveal-approach-degenerative-diseases.html Genetics Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 30 Apr 2024 14:02:53 EDT news633704568 Just as water moves through a river, rivers themselves move across the landscape. They carve valleys and canyons, create floodplains and deltas, and transport sediment from the uplands to the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-meandering-waterways-world.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:40:28 EDT news633278425 A spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD) are due to the accumulation of abnormal, misfolded tau proteins in the brain. A team of researchers led by UC Santa Barbara scientists has found potential ways to interrupt this process by targeting "sticky" sites along the long form of mutated tau, preventing the misfolding and spreading of the neurofibrillary tangles. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-potential-method-misfolding-tau-protein.html Medical research Alzheimer's disease & dementia Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:14:04 EDT news631444442 A collaboration between research groups at the University of California, TU Dresden in Germany and Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children's in Los Angeles has identified a mechanism by which embryonic cells organize themselves to send signals to surrounding cells, telling them where to go and what to do. While these signaling centers have been known to science for a while, how individual cells turn into organizers has been something of a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-scientists-pressure-embryonic-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 03 Apr 2024 10:33:03 EDT news631359181 Legislators love bundling things together. It lets them accomplish more with less hassle and attempt to make legislation more appealing to a broader group. But a new study in the journal Climatic Change suggests that this can sometimes backfire. The authors found that pairing climate policies with other policies does not necessarily increase their popular appeal, and can actually reduce public support. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-climate-policies-popularity-combined-social.html Social Sciences Political science Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:22:05 EDT news630775321 While Hollywood and Silicon Valley love the limelight, California is an agricultural powerhouse, too. Agricultural products sold in the Golden State totaled $59 billion in 2022. But rising temperatures, declining precipitation and decades of over pumping may require drastic changes to farming. Legislation to address the problem could even see fields taken out of cultivation. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-small-yield-big-agricultural-reveals.html Environment Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:19:59 EDT news630569993 You'd probably walk past a chiton without even seeing it. These creatures often look like nothing more than another speck of seaweed on the crusty intertidal rocks. But it sees you. At least, if it's one of the species with eyes dotting its plate mail shell. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-unraveling-mystery-chiton-visual.html Plants & Animals Evolution Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:54:35 EST news628775671 The crucial role of social emotions in our lives and in society cannot be overstated. Empathy, guilt, embarrassment, pride and other feelings we experience in the context of other people govern and motivate how we act, interact and the countless decisions we make. This is why a more holistic approach, one that integrates the various ways these emotions are studied, is necessary to gain insight and address gaps in knowledge. That's according to researchers from UC Santa Barbara, New York University School of Medicine and East China Normal University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-holistic-framework-social-emotions.html Psychology & Psychiatry Neuroscience Thu, 29 Feb 2024 16:41:40 EST news628447297