The quality and quantity of research activities at UC Santa Cruz are reflected in these recent NewsCenter stories, below. The work draws attention from reporters, whose coverage of the campus is showcased in the NewsCenter's In the News section.

• February 02, 2023

  Astronomers observe light bending around an isolated white dwarf

  The first detection of gravitational lensing for a single, isolated star other than our sun comes 100 years after a landmark experiment using the sun to confirm Einstein’s prediction.

• February 01, 2023

  Three UCSC faculty win prestigious NSF CAREER awards

  The CAREER Awards are NSF's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

• January 31, 2023

  University launches new center, Campus + Community, to facilitate engaged scholarship

  After more than 50 years of engagement in the region, UC Santa Cruz is launching a new center to coordinate campus and community connections for action-oriented scholarship that advances social justice.

• January 30, 2023

  Disclosing foreign collaborations in research projects

  In order to comply with evolving federal regulations related to disclosing foreign collaborations and other support, the Office of Research has updated Cayuse to include screening questions. These questions are meant to trigger information that needs to be disclosed on all applications and progress reports for projects with federal funding.

• January 30, 2023

  NIH grant funds research on a powerful new approach to drug development

  A new NIH MIRA grant funds biochemist Scott Lokey’s efforts to develop complex, membrane-permeable molecules as next-generation therapeutic agents.

• January 23, 2023

  Five student teams embark on tech for social good projects

  Five student teams will take on tech for social good projects with funding from the UCSC CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation.

• January 23, 2023

  Study reveals influence of krill availability on humpback whale pregnancies

  Data from Antarctica show more humpback whales get pregnant after years with abundant krill than after years when krill were less plentiful.

• January 23, 2023

  UCSC leads new multicampus initiatives on climate change and bilingualism

  UC Santa Cruz faculty are leading two new collaborative programs funded by grants from UC’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) program.

• January 20, 2023

  Vulnerability of red sea urchins to climate change depends on location

  Scientists found that red sea urchin populations are adapted to local environments, but some populations will suffer more than others as conditions change in the future.

• January 17, 2023

  UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences to open new, off campus galleries

  The state-of-the-art facility will showcase the Institute of the Arts and Sciences’ groundbreaking exhibitions and programs, highlighting the work of major national and international artists working to address the most pressing issues of our day at the intersection of the arts and social justice.

• January 17, 2023

  Researchers produce first-ever toolkit for RNA sequencing analysis using a ‘pantranscriptome’

  Researchers at UC Santa Cruz introduce the first-ever method for analyzing RNA sequencing data genome-wide using a “pantranscriptome.”

• January 16, 2023

  Study finds active galactic nuclei are even more powerful than thought

  A new study indicates that scientists have substantially underestimated the energy output of active galactic nuclei powered by supermassive black holes because their light is dimmed by dust.

• January 12, 2023

  Sensorium, a new project of UC Santa Cruz’s Center for the Study of the Force Majeure, to be an unprecedented experience of the world ocean

  A new project in development by UC Santa Cruz’s Center for the Study of the Force Majeure will give the public a transformative opportunity to interact with the world’s ocean ecosystem in a fully immersive work of environmental art entitled Sensorium.

• January 11, 2023

  Earth scientist James Zachos honored for climate change research

  The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Climate Change category recognizes Zachos and fellow paleoclimatologist Ellen Thomas of Yale University.

• January 09, 2023

  Astronomers find the most distant stars in our galaxy halfway to Andromeda

  A search for variable stars called RR Lyrae has found some of the most distant stars in the Milky Way’s halo a million light years away.

• December 26, 2022

  Bering Land Bridge formed surprisingly late during last ice age, study finds

  By reconstructing the sea level history of the Bering Strait, scientists found that the strait remained flooded until around 35,700 years ago, not long before humans began migrating into the Americas.

• December 17, 2022

  UCSC researcher explores drug use, harm reduction in San Francisco’s Latino/x community

  It’s no secret that the opioid epidemic has devastated our country, especially within communities of color. Latino/xs have seen some of the highest drug addiction rates, which have only increased due to the rise of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, San Francisco was the county with the third-highest opioid-related death rate among Latinos in California.

• December 16, 2022

  New study presents vision of machine learning leveraged for precision medicine

  In a new perspective published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics Marcella Gomez details a vision for how the field can move beyond static data to create systems that measure and monitor the real-time responses of the body to a variety of factors and use a machine learning algorithm to produce, and even in some instances carry out, a treatment plan.

• December 15, 2022

  Biochemist Laura Sanchez receives Allen Distinguished Investigator award

  Sanchez is among 16 new Allen Distinguished Investigators awarded a total of $10 million in research funding to support cutting-edge projects in protein lifespan and nutrient sensing.

• December 14, 2022

  Breaking up is hard to do: Separation of Fiji and Vanuatu tied to Samoan seamounts

  New analyses of volcanic rock samples collected in the 1980s link the geologic histories of these South Pacific islands to explain their current locations and character.