2005
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MEDIA ADVISORY: Conference participants will meet with reporters on Friday, August 12, to discuss new developments in research on galaxies and cosmology
Several of the leading participants in a conference at UC Santa Cruz on cosmology and galaxy formation will be available to discuss the latest developments in the field and to answer reporters’ questions. When: 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, August 12 Where: Room M110, Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center Who: . George Blumenthal, Professor…
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Weeklong astronomy conference honoring UC Santa Cruz professors will feature a public lecture on Tuesday, August 9
About 200 astronomers, including many of the world’s leading astrophysicists and cosmologists, will gather at the University of California, Santa Cruz, next month for a weeklong conference to honor three UCSC professors–astronomers George Blumenthal and Sandra Faber and physicist Joel Primack. As part of the conference, Primack, a professor of physics, and his wife, Nancy…
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Moore Foundation gives UC Santa Cruz a $2.2 million grant for marine microbiology research facility
The University of California, Santa Cruz, has received a $2.2 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to establish a state-of-the-art facility for marine microbiology research. The new laboratory, operated by UCSC’s Institute of Marine Sciences, will support the work of UCSC researchers as well as their collaborators and visiting scientists from other…
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UCSC desalination project will give cities the tools they need to weigh the environmental and economic pros and cons
As California’s population and economy grow, it’s just a matter of time until cities are forced to seriously consider desalination to extend their water supplies. Campus will direct Prop. 50-funded collaboration with water agencies, environmentalists, consultants, and NGOs That’s the prediction of water expert Brent Haddad, an associate professor of environmental studies at the University…
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Mount Hamilton not recommended for viewing Deep Impact
People interested in seeing what happens Sunday night when NASA’s Deep Impact probe slams into Comet Tempel 1 will probably be better off sitting at their computers than gazing at the sky. One place they definitely should not be is atop Mount Hamilton, say police and astronomers at Lick Observatory. Parking at the observatory is…
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Discovery of planet with a massive core lends support to a planet formation theory
Astronomers have discovered an extrasolar planet with the largest core of any known planet. The discovery is especially exciting to planet formation theorists, because it provides extremely strong observational evidence in support of the “core accretion” theory, one of two main theories for how giant planets form. The findings were made by a consortium of…
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Department of Energy grants fund work on new hydrogen fuel technologies at UCSC
Nanotechnology may hold the key to developing a viable hydrogen economy, according to Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Zhang will receive $535,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for his part in two research projects aimed at developing new technologies for the production…
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Voice-operated computer system developed under UC contract with NASA scheduled for space station demonstration
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will soon be testing a sophisticated voice-operated computer system designed to guide them through complex procedures. This advanced spoken-dialogue system, called Clarissa, reads the steps of a procedure to an astronaut, answers questions, and responds to spoken commands. “Instead of scrolling through written procedures on a laptop or handheld…
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New findings show persistent El Niño-like conditions during past global warming
During the most recent period in Earth’s past with a climate warmer than today, the tropical Pacific was in a stable state of El Niño-like conditions, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Whether this represents a likely scenario for the future, given the current rise in global…
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UC Santa Cruz biologist receives Fulbright Scholar award
Ingrid Parker, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and do research at the University of Panama during the 2005-06 academic year. The grant will support Parker’s work on a project titled “Applied plant ecology in Panama: Building intellectual…