Social Sciences
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‘I wish I could push ChatGPT off a cliff’: professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI
Megan McNamara, who teaches sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and created a guide for faculty across disciplines to deal with AI-related academic misconduct, noted that “cultural” differences in the humanities versus Stem disciplines, or in qualitative social sciences versus quantitative ones, tend to shape faculty members’ responses to students’ use of AI.
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Bay Area gas prices spike following Iran conflict
Nolan Higdon, a political history professor at UC Santa Cruz, says the numbers spell potential trouble for the Trump administration. “The Trump administration is going to have some serious difficulties in the midterms keeping the House or the Senate,” Higdon said. “And if this economy persists, this could be an issue as late as 2028.”
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Big cats, bigger protections: Santa Cruz County mountain lions now listed as threatened
Few people have tracked that tension more closely than UC Santa Cruz wildlife ecologist Chris Wilmers, who leads the long-running Santa Cruz Puma Project, a partnership between the university and the state. He called the listing “the appropriate thing to do,” emphasizing that it’s a long-overdue course correction for a species becoming gradually boxed in.
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Were Neanderthal men the Romeos of the prehistoric world?
Lars Fehren-Schmitz, an anthropology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was not involved in the study, says he’s not surprised to see potential evidence of mate preference in Neanderthals, given its prevalence in human history.
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UCSC students develop website to support Seabright small businesses amid Murray Street Bridge overhaul
As the Murray Street Bridge overhaul disrupts Seabright traffic, students from University of California, Santa Cruz step up with a new website to spotlight local shops and keep the neighborhood thriving.
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Central Coast faces doctor shortage with plans for new medical school
UC Santa Cruz, in partnership with UC Davis, is addressing this issue with expansion of the PRIME program in which students will receive classroom training at Davis and clinical training on the Central Coast. Grant Hartzog, Executive Director of UC Santa Cruz’s Global and Community Health program, said, “Let’s start fast but small. So we’re…
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Government shutdown, immigration demands and midterm politics collide as funding fight continues
Political historian Nolan Higdon of the University of California Santa Cruz said shutdown fights often become battles over public perception.
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I grew up in an education desert but made it to UCSC
Ava Thornock grew up in Amador County, an education desert without a local college or regular internet access. She made it to UC Santa Cruz, where she is studying biochemistry.
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California mountain lions are now considered ‘threatened.’ But only in certain regions
“If we want to maintain mountain lion populations in these coastal regions, then we’ve got some work to do,” said Chris Wilmers, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and lead investigator of the Santa Cruz Puma Project.
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What one company’s shift towards data centers says about Imperial County’s lithium industry
Chris Benner, a professor of sociology and environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz, comments on challenges to Imperial County’s emerging lithium industry.
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Protection for California mountain lions could become permanent
Chris Wilmers, a researcher at UC Santa Cruz, was one of the outside experts who reviewed the Center for Biological Diversity proposal and worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to provide input on how to improve it.
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‘System in flux’: Scientists reveal what happened when wolves and cougars returned to Yellowstone
“Yellowstone is a fascinating system because it’s got the full complement of large carnivores and migratory ungulates that North America used to have,” Chris Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was not involved in the new study, told Live Science. “A lot of these species are coming back ––…