Science

An unusual conifer found in a remote area of northern Vietnam has been identified as a genus and species previously unknown to science. The limestone ridges where the tree grows are among the most botanically rich areas in Vietnam and certainly harbor many other undescribed species, but they are outside the country’s protected reserves, said…

Local marine mammals are starring in the Seymour Center’s winter program at UCSC’s Long Marine Laboratory. From January through March, the center presents “Marvelous Marine Mammals,” a series of events focused on Monterey Bay’s sea lions, sea otters, dolphins, whales, and elephant seals, and the scientists who study them. Events include three science lectures, a…

Ross Stein, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program, will give a free public lecture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on Wednesday, January 16. The lecture, titled “Living It Up in the Fault Lane, or How Earthquakes Converse,” begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Seymour Center at Long Marine Laboratory,…

A new study is shattering old beliefs about the great white shark–one of the largest, most awe-inspiring predators in the sea. Scientists have long believed that these powerful carnivores spend most of their lives relatively close to shore, pursuing seals and sea lions. But a study in the January 3 issue of the journal Nature…