Office of Research
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Massive tsunami sweeps Atlantic Coast in asteroid impact scenario for March 16, 2880
If an asteroid crashes into the Earth, it is likely to splash down somewhere in the oceans that cover 70 percent of the planet’s surface. Huge tsunami waves, spreading out from the impact site like the ripples from a rock tossed into a pond, would inundate heavily populated coastal areas. A computer simulation of an…
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UC Santa Cruz botanist explores the fascinating world of plant resins in a comprehensive new book
From the Stone Age to the present day, people have found a wide range of uses for plant resins and have been fascinated by amber, which is fossilized resin. Plant resins–sticky plant secretions that harden when exposed to air–have been used as medicines, fuels, varnishes, adhesives, and perfume ingredients, to mention just a few examples.…
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Seafloor sediments hold clues to runaway global warming
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and other institutions around the world arrived in Rio de Janeiro yesterday after spending two months at sea on the research ship JOIDES Resolution near an ancient submarine mountain chain off Africa, known as the Walvis Ridge. There they studied evidence of a massive release of methane…
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New role for brain chemical found in mammary glands, with implications for breast cancer research
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have discovered a new role for a molecule long associated with brain development: orchestrating the growth of mammary glands during puberty. The findings may have important implications for the development of breast cancer. The molecule, a signaling protein called netrin-1, has been intensively studied for its role…
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Messages from the early universe shed light on how elements form
New information from a distant corner of the universe may lead to a fuller understanding of how the elements of the periodic table–which make up all the familiar matter in the universe–come to be. A team of astronomers has used light from a powerful quasar to analyze the composition of a young galaxy in unprecedented…
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Research Review Day at UCSC Engineering School will highlight faculty research projects
Leading faculty and researchers in the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will present their latest findings during a Research Review Day on Monday, May 5. Engineering research at UCSC is concentrated in the areas of information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. The event will take place in the University Center…
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Bioinformatics experts gain ground in protein sequence analysis
Proteins, with their extraordinary diversity of structure and function, pose some of the toughest problems in the field of bioinformatics, giving rise to a growing arsenal of computational tools for protein analysis. An array of computer-based strategies is now available to help molecular biologists who have found an unknown protein, determined its sequence of amino…
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UC Santa Cruz Genome Browser provides a portal for scientific exploration of finished human genome sequence
As leaders of the Human Genome Project announced the project’s successful completion at a press conference today in Bethesda, MD, bioinformatics researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, made the completed reference sequence of the human genome publicly available on the web-based UCSC Genome Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu). This was also the first site to make…
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Peregrine falcons take flight at Long Marine Lab
Three young peregrine falcons are testing their wings this week at Long Marine Laboratory, a research facility of the University of California, Santa Cruz. The falcons were raised in captivity and are being released to the wild by the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group (SCPBRG), which is affiliated with UCSC’s Institute of Marine Sciences…
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Coots can count: Study shows surprisingly sophisticated nesting behavior in common marsh birds
Coots, the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world, just might start to get some respect as a result of a new study showing that these common marsh birds are able to recognize and count their own eggs, even in the presence of eggs laid by other birds. The counting ability of female coots is part…
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UC Santa Cruz scientist Todd Lowe wins Sloan Research Fellowship
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected Todd Lowe, an assistant professor of computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, to receive a Sloan Research Fellowship in molecular biology. Lowe, whose research combines computational and experimental approaches to uncover new biology, is among 117 young scientists and economists to receive the prestigious fellowships this year. Lowe…