Mike Peña
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How a gut virus hijacks mucus production to slip past the body’s protective barrier
New study reveals how astroviruses use goblet cells as an escape route from the small intestines to evade host immunity and enhance spread and transmission, presenting a new path for treating pediatric diarrhea.
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How psilocybin reshapes brain circuits
New research at UC Santa Cruz reveals how psychoactive compound in ‘magic mushrooms’ rewires synapses without altering perception, opening new possibilities for non-hallucinogenic psychiatric medications.
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New cost-analysis tool allows coastal communities to see and estimate benefits of investing in storm-protection measures
CoSMos Adapts gives climate-resilience planners a way to compare the costs of inaction or long-term savings by adopting solutions such as restoring sand dunes or rocky reefs to guard against increasingly destructive storms.
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Tesla Jeltema named a 2026 American Physical Society Fellow
Jeltema’s work focuses on observational cosmology and particle astrophysics, including constraints on the nature of dark matter and dark energy and studies of the evolution of galaxies.
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DOE selects AI-driven geothermal initiative to develop safe, affordable way to tap abundant underground resource
UC Santa Cruz will provide geoscience leadership through Emily Brodsky, distinguished professor of Earth and planetary science
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Astronomers use Webb telescope to pinpoint host galaxy of the most distant fast radio burst to date
Originating just 3 billion years after the Big Bang, the record-setting burst was localized with key contributions from UC Santa Cruz collaborators.
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Two UC Santa Cruz faculty win NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards
The two awardees are Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jaron Mercer and Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Andy Yeh
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Teaching students scientific-storytelling skills to inspire change
The senior capstone course ESCI 191 equips environmental-science majors with digital-storytelling skills to translate complex climate data into compelling narratives to immerse and engage the public.
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New detection technique advances early warnings for toxic algal blooms
UC Santa Cruz researchers use passive resin samplers to track chemical cues, extending predictive lead time for harmful algal blooms in Monterey Bay by up to seven weeks.
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How the visual cortex wires itself: targeted from the start, refined over time
A UC Santa Cruz study tracks how the visual cortex builds its long-range connections, finding that they target specific areas from early on, and offers a reference for studying how wiring may go awry in conditions such as autism.
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Astrophysicists win AI grant for ‘Holy Grail’ project to automate laborious calibration process
Anthropic’s AI for Science Program has awarded the UC Santa Cruz team nearly $50,000 in API credits to fund the development of an automated wavelength-calibration algorithm for astronomical spectra.
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Jonathan Fortney, Dan Costa honored by American Geophysical Union
Astronomy and astrophysics professor Jonathan Fortney receives 2026 Whipple Award and ecology and evolutionary biology professor Dan Costa named 2026 AGU Union Fellow