Author: Tim Stephens
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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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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…
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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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UCSC takes over operation of NASA Ames Airborne Sensor Facility
The University of California, Santa Cruz, has taken over the operation of NASA’s Airborne Sensor Facility, a major program for observation and monitoring of Earth’s environment based at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field. The transfer of management strengthens the links between NASA and UCSC and will enhance the campus’s remote sensing capability and…
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Astronomers discover the most Earthlike planet yet outside the solar system
A team of astronomers has reached a major milestone in the search for Earthlike planets with the discovery of the smallest planet ever detected beyond our solar system. About seven and a half times as massive as Earth, with less than twice the radius, it may be the first rocky planet ever found orbiting a…
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Long Marine Lab’s annual ‘Whale of an Auction’ set for Friday, June 17
The Friends of Long Marine Lab will hold its 20th annual “Whale of an Auction,” the group’s popular annual fundraiser, on Friday, June 17. The event will take place in the Porter College Dining Hall on the UC Santa Cruz campus, starting at 6 p.m. Over the past 20 years, the auction has grown from…
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New findings show a slow recovery from extreme global warming episode 55 million years ago
Most of the excess carbon dioxide pouring into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels will ultimately be absorbed by the oceans, but it will take about 100,000 years. That is how long it took for ocean chemistry to recover from a massive input of carbon dioxide 55 million years ago, according to a…
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Exploding star left no visible core
In 1987, earthbound observers saw a star explode in the nearby dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers eagerly studied this supernova–the closest seen in the past 300 years–and have continued to examine its remains. Although its blast wave lit up surrounding clouds of gas and dust, the supernova appears to have left no…
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Patented technology captures carbon dioxide from power plants
Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have invented a new method for controlling the emission of carbon dioxide from power plants. The technique, which mimics natural weathering processes, converts carbon dioxide gas into soluble compounds that can be disposed of in the oceans. Any strategy for…
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UCSC engineering dean Steve Kang wins 2005 Van Valkenburg Award
Steve Kang, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been awarded the 2005 Mac Van Valkenburg Award from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Circuits and Systems Society (CAS). The Van Valkenburg Award is the CAS society’s highest honor and is given to a person…
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UC Santa Cruz engineering students develop a coral reef monitoring system
Five senior engineering students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are trying to push the limits of low-power wireless transmission to facilitate the monitoring of remote natural environments. The apparatus they are building will track conditions on coral reefs in distant locations and beam information back in real time to a land-based station. The…