Earth & Space
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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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Popular honeymoon destination faces avian malaria threat, spread by mosquitoes
“Avian malaria has taken a devastating toll on Hawaii’s native forest birds, and this study shows why the disease has been so difficult to contain,” Christa M. Seidl, who conducted the research as part of her PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz, stated in the release.
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An Asteroid Might Slam Into the Moon in 2032-and Create a Fiery Flash That’s Visible to Earthlings
The situation is “a rare ‘natural experiment’: a forecastable small-body impact whose signatures could be scientifically rich and operationally relevant,” writes study co-author Yifei Jiao, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Tsinghua University in China, in an email to Live Science’s Deepa Jain.
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Astrobiologists are searching for traces of coal and other fossil fuels to find intelligent life on exoplanets
By tracing that chain, plant biologist Lincoln Taiz at the University of California, Santa Cruz documented how coal availability governed whether biological productivity ever translated into sustained technological power.
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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 ––…
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Mountain lion spotted in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood captured by animal control
The Santa Cruz Puma Project was also called to help. It was founded in 2008 in partnership with UC Santa Cruz to research how mountain lions and their habitats are impacted by people and housing construction.
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Joel Primack, Physicist Who Helped Explain the Cosmos, Dies at 80
A professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, he was a key contributor to a landmark paper that laid out how the universe came to look like it does today.
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This Diminutive Reptile Plays Rock-Paper-Scissors
Dr. Sinervo, who later joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and who died in 2021, grew fascinated by the strange mating habits of the lizards. At the start of every breeding season, the males developed one of three colors on their throats: blue, orange or yellow. And depending on their color,…
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Wind-battered Lick Observatory rushes to shield historic telescope after dome damage
The damage threatens one of the Bay Area’s most significant scientific landmarks — a telescope that helped shape modern astronomy and still draws thousands of visitors each year to the mountaintop east of San Jose. Additional coverage in KTVU News, The Mercury News, NBC Bay Area, KSBW, SF Gate, and Lookout Santa Cruz.
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‘Super-Jupiter’ exoplanet is not so Jupiter-like, UCSC study finds
Xi Zhang, a professor of Earth and planetary science at UC Santa Cruz, has discovered that an exoplanet classed as a “super-Jupiter” has substantial differences from our solar system’s largest planet — and in fact, has much in common with Mars. Exoplanet VHS 1256b, located 40 light years away from Earth, was identified in 2015.
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First elephant seal pup of the season born in SLO County.
Supermoms account for more than half (55%) of the total pups born. Supermoms live longer, breed more frequently and raise bigger pups. Bernie LeBoeuf, now professor emeritus at UC Santa Cruz, led a research team that identified Supermoms in a 2019 scientific paper. Gingerbread’s mother chose a nice dry spot on the south beach.