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Scientists discern internal structure of mysterious dwarf planet Eris
"We already knew that Eris is more rock-rich than Pluto, but what we didn't know was whether Eris had separated the rock from the ice," said University of California Santa Cruz planetary scientist Francis Nimmo, lead author of the study. Additional coverage in Voice of America and EarthSky.
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Monterey Bay Economic Partnership State of the Region to focus on key issues
Monterey Herald covered the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) State of the Region event, where Chris Benner, director of the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation, gave a keynote speech sharing findings from a report he produced with MBEP on regional economic equity indicators.
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APEC University and SF startup CEO look at ways to help sustainability policies
The APEC University Leaders Forum drew more than 130 university presidents, professors, researchers, and politicians from APEC's 21 member economies to San Francisco for a day of speeches and panel discussions on the topic "Investing in Tomorrow's Biodiversity." Eric Palkovacs, one of the forum organizers and a professor at UC Santa Cruz, says it was…
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Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery acquire film installation by Isaac Julien
The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum have jointly purchased the tour de force "Lessons of the Hour" (2019) by artist and filmmaker Sir Isaac Julien. Julien is the Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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Gazing Into the Past and Future at Historic Observatories
The New York Times Travel section explored the history of Lick Observatory. UC Santa Cruz Staff Astronomer Elinor Gates said, "You might look at a galaxy and it’s 25 million light-years away. It’s taken 25 million years for that light to get from that galaxy, come through the telescope to the eyepiece, to your eyeball.…
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Ms. Blue is coming down — what happened to Seymour Center's iconic whale skeleton and what's next
After taking a beating from the elements at UC Santa Cruz’s coastal campus, the structure supporting the blue whale skeleton affectionately known as Ms. Blue has been deemed unsafe. But fear not, says Seymour Marine Discovery Center director Jonathan Hicken — the bones are staying, and the center wants input on the next chapter of…
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A Guide to the James Webb Telescope's View of the Universe
"We live in this beautiful galaxy, the Milky Way," says Brant Robertson, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "We can’t see the Milky Way from inside, and we can’t fly out and see it. But we know that our galaxy developed from other galaxies."
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A Blueprint From History for Tackling Homelessness
Jonathan van Harmelen, a Ph.D. candidate in history at UC Santa Cruz, penned this opinion piece arguing that one of the most pressing issues facing the United States during the 2020s is the issue of homelessness. Based on his academic research, he points out that some of the implemented solutions for homelessness build on the same…
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Icy Oceans Exist on Far-Off Moons. Why Aren’t They Frozen Solid?
For most of humankind’s existence, Earth was the only known ocean-draped world, seemingly unlike any other cosmic isle. But in 1979, NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft flew by Jupiter. Its moon Europa, a frozen realm, was decorated with grooves and fractures — hints that there might be something dynamic beneath its surface. “After Voyager, people suspected…
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Detecting Cancer Early by Measuring RNA in the Blood
Scientific American features Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Daniel Kim's research on using RNA in the bloodstream for an early, non-invasive cancer detection test.