Faculty
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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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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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Internationally renowned Dickens Project celebrates 25th year at UCSC
San Francisco Chronicle book critic David Kipen recently observed that the Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz “may just be literary California’s best-kept secret.” The project is nationally and internationally recognized as the premier center for Dickens studies in the world and is one of the leading sites for research on 19th-century British culture. A…
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Seismologists publish detailed analysis of the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake
The great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 26, 2004, was an event of stunning proportions, both in its human dimensions–nearly 300,000 lives lost–and as a geological phenomenon. The sudden rupture of a huge fault beneath the Indian Ocean unleashed a devastating tsunami. It was the largest earthquake in the past 40 years and was followed by…
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Astronomical Society of the Pacific awards highest honor to UC Santa Cruz astronomer Robert Kraft
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has awarded the 2005 Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal to Robert P. Kraft, professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and former director of the UC Observatories/Lick Observatory (UCO/Lick). Kraft is the sixth astronomer associated with the Lick Observatory to receive this award,…
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New book by literature professor melds criticism, poetry and fiction
Paracritical Hinge, a new book by UC Santa Cruz literature professor Nathaniel Mackey, offers commentary on the work of a number of artists as it simultaneously sheds light on the author’s own body of work. A collection of essays, talks, notes, and interviews covering a time frame from 1990 to 2000, the diverse, yet interrelated…
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Lacking a decent meal, killer whales reach for the popcorn
A study comparing the nutritional demands of killer whales with the caloric content of their prey has startling implications for the potential impact of these large predators on populations of other marine mammals. The study also raises issues relevant to the establishment of marine reserves and efforts to reintroduce large predators into terrestrial ecosystems, said…
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UC Santa Cruz scholar warns against mixing religion and foreign policy
Gary Lease-interim dean of humanities at UC Santa Cruz and an internationally recognized expert on the history of religion-has been studying the relationship between politics and religion for more than two decades. He recently returned from Tokyo where he presented his research at a conference of the International Association for the History of Religions. “I’ve…
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Are Santa Cruz beaches destined to shrink?
Wide sand beaches are a prized feature of Santa Cruz and other communities along the northern coast of Monterey Bay. But are they just a temporary aberration, destined to shrink in the years to come? That is the hypothesis championed by Gerald Weber, lecturer emeritus in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of…