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Letters and Science

photo of a brightly colored optical experiment
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image

Atomic physicist David Weld selected for 2026 National Brown Investigator Award

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A large and diverse group of adults in business attire stand shoulder to shoulder, smiling, in front of the White House
Photo Credit
Courtesy Dorit Hanein
Professor Dorit Hanein, center-left, newly elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, took part in the society's recent advocacy event in Washington D.C.

Professor Dorit Hanein recognized for pioneering high resolution cryo-imaging technologies
a section of cave with Native American art
Photo Credit
Doc Searles/ CC BY-SA 2.0
The rock art of the Chumash people, the original inhabitants of what are now Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles and Kern counties

Professor Emerita Lynn Gamble receives lifetime achievement award as a California archaeologist
book cover inside abstracted image of book cover as blurry background

New collection examines the lasting effects of purity culture
Sunbeams filter down on a algae-covered rocks on a shallow seafloor.
Photo Credit
Johan Holmdahl via iStock
Oxygenated seafloors were likely the cradle of eukaryotic life.

Early complex life clung to oxygenated seafloors for hundreds of millions of years
Snags cover a mountainside under white puffy clouds.
Photo Credit
Cavan Images via iStock
Forests can’t offset emissions as a carbon store if trees are constantly succumbing to droughts, pests and fires.

Carbon markets underestimate the risks U.S. forests face from climate change
a gray whale blows in in the San Francisco Bay
Photo Credit
Darrin Allen © NOAA Permit #26532
The new technology will detect whales by sensing the heat of their blows with thermal imaging

New AI system uses cameras and thermal sensors to steer ships clear of gray whales in the San Francisco Bay
concept illustration of the energy landscape of 2D materials

The first-time direct observation of exotic charge-neutral quasiparticles in twisted tungsten diselenide
small model house with blue light
Alexis Childress, Experienced Isolation: Home, 2025, Digital Sculpture

MFA students featured in exhibition at AD&A Museum
illustration of a person walking a tightrope between two heads, one thinking dark thoughts, the other thinking good thoughts
Photo Credit
iStock

Culture plays key role in people comfortable with contradiction and change
A women in a black sweater and pink top sits on a chair, pointing, as another women in jeans with long grey hair looks her direction
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
Playwright Melinda Lopez, left, with director Risa Brainin, during a rehearsal of "Standing Still."

Time to roll up your yoga mat and take a stand
Whale fluke, with cargo ship in background
Photo Credit
Asha de Vos

Global workshop focuses on protecting whales from ship strikes
color photograph of Jia-Ching Chen
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Jia-Ching Chen, May 2026

Global studies professor wins Fulbright to study energy geopolitics in Taiwan
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