What's Current in

Letters and Science

Four adults in farmers clothes, their faces lit, look up at a foreboding figure in a mask
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
The allegory that is 'Animal Farm' examines the perils of unchecked power and privilege, the use of words as a political weapon, and revolutions that erode into regimes not unlike those they overthrew.

UCSB theater students take on Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm,’ a fable that still bites

Read Article

Joao Oliveira
Photo Credit
Debra Herrick

João Pedro Oliveira named 2025 Fromm Music Foundation composer
three people standing facing viewer
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Chemistry Nobel Laureate and birthday celebrant Alan Heeger, center, flanked by his wife Ruth, right, and symposium organizer, CPOS Director Thuc-Quyen Nguyen

UCSB Chemistry Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger celebrates his 90th birthday with a symposium in his honor
Black historical images
Photo Credit
Courtesy

Douglass Day at UCSB invites the public to transcribe Black history
color photographic portrait of writer julissa arce

Mexican-American Dreamer Julissa Arce wins Luis Leal literary award
Oil droplets suspended in water.
Photo Credit
Carther via iStock
Small, naturally occurring droplets could have accelerated the development of early life.

Electrifying biology in a bubble
book shelves in library
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang

How books helped make computers mainstream
The table of contents from Mona May's book, “The Fashion of Clueless”
Photo Credit
Courtesy Insight Editions
The looks May created for the film helped define a generation and solidified fashion as a key character in the story.

How ‘Clueless’ used costumes to create its characters
Jenni Sorkin headshot with campus background

Warhol Foundation selects Jenni Sorkin for Arts Writers Award supporting book on 1990s textile art
color portrait photograph of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English Alan Liu
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Alan Liu, January 2026

Faculty Research Lecturer Alan Liu ponders ‘good’ knowledge in the age of AI
molecules in blue
Photo Credit
Anusorn Nakdee/iStock

Designing better catalysts for cleaner, more efficient chemistry
female student reads on bench outside
Photo Credit
Matt Perko

Even brief lapses in attention can weaken memory
city neighborhood from aerial view
Photo Credit
iStock

New data shows gun violence drives major declines in neighborhood foot traffic and economic growth
Subscribe to Letters and Science