What's Current in

Letters and Science

blue whale tail
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image

Researchers paint a global picture of whale-ship collision risk

Read Article

Diatoms under the microscope.
Photo Credit
Elif Bayraktar via iStock
Diatoms are one of the largest groups of phytoplankton, which serve as a foundation of the ocean’s food web.

Important groups of phytoplankton tolerate some strategies to remove CO2 from the ocean
colorful concept of a cell stress landscape
Photo Credit
Max Wilson

First map of a cellular stress memory landscape paves the way for better understanding of cell stress-related disease processes
Artist collage by Angela YT Chan
Photo Credit
Angela YT Chan
Angela YT Chan's collage series is featured in the "Holding Sway" collection of photo essays

The curious histories and lives of seaweeds, revealed in stories and photos
an orange garibaldi with a scientific diver in the background
Photo Credit
Chris Honeyman
A research diver conducts periodic monitoring of a kelp forest marine protected area

Multiple ecosystems in hot water after marine heatwave surges across the Pacific
A thinning forest on a hill.
Photo Credit
Lee Anderegg
A forest community changes as trembling aspen succumb to drought in southwestern Colorado.

Forests can adapt to climate change, but not quickly enough
U.S. Supreme Court building
Photo Credit
iStock/Bill Chizek
The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Scholars reflect on Supreme Court ruling and higher education in the post-affirmative action era
Installation view of ceramic and weaving exhibition
Photo Credit
Ruben Diaz
Sarah Rosalena, "Pointing Star," Installation, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara

Art professor and artist Sarah Rosalena draws inspiration from the stars, technology and her ancestors
In Focus placeholder

US Physics Team trains at UC Santa Barbara
This artist’s impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova.
Photo Credit
University of Warwick/Mark Garlick
Multi-messenger astronomy enabled scientists to observe merging neutron stars for the first time in 2017 (artist’s impression).

UC Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory partner to lead the future of multi-messenger astronomy
A person holds a phone displaying an image of a diverse group of people.
Photo Credit
Nathana Rebouças, Unsplash
The ability to efficiently measure diversity in social media opens new possibilities for researchers, companies and consumers.

Computer vision and human annotations provide insights on inclusion in social media at scale
NASA simulation of binary black hole system
Photo Credit
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Noble; simulation data, d'Ascoli et al. 2018
The gravitational waves emitted by the merger of black holes, when lensed by massive objects as the waves travel toward Earth can be used to calculate the rate at which the universe is expanding

Astrophysicists propose a new way of measuring cosmic expansion: lensed gravitational waves
colorful image of the belly view of a small shrimp
Photo Credit
Damian Kao Alvina G Lai Evangelia Stamataki Silvana Rosic Nikolaos Konstantinides Erin Jarvis Alessia Di Donfrancesco Natalia Pouchkina-Stancheva Marie Sémon Marco Grillo Heather Bruce Suyash Kumar Igor Siwanowicz Andy Le Andrew Lemire Michael B Eisen Cas
The genome of the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, a model for animal development, regeneration, immunity and lignocellulose digestion. VijayRaghavan K, ed. eLife. 2016;5:e20062. doi:10.7554/eLife.20062.

Disorder lends robustness to the embryonic development of a tiny shrimp
Subscribe to Letters and Science