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Environment + Sustainability

concept illustration of water and other molecules

‘Going green always wins’: Bruce Lipshutz makes the case for green chemistry in drug manufacturing for low-income countries

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Sand dunes surround palms, trees, shrubs and a small lake in the UAE.
Photo Credit
Jing Yang via iStock
A desert oasis is perhaps the most striking example of a groundwater-dependent ecosystem.

Groundwater is key to protecting global ecosystems
Fishing boats in Peru
Photo Credit
Renato Molina

Expanding marine reserves will redistribute global fishing effort
researchers working with Senegalese partners
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Courtesy Image
UCSB geographer David López-Carr, center left, and Stanford University health and environmental scientist Andrea Lund, center right, working with Senegalese partners

Research and efforts to combat schistosomiasis earn geographer David López-Carr several high-profile awards
concept illustration of turning heat into electricity

Investigating the extraordinary thermoelectric properties of cadmium arsenide thin films
David Valentine
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
David Valentine

Discoveries from Disasters: A conversation with oceanographer David Valentine
concept illustration of brain-inspired computing hardware

Researchers propose the next platform for brain-inspired computing
A collage of marine creatures.
Photo Credit
Harrison Tasoff
Transferable conservation credits could incentivize comprehensive protection the ocean’s diverse habitats and wildlife.

A conservation market could incentivize global ocean protection
Yellowstone National Park sign with mountains in the background.
Photo Credit
Anna Pietrzykowska via iStock
National parks are far from the only way to protect areas of land. Systems like, indigenous governance, community management and Eco-certified production can also foster conservation.

A novel approach to tracking conservation reveals more areas may be conserved than currently accounted for
winners of business plan competition with large first-place check
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Courtesy Image
NVC Finals judge Jason Rollman (left, in blue shirt) congratulates EyeClimate, the 2024 New Venture Competition Finals champions (from second to left) Bowen Zhang, PhD student; Max Gordon, undergraduate student; and Satish Kumar, PhD student

An entrepreneurial eye for solving climate change
a barnacle in a jar
Photo Credit
Sonia Fernandez
Sessile creatures like this barnacle were the key to determining when the oil pipeline was compromised, an event that eventually led to the oil spill

How Marine Science Institute researchers helped solve the 2021 Huntington Beach oil spill
aerial shot of North Atlantic right whale and calf
Photo Credit
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center/Lisa Conger and Elizabeth Josephson
North Atlantic right whale mother and calf as seen from a research drone called a hexacopter

Whale-saving cargo ship speed tracking program heads east
a photo cradle attached to the rail of steps leading to beach
Photo Credit
Sonia Fernandez
The CoastSnap cradle on the steps to East Campus Beach

UC Santa Barbara researchers launch CoastSnap, citizen science initiative to monitor coastal changes
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