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Life Sciences

A fruit fly larva with imagined electric field lines in the background.
Photo Credit
Sakkmesterke vi Adobe Stock
Fruit fly larvae will reorient themselves toward the negative pole of an electric field.

Scientists discover that fruit fly larvae can sense electric fields

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New microCT machine unites biologists and materials scientists
3D rendering of a polymer chain
Photo Credit
iStock
A 3D rendering of a polymer chain

Advancing polymer chemistry through collaboration and innovation
Daniela Soto at her lab bench
Photo Credit
Jordan Strauss / AP Images for HHMI
Daniela Soto

UCSB postdoc receives competitive award to investigate the genetic changes that shaped the human mind
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Yang Yang’s wizardry with enzymes earns him early career recognition
A human brain against a background of double helices.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Differences in gene expression, not just their presence, seems to drive the remarkable specialization found in the human brain.

It’s all about expression
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Six UCSB researchers named among world’s most influential scientists
Three mountain yellow-legged frogs perched on a rock.
Photo Credit
Roland Knapp
The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog is recovering in Yosemite, a beacon of hope for amphibian conservation.

Frog populations once decimated by disease mount a major comeback
Yellow silhouettes of a large female and small male mosquito facing away from each other.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
If a male mosquito can’t hear a female, it’s as though she doesn’t exist.

Deaf male mosquitoes don’t mate
side by side photos of ferret and penguin
Ferrets are among the vertebrates that get the most tumors, while black footed penguins get the fewest

Researchers complete the largest compilation of cancer prevalence across vertebrates
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UCSB, Community Environmental Council to hold Living with Fire Summit
An electron-microscopy image of the fruit fly's anterior visual pathway
Photo Credit
Dustin Garner, Emil Kind
An electron-microscopy image of the fruit fly's anterior visual pathway — all neurons involved in processing visual information and conveying it to the navigation center in the fly brain. Compass neurons are in the circular area at the center

Researchers' reconstruction of fruit fly’s anterior visual pathway will lead to insights into animal navigation
Samantha Mladjov pilots a drone above a beachgoers and dogs.
Photo Credit
Neil Nathan
With an eye in the sky, researchers can track white sharks off the coast.

Scientists use drones to track white sharks along California beaches
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