What's Current in
Life Sciences
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![A human brain against a background of double helices.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/brain-dna-light.jpg?itok=wXlKvI7_)
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Differences in gene expression, not just their presence, seems to drive the remarkable specialization found in the human brain.
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![Three mountain yellow-legged frogs perched on a rock.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-11/three-frogs-rock-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=06UJdheB)
Photo Credit
Roland Knapp
The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog is recovering in Yosemite, a beacon of hope for amphibian conservation.
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![Yellow silhouettes of a large female and small male mosquito facing away from each other.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-11/disinterested-mosquitoes-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=t2FPfBKg)
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
If a male mosquito can’t hear a female, it’s as though she doesn’t exist.
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![side by side photos of ferret and penguin](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-10/ferret-penguin-istock-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=UP7aTbsP)
Ferrets are among the vertebrates that get the most tumors, while black footed penguins get the fewest
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![An electron-microscopy image of the fruit fly's anterior visual pathway](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-10/neurons-fly-uc-santa-barbara_0.jpg?itok=iiyNLcyr)
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
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![Samantha Mladjov pilots a drone above a beachgoers and dogs.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-09/beach-drone-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=7UMq6dXR)
Photo Credit
Neil Nathan
With an eye in the sky, researchers can track white sharks off the coast.
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![scientist looking at brain imaging scans](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-09/Emily-Jacobs-UC-Santa-Barbara-Perko.jpg?itok=u9-aRQOT)
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Emily Jacobs
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![scientists in lab with crates](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-08/ExFAB-Group-Photo_0001-opt.jpg?itok=GF6hykRl)
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
UCSB ExFAB staff and senior participants, from left, Oliver Vining, Elaine Kirschke, Jean-Marie Volland, Nathalie Elisabeth, Sherylle Mills Englander, Max Wilson, Michelle O'Malley, Joel Rothman, Niels Volkmann and Carolyn Mills.
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![Pedestrians in IR walk along a cobblestone street.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-08/IR-pedestrians-iStock.jpg?itok=8zMseb31)
Photo Credit
Ildar Abulkhanov via iStock
It’s not quite heat vision, but mosquitoes do use thermal infrared to find human hosts.