What's Current in

Life Sciences

A young scientist holds a pipette over a flask with orange liquid as another looks on.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Undergraduate Collin Vergel de Dios inoculates a culture to purify optogenetic proteins under the guidance of graduate student Alex Maynard.

UCSB professor lands DARPA award to develop mini DNA factories

Read Article

an image of a glioblastoma tumor in the brain
Photo Credit
iStock
Glioblastoma tumors are aggressive and difficult to access for treatment

Light-triggered stress response suppresses glioblastoma spread in 3D models
Two Caribbean reef sharks swim past a coral-encrusted rock on a flat, sandy bottom in clear blue water.
Photo Credit
Photo by Alex Rose on Unsplash
Caribbean reef sharks are frequent denizens of Caribbean coral reefs, and their scales certainly find their way into the region’s sand.

Two oceans, one country, 20 times the number of sharks
A collection of dark green lines and small dots on a pale green background
Photo Credit
Courtesy UCSB Engineering
A close-up view of anaerobic gut fungi under the microscope. Armed with powerful plant-degrading enzymes and a dense network of hyphae, these specialized microbes break down tough lignocellulosic plant matter in the absence of oxygen.

Two UCSB-led projects selected for DOE’s Genesis Mission
giant kelp in the water

Disturbance has a greater effect on giant kelp productivity than does resource availability
An illustration of two fishes with the skin unwrapped to reveal the internal anatomy: skeleton on the left and organs on the right.
Photo Credit
Jessica Eggers
With its fantastical illustrations and offbeat humor, "Gonzo Ichthyology" leads readers through topics in fish biology and other flights of fancy.

Ichthyology meets ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ in pen and ink
A forest smothered in vines.
Photo Credit
Jonathan Hammond via iStock
Kudzu got a foothold in North America in 1876 and has since gotten a stranglehold on the forests of the Southeast.

Vast botanical data help solve Darwin’s puzzle of why some exotic plants become pests
Sunbeams filter down on a algae-covered rocks on a shallow seafloor.
Photo Credit
Johan Holmdahl via iStock
Oxygenated seafloors were likely the cradle of eukaryotic life.

Early complex life clung to oxygenated seafloors for hundreds of millions of years
closeup of a black bird called a grackle

Grackle research reveals behavioral flexibility and adaptation in action
a close up image of a fruit fly

Newly discovered neural connections reveal that inhibitory neurons can also drive movement
A box of mounted and labeled iridescent bees.
Photo Credit
Gayle Laird ©2021 California Academy of Sciences
Museum collections hold a wealth of data just waiting to be brought into the digital age.

The Big Bee Project brings natural history collections into the 21st century
two researchers in blue, one holding a crab
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Sophia Lecuona Manos, right, is one of several student researchers who discovered a new crab egg predator in the lab of UCSB parasitologist Armand Kuris, left, holding a yellow rock crab.

UCSB students discover new crab egg predator
three scientists in lab coats in a laboratory
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Researchers Mia Raimondi, left, Christopher Hayes and lead author Michael Costello have uncovered how pathogenic Bordetella bacteria adhere to mammalian airways despite their hosts' natural defenses

A new look at an old protein may yield therapy for contagious respiratory disease
Subscribe to Life Sciences