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Life Sciences

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

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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
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
school of bluefin tuna

New research finds that more than 90% of global aquaculture faces substantial risk from environmental change
concept of human and machine intelligence working together

Researchers at the 2023 Mellichamp Mind & Machine Intelligence Summit contemplate and discuss the state of artificial intelligence
A hand hovering over a match
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Our perception of pain arises from a complex system connected to many other pathways.

A channel involved in pain sensation can also suppress it
concept illustration of genetic material cut from a DNA helix

Researchers discover a way to improve nonviral gene editing as well as a new type of DNA repair
Holly Moeller checks on flasks of mixotrophic algae.
Photo Credit
Holly Moeller
Holly Moeller hopes these nondescript algae will help her uncover the intriguing lifestyle of mixotrophs and understand how environmental conditions influence their growth.

Biologist Holly Moeller investigates the role of mixotrophs, organisms that can both eat and photosynthesize
aerial view of wildfire marching across a forest landscape
Where fire is a natural part of the ecosystem, it can create space and opportunities for adaptations and new species

Naturally fire-prone ecosystems tend to have more species of birds and mammals, a new study reveals
Mono Lake with bright sunshine
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Mono Lake, where brine flies are a key food source for water birds.

The productivity of brine flies is tied to the overall health of salt lake ecosystems; both are in decline
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UC Santa Barbara’s Critical Issues in America series will examine the broad societal implications of aging and extension of longevity
A sewing machine against a black background.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Simply seeing a machine might not convey what it does.

Filming Proteins in Motion: Physics researchers inch closer to an ambitious goal
A family, made up of a couple and their three children, in the Amazon stands together smiling.
Photo Credit
Michael Gurven
The Tsimane are an indigenous population in the Bolivian Amazon

Researchers uncover natural selection for traits associated with immunity and metabolism in Tsimane and Moseten genomes
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