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Science + Technology
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![Portrait of Tinish Bhattacharya](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2025-01/tinish-bhattacharya-engineering-portrait-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=HywEwrX5)
Photo Credit
Courtesy UCSB Engineering
Tinish Bhattacharya in his UC Santa Barbara lab.
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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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![A dark salamander sits on a gloved hand.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/Noel-salamander-Berkeley-Stone-blue.jpg?itok=u7Dm8Xb_)
Photo Credit
Brooklyn Stone
Noel the northwestern salamander hitched a ride on a Christmas tree from the Pacific Northwest to sunny Santa Barbara.
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![A hand holding up a pair of high-tech glasses on a black background](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/bionic-eye-hero-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=wb1sWt2p)
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Using virtual reality, an AI module for future vision prostheses, designed by Michael Beyeler’s Bionic Vision Lab, creates practical and useful artificial vision.
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![Textile waste fills a dump in Bangladesh.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/Clothing-waste-iStock.jpg?itok=51A605fw)
Photo Credit
Bdspn via iStock
Textile waste has become a major source of plastic pollution, with lower-income countries shouldering the brunt of the problem.
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![scientist holds a chip-scale ring resonator and a commercially available Fabry-Perot laser diode](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/isichenko-laser-diode-resonator-uc-santa-barbara.jpeg?itok=Lz95_tR7)
Photo Credit
Sonia Fernandez
Andrei Isichenko holds the ultra-high-quality ring resonator (left), which can help turn the "coarse" light from a commercially available Fabry-Perot laser diode (right) into a low linewidth laser
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![signpost with three potential directions](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/decisions-istock-uc-santa-barbara.jpeg?itok=F_xCNqJm)
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![Coconut palms stretch into the distance framed by tropical blue waters.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-12/coconut-palms-Fakarava-Atoll-istock.jpg?itok=j3FzWYRj)
Photo Credit
PeaceMan via iStock
Coconut palms account for more than one third of forested areas on Fakarava Atoll, French Polynesia, which falls far short of the region’s most heavily impacted atolls.
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![detail photo of jet engine](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-11/jet-engine-detail-istock-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=a9IIbg1w)
The internal structure of a jet engine
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![blue whale tail](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-11/blue-whale-tail-cargo-ship-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=m7L-1bmB)
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Courtesy Image