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Society + Culture

man sitting on chair with newspaper cover background
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Matt Perko
UC Santa Barbara English assistant professor Jim Casey is leading a project to recover and share 19th-century African American newspapers using artificial intelligence.

$750,000 Schmidt Sciences grant uses AI to transform Black press archives

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grains and pulses with scoops in baskets.
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Pierivb via iStock
Addressing world hunger requires an accurate account of those in need.

Global measure underestimates the severity of food insecurity
Older woman with grey hair and blue coat sits outside rustic building
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Elana Resnick
Baka, a waste collector, at home.

How Europe’s green transition is reinforcing racial inequality
arrows pointing in both directions black boots
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iStock

A two-minute fix for procrastination
color photographic portrait of professor Joseph Blankholm
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Matt Perko
Religious studies associate professor Joseph Blankholm, November 2025

$1.5 million grant advances UCSB leadership in the study of modern spirituality
a family of East African nomadic pastoralists
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Wiesla-Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0
The Turkana are nomadic pastoralists who live in Kenya

Genetic adaptations helped East African nomadic pastoralists adapt to constant water stress, but urbanization may present an 'evolutionary mismatch'
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Genetic adaptations helped East African nomadic pastoralists adapt to constant water stress, but urbanization may present an 'evolutionary mismatch'
black and white image of an older person's face
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Courtesy Image

Michael Gurven reframes aging as evolutionary success
bloody face man holding mask and shovel
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Courtesy
Detail of "Queer Traffic" book cover with art by Lechevirgen Trimegisto

Free trade, moral panic and the politics of belonging
Headshot of Sherrilyn Ifill
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Courtesy Arts & Lectures
Sherrilyn Ifill

Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill reimagines democracy in talk for UCSB Arts & Lectures
clean archive with documents
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Matt Perko
UCSB’s repository houses collections for research and storage; access to Native American materials requires tribal permission.

UCSB outlines progress and goals for Native American repatriation
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Experts to discuss repatriation, religion and law
Headshot of Paul Leonardi next to cover of his book, "Digital Exhaustion."
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Courtesy UCSB Engineering
Paul Leonardi

In ‘Digital Exhaustion,’ Paul Leonardi shares how to make technology work for you
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