Social Sciences
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After federal cuts to SNAP, Santa Cruz food bank CEO says “we can’t lose sight of hope”
A recent report that UC Santa Cruz commissioned found that one out of every three people in our county is food insecure, namely attributed to the high cost of living.
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Beyond free access: UC Santa Cruz study exposes the hidden barriers to California’s beaches
A new UC Santa Cruz study reveals that despite California’s strong access laws, historical discrimination, wealth disparities and systemic barriers still make the state’s coastlines overwhelmingly white and affluent. Additional coverage by The Cool Down and Earth.com.
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Thousands of Kidnapped Africans Died on an Island in the Atlantic After Being Rescued From Slave Ships. Evidence in Their Teeth Traces Their Journeys
Strontium isotopes are specific to types of water and plants, and they embed in kids’ tooth enamel as it forms. That means the isotopes “reflect where they were at that specific time in their lives,” study co-author Vicky Oelze, a geochemist at the University of California Santa Cruz, tells Science. “Even if they were displaced, the signature of where…
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Santa Cruz Mountains | Animal crossings rise in second year of Highway 17 underpass
The idea for the crossing was founded in strong scientific evidence that the land trust compiled in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz’s Puma Project and Pathways for Wildlife, which specializes in wildlife connectivity ventures.
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Bohemian Grove: ‘Merely a playground’ for male elite or shrouded retreat with global reach?
The question of whether the encamped Bohos commit much in the way of plotting and conspiring was taken on in the 1970s by G. William Domhoff, a UC Santa Cruz psychologist and sociologist intrigued by individuals who wield great power.
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DNA from African graves provides surprising window into slave trade
In addition to DNA evidence, strontium isotope analysis led by Anthropology Professor Vicky Oelze helped determine the most likely regions of origin within Africa for people who escaped from the slave trade to Saint Helena Island in the South Atlantic.
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Unequal access to California’s beaches
Coastal access is not equal among communities in California, according to a paper from UC Santa Cruz published this week.
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New Research Details How Mountain Lions Navigate Around Hikers in the Santa Cruz Mountains
Researchers at UC Santa Cruz spent years fitting pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains with GPS collars, then compared the animals’ movements against Strava data from hikers, runners and mountain bikers using the same trail network.
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How did a mental health crisis become a suicide in the Oakland County Jail?
“There are very few solitary confinement units anywhere in the world where prisoners are not able to call out to one another in nearby cells. This kind of strained communication hardly constitutes ‘meaningful human contact,’ ” wrote Craig Haney, a psychology professor at University of California Santa Cruz and nationally recognized expert on the psychological…
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An abundance of influence
University of California, Santa Cruz Sociology professor Katharyne Mitchell and PhD candidate Gregory Woolston have described this local political takeover as revanchist populism, plying a brand of“revenge” politics funded by conservative elites.
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Report: 5 unintended effects kicked in after California raised minimum wage
California raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour. It was supposed to help workers earn more money. But a new study found something strange. Many workers are not better off. Some are working fewer hours. Some lost their jobs to robots. A college study looked at more than 100 restaurants.…
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Professor details scam horror that cost her nearly a half million dollars
A successful imposter scam involves “hiding the real” and “showing the fake,” explained Anthony Pratkanis, professor emeritus of social psychology at UC Santa Cruz. Pratkanis, who co-wrote the book “Weapons of Fraud,” said scammers use social influence tactics that appeal to human nature. “We could all fall prey to these crimes,” Pratkanis said, not just “little…