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Researchers played elephant seals the calls of their nemeses. This is what happened next
“Male elephant seals come back to the exact same breeding location year after year and engage in competitive interactions with a number of familiar individuals,” says Caroline Casey, research scientist and adjunct professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in a statement. “It would make sense, then, that they would retain some memory of…
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Florida’s first offshore fish farms are coming. Are they floating hazards?
If Ocean Era is committed to preserving the environment, one net pen isn’t likely to harm the Gulf, said Rod Fujita, a marine ecologist at the University of California Santa Cruz. “The big question is, what happens after that?” Fujita said.
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(Fore)playing with Fire
Stephens, Sprinkle’s longtime partner, is an artist and art professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The couple didn’t originate the ecosexuality term, but have framed much of their recent work around “shifting the idea of Earth as mother to Earth as lover,” Stephens says.
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Mars Has Lightning, Scientists Prove
This is the first time there has been convincing evidence that electrical activity on Mars is actually occurring, says Francis Nimmo, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who wasn’t involved in the study.
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Our Brains May Have Pre-Configured Instructions to Understand the World When We’re Born
Using lab-grown brain organoids, scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz led by Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Tal Sharf found that neurons begin firing in recognizable, information-like patterns long before any sensory system is active. Additional coverage in StudyFinds and The Debrief.
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Pianist Benny Green takes the stage alongside UC Santa Cruz Jazz Big Band on Dec. 7
The UC Santa Cruz Jazz Big Band is closing out the fall quarter with a concert on Dec. 7 featuring guest pianist Benny Green, a former student of band director and UCSC music lecturer Charles Hamilton.
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NIH shake-up to grant decision-making sparks concern over political meddling
“My colleagues are asking who would agree to volunteer their time on an NIH study section if their ranking of grants will not be what drives awarding,” Carol Greider, a Nobel Prize winner and molecular biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, tells ScienceInsider.
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What California’s big, gross elephant seals can teach us about life
“I mean, everything they do is extreme,” says Daniel Costa, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. “They’re the deepest-diving pinniped and they dive for longer than any other seal or sea lion. They also fast for longer. Everything they do is just pushing the limits.”

