News

Physics professor Jean Carlson links California wildfires to coastal water quality

2026-08-19

UC Santa Barbara physics professor Jean Carlson and collaborators analyzed two decades of data to identify links between California wildfires and changes in bacterial water quality along the coast.

Climate scientist Qinghua Ding traces Antarctica’s brief rebound to climate variability

2026-08-19

UC Santa Barbara climate scientist Qinghua Ding and collaborators traced Antarctica’s recent temporary ice-mass gain to a recurring climate pattern linked to unusually warm tropical oceans.

The science of trying again

2026-08-13

At UC Santa Barbara’s SciTrek summer program, middle school students turned pool noodles into roller coasters while undergraduate mentors practiced the art of guiding discovery without giving away the answer.

Fossil shark scales reveal 20-fold difference between Panama’s historic reef populations

2026-08-13

A study begun by UCSB alumna Erin Dillon and co-authored by EEMB professor Douglas McCauley uses fossilized shark scales to reconstruct prehistoric shark populations on Panama’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

Historic aerial photo rescue strengthens UCSB coastal research

2026-08-12

Pictured above: A 1929 aerial photograph shows what is now called Coal Oil Point (lower left), Isla Vista and UC Santa Barbara’s Campus Lagoon. Fairchild Aerial Surveys / UCSB Library Special Research Collections.

A campus digitization partnership is preserving century-old imagery used by geographer Ian Walker’s SANDLab to study California’s changing dunes.

Alternate motor circuit may help explain paradoxical kinesia in Parkinson’s disease

2026-08-11

UC Santa Barbara researchers have found direct human evidence for an alternative neural circuit that may help explain paradoxical kinesia, a phenomenon associated with Parkinson’s disease.

UC Santa Barbara establishes Center for Statistical Foundations of AI

2026-08-11

UC Santa Barbara’s new Center for Statistical Foundations of AI brings a statistics-led approach to trustworthy AI across health, scientific discovery and other data-intensive fields.

Psychological & Brain Sciences professor Michael Beyeler uses AI to refine bionic vision

2026-08-07

UC Santa Barbara professor Michael Beyeler and collaborators used deep learning to improve control of brain responses and predict what a blind participant perceived during visual-cortex stimulation.