Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 20h

#UCSB's "On Fire" series kicks off with "When It All Burns" author Jordan Thomas on October 9, followed early next year by UC Davis professor Beth Rose Middleton, discussing an initiative between Indigenous fire practitioners, students and community members 🔥

Full story: https://ow.ly/rXW650X83yF

Talk on California’s wildfire crisis kicks off IHC public series

UCSB's Jordan Thomas, author of the National Book Award-nominated "When It All Burns," kicks off this year's public speaker series curated and hosted by the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 1d

Happening now: Join us in celebrating UC Santa Barbara physicists John Martinis and Michel Devoret winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics: https://ow.ly/3nsF50X8eET #UCSB #YoutubeLive

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

University of California @uofcalifornia.bsky.social · 1d

UC SWEEP IN PHYSICS! Congratulations to @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social emeritus professor John Clarke, who won the prize along with @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social professors Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis! 💙💛🥇

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Nobel prize in physics awarded to three scientists for work on quantum mechanics

Trio led experiments demonstrating that bizarre properties of quantum world can translate into measurable effects in the everyday The Nobel prize in physics 2025 has been awarded to British, French and American scientists for their work on quantum mechanics. John Clarke, a British physicist based at the University of California at Berkeley, Michel Devoret, a French physicist based at Yale University, and John Martinis, of the University of California Santa Barbara, share the 11m Swedish kronor (about £871,400) prize announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 1d

Exciting news: #UCSB physicists John Martinis and Michel Devoret have been awarded the 2025 #NobelPrize in Physics. They were lauded for work that, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, "revealed quantum physics in action."

Full story: https://ow.ly/TH7K50X7ULp

UCSB physics professors John Martinis and Michel Devoret win 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

UCSB IHC @ihcucsb.bsky.social · 2d

ON FIRE TALK: WHEN IT ALL BURNS
Join us for a talk by National Book Award nominee Jordan Thomas on the creation of California's wildfire crisis and the sociological, historical, and economic forces that fuel today’s megafires.
10/9, 4 PM | 6020 HSSB

Learn more: bit.ly/Thomas-IHC

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 2d

#UCSB's Philip Lubin, who is part of the #NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, gave expert background info for this video.

As a public research university, #UCSB relies on federal funding to drive innovation: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/get-involved...
#SpeakUp4Science #StandUpforUC

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

Environmental Markets Lab (emLab) @emlab.ucsb.edu · 5d

How do you compare the carbon cost of a tuna steak with that of a plate of shrimp?

Find out how a team of @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social graduate students answered that question using @globalfishingwatch.org and @fao.org data here: bit.ly/4gQrUdI

#DataScience for #SustainableSeafood 🦐 🍣 🐟

Bren School students help chart the course towards a global baseline for wild-caught seafood emissions

A group of graduate students from the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management set out to leverage a new dataset to create a first-of-its-kind glob...

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 6d

A #UCSB team has created a new tool for breast cancer research—an algae-based gel that supports the development of normal mammary gland tissue and can be modified to direct how cells grow.

Full story: https://ow.ly/rFXz50X5VHv

Novel membrane gel from UCSB offers new tool for breast cancer research

Researchers create an algae-based gel as a platform for studying mammary epithelial cells, which form milk-producing ducts and glands in healthy breast tissue and can transform into cancer cells

news.ucsb.edu

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

Civil Eats @civileats.com · 7d

"Canneries reduce reliance on industrial agriculture, help mitigate climate change, support small-scale farmers, build food sovereignty, and foster a sense of community. ... We need more of them,” writes @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social student Jillian Fischer in an op-ed.

Op-ed: Let’s Preserve Our Communities Through Canning Food

Community canneries can bring people together, encourage food sovereignty and healthy local food systems, and even mitigate climate change.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 9d

On the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, #UCSB's Mona Damluji wrote a poem to her daughters.

Now, she's turned that poem into a book—"I Want You to Know"—to help families address displacement, resilience and the legacies of experiencing war 📖 👩‍👩‍👧‍👧

Full story: ow.ly/GAS550X1aZW

A mother’s poem becomes a book about displacement, resilience

Professor Mona Damluji’s "I Want You to Know" (Penguin Random House, 2025) pairs lyrical verse with vibrant illustrations to help families talk openly about war, heritage and home.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 9d

#UCSB history professor Patrick McCray shares how universities helped the U.S. become a global science superpower—and how government investments in university research pays off 🔬

Full story: ow.ly/LEwA50X3JIL

@uofcalifornia.bsky.social
#SpeakUp4Science #StandUpforUC

How the US became a science superpower

America's leadership "isn't some fixed, unchanging feature of the scientific landscape," says one UC historian.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 12d

#UCSB's Grace Han has been named one of five scientist-inventors nationwide to receive a 2025 Moore Inventor Fellowship.

Han’s approach offers a clean, emission-free alternative to fossil fuels—and a pathway to new sustainable energy technologies ow.ly/Nrfz50X1HHz

Chemist Grace Han named Moore Inventor Fellow

Her groundbreaking research on molecular solar fuels aims to capture sunlight, store it in chemical bonds, and release it as heat on demand — a clean, emission-free path toward sustainable energy.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 12d

Cold atom experiments are among the most precise ways of exploring the quantum world. And for more than a decade, #UCSB's Daniel Blumenthal has been working to translate these experiments to a portable form that can sit in the palm of your hand 🤚

Full story: ow.ly/wNqc50X2iPH

Chip-scale cold atom and trapped ion experiments can unleash the power of quantum science in the field

Chip-scale cold atom experiments can unleash the power of quantum science in the field

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 12d

First week of school things 📚🎉 #UCSB’s Week of Welcome was a hit.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 16d

"These artists were addressing agrarian reform, labor rights, women’s roles...[T]hey resonate with current conversations about immigration and the conditions facing farmworkers."

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 16d

"Mexican Prints: The Garcia-Correa Collection," is on view now at #UCSB's AD&A Museum, with a public reception taking place Sept. 27 🖼️

The exhibition features 31 prints by artists who played a central role in the Mexican printmaking movement, following the Mexican Revolution: ow.ly/91jW50WZvz6

Modern Mexican printmaking at UCSB

"Mexican Prints" at the AD&A Museum brings together Orozco, Siqueiros, Tamayo and fellow artists of the 20th century.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 16d

#UCSB scientists have discovered cloud seeding could disrupt El Niño, underscoring the need for caution in climate interventions.

Full story: ow.ly/9HQh50WZ2MY

A hard look at geoengineering reveals global risks

UCSB scientists find that cloud seeding could disrupt El Niño, underscoring the need for caution in climate interventions.

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 19d

Tell me you go to #UCSB without telling me.

Blue on residential housing that says “Wash sand off of your feet before you enter.”

Bikes parked by residential housing at UCSB.

Surfboard racks outside of residential housing at UCSB

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 19d

"In other words, all hell broke loose."

With the findings of shocked quartz at three archaeological sites, #UCSB researchers and collaborators propose a scenario in which a fragmented comet exploded aboveground, sending shockwaves and extreme heat to Earth.

Full story: ow.ly/OSVP50WYSsN

Researchers find evidence of cosmic impact at classic Clovis archaeological sites

Researchers find evidence of cosmic impact at classic Clovis archaeological site

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 20d

"This has important implications for the conservation of beaches," said Marine Science Institute researcher Kyle Emery. "You can identify which beaches are likely to be biodiversity hotspots because of their proximity to kelp forests." 🌊

UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 20d

A new UCSB kelp study can inform habitat conservation and recovery efforts along the coasts 🌊

Full story: ow.ly/913t50WYmwF

Kelp forests are connected to local beach ecosystems

Researchers uncover the spatial connectivity between kelp forest and local beaches

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

Bionic Vision Lab @bionicvisionlab.org · 21d

As federal research funding faces steep cuts, UC scientists are pushing brain-computer interfaces forward: restoring speech after ALS, easing Parkinson’s symptoms, and improving bionic vision with AI (that’s us 👋 at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social).

🧠 www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/thrilli...

Thrilling progress in brain-computer interfaces from UC labs

UC researchers and the patients they work with are showing the world what's possible when the human mind and advanced computers meet.

www.universityofcalifornia.edu

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Reposted by UC Santa Barbara

UCSB IHC @ihcucsb.bsky.social · 23d

This summer, junior high and high school teachers collaborated with UCSB grad students and staff from the IHC, UCSB Library, and Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation to conduct research on the history of community celebrations surrounding Fiesta and develop lesson plans for their students.

Finding Fiesta partners UCSB with local teachers for new perspectives on a century-old celebration

UCSB partners with community institutions to provide teachers troves of Fiesta history as K-12 students reexamine and interpret the annual celebration through fresh eyes.

news.ucsb.edu

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 22d

“Fiesta is an important community celebration, and we want students to consider whether and how the diverse communities of the Central Coast are represented in Fiesta activities and in the stories and images of the celebration”

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UC Santa Barbara @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social · 22d

Dubbed Finding Fiesta, this partnership between UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC), @ucsblibrary.bsky.social, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and Santa Barbara Unified School District will culminate in a public exhibition of student work during next year’s Fiesta.

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