Scientists have discovered the first-ever impacts between large objects in a nearby star system 💫 "We have witnessed what we believe to be a collisional event between two comet-like bodies in the Fomalhaut system," said #UCSB's Maxwell Millar-Blanchaer. Full story: https://ow.ly/nFM050XLGnM

If reading more is one of your New Year's resolutions, #UCSB's Mona Damluji has an impactful list of suggestions for you 📚 The author shares five books that continue to shape her perspective—and remind her of the power of story to bring light, laughter and understanding: https://ow.ly/hUqb50XK2Ak

UCSB graduate students: Grad Slam 2026 registration opens on Jan. 5! The annual competition is a chance to showcase your research to a wider audience—and win some cash. The top presenter also wins an invite to present at the UC systemwide competition 🏆 Full story: https://ow.ly/49Wb50XMGsc

Wish you were here 🌊🏖️ Sprinkle in some holiday magic from UCSB and send these festive postcards to your friends and family to remind them that bikes and the beach are celebrated all year long when you're in Santa Barbara ✨

As much of the early Black press remains scattered or difficult to access, UCSB's Jim Casey is leading a project to recover and share 19th-century African American newspapers—using artificial intelligence 📰 Full story: https://ow.ly/osRA50XLvEo

A stormy ocean voyage produced a wildly productive study led by UCSB researchers, revealing important insights for our understanding of Earth’s climate 🌊 It presents some of the first findings to predict fluxes of carbon into the deep sea: https://ow.ly/WIUc50XKXZf

Throwback to #UCSB in 1976 💙 Did you know Kinko’s has roots in Isla Vista?

Shifting focus on a visual scene without moving our eyes—think driving—is a behavior known as covert attention. #UCSB researchers have uncovered the foundation of covert attention, finding new, emergent neuron types, with assistance from A.I 🧠 Full story: https://ow.ly/BAMX50XJMVP

A new study out of #UCSB found that global assessments systematically underestimate hunger—finding one in five may go uncounted. "This matters because these metrics are used to trigger funding for emergency relief." Full story: https://ow.ly/lUKP50XIC17

While social media addiction hasn’t been *officially* recognized as a mental health condition, it shows up in brain scans, according to #UCSB grad student Kylie Falcione, who works in René Weber's Media Neuroscience Lab: https://ow.ly/fA6S50XIBNE

3/ Awardee @mixotrophe.bsky.social aims to uncover how mixotrophs (marine microbes that harness energy from the 🌞 & organic matter) strategize their metabolisms. Her project may be key to understanding our changing ocean. 🎉 Congrats Dr. Moeller! @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social 🙏 #HFScout Ginger Armbrust

Thanks @thetransmitter.bsky.social for the feature! In our dementia work: 🧠 We predict cognitive decline by detecting early molecular signs. 🤖 We use LLM-augmented XAI to map key proteins to literature & accelerate biomarker discovery. @louisacornelis.bsky.social G Bernardez R Saloner K Casaletto

✨Announcing our newest awardees, who are taking scientific leaps to uncover new knowledge across microbial ecology, marine microbiology, and mammalian genetics. Learn about their projects: bit.ly/HFAwardees Meet our awardees and hear from their #HFScouts in our 🧵/1

The new issue of UC Santa Barbara Magazine is out now, with our cover story on #UCSB professors Michel Devoret and John Martinis reacting to their Nobel Prize in Physics 🎉🏆 It also features a soccer star who overcame a heart condition, marine scientist Ben Halpern & more: https://ow.ly/ArK450XIvXU

#UCSB's John Martinis & Michel Devoret officially accepted their Nobel Prize awards this week in Sweden 🤝🏅 They were selected for the prize "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit." Full story: https://ow.ly/3syu50XHACH

A new $3.8 million grant from The National Institutes of Health is helping #UCSB scholars reimagine how virtual reality can support older adults who are aging at home—and the family members and professionals who care for them. Full story: https://ow.ly/em3O50XH255

For the first time ever, we're playing at ucsantabarbara ✨ More info: ussoc.cr/santabarbara

Snaring—a hunting method that uses wire, rope or cable loops to trap animals—is contributing to wildlife declines across Africa. A team of researchers led by UCSB revealed just how common the practice is, along with the major consequences. Full story: https://ow.ly/xY2150XGyXS

UCSB’s new Engineering + Technology Management Fellows Program offers undergrad engineering students guaranteed admission & a grad fellowship to the Master of Technology Management program—as well as support that adds management and entrepreneurial skills to their training: https://ow.ly/TcRA50XG1yF

Drawing on decades of fieldwork in Bulgaria, #UCSB anthropologist Elana Resnick's new book offers a rare view of how sustainability policies unfold in the daily lives of some of Europe’s most marginalized communities ♻️ Full story: https://ow.ly/IWnh50XFORs

In a step toward better understanding how the ocean sequesters carbon, new findings from UC Santa Barbara researchers and collaborators challenge the current view of how carbon dioxide is "fixed" in the sunless ocean depths 🌊 Full story https://ow.ly/ZWUz50XAZR9

On Wildlife Conservation Day, let's hear it for the frogs: Once-endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs have leaped back to life in Yosemite 🐸 A study led by #UCSB details the endeavor comprising 24 reintroductions over more than 17 years. Full story: https://ow.ly/Nfb150XC0lF

#UCSB scientists work together 🤝🏆 The Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings for 2026 have #UCSB at No 12. 🎉 Created to celebrate interdisciplinary science in higher education, the list includes 911 institutions from 94 countries: https://ow.ly/GPhM50XBpwn

#UCSB researchers have invented a new display technology for on-screen graphics that you can both see and FEEL 👉 "The question was simple enough: Could the light that forms an image be converted into something that can be felt?" Full story: https://ow.ly/wBrw50XAQsK

#UCSB researchers and collaborators in Colombia, Brazil and Germany are progressing toward an understanding of mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer’s Disease, in particular an early-onset, genetic form that has afflicted generations of an extended family: https://ow.ly/v4Al50XAZqk

A special thank you to @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social for the thoughtful article on HerBrain – capturing our mission and the importance of understanding how pregnancy shapes the brain 🧠 tinyurl.com/4939bxu5 #TIMEBestInventions #WomensBrainHealth @ai-ucsb.bsky.social @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social

UCSB physicist Boris Shraiman has been awarded the American Physical Society's Max Delbrück Prize in Biological Physics for contributions to morphogenesis, evolution, and biological information processing 🏆 Full story: https://ow.ly/Loyq50XAey2

UCSB Reads selected Michelle Zauner’s "Crying in H Mart," a provocative book about identity, food, grief and culture 📖🍜 The program launches with a free book giveaway for students. Zauner, also the lead vocalist of Japanese Breakfast, will later give a free talk on campus: https://ow.ly/k0xP50Xyn1A

While doing research for his book, "Empire of Refugees," #UCSB's Hamed-Troyansky visited more than 20 archives in 10 countries, a years-long endeavor during which he studied primary historical evidence in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, Russian, Bulgarian and English: https://ow.ly/vO4i50XylBM

New findings out of #UCSB challenge decades of assumptions on split-brain function 🧠 Researchers offer a new framework for understanding neural resilience, with implications for epilepsy surgery, brain injury recovery and more: https://ow.ly/1ZlG50Xyf7F

#UCSB graduate student Deniz Çağlarcan has won the PRIX CIME 2025 International Electroacoustic Music Competition for "Shadows," an audiovisual transdisciplinary artwork 🎶 Next month, he will premiere his master's project at UCSB's AlloSphere. Full story: https://ow.ly/U8CI50XuTwv

Go for the gold! UC Santa Barbara will serve as the host for ParalympicsGB's athlete training and preparation camp during the summer of 2028, leading up to the Paralympic Games in Los Angeles 🚴🥇 Full story: https://ow.ly/gA7Y50XwWYt

UCSB religious studies professor Joseph Blankholm received a $1.55 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to fund his three-year study that gives insight into how modern spirituality is shaping ethics, community and meaning in everyday life 🌿 Full story https://ow.ly/SuSm50Xup3t

Procrastination happens to all of us. New research from #UCSB offers a science-backed way to break the cycle The team found that a brief reflection exercise can help people take the first step toward action, inspiring new app Dawdle AI, which features a guided exercise: https://ow.ly/tqGz50XtaIs

UCSB's Iman Djouini will present her artwork in the 2026 Venice Biennale—the Olympics of the art world 🎨 Djouini teaches print media, book arts, & typography, helping students think critically about culture & public space. Her installation explores how languages evolve: https://ow.ly/gflV50XrOw5

For #UCSB's Jesse Landesman, avocados—one of California's favorite crops—are the main focus. In studying how elevated soil salinity impacts avocados, her goal is to use science to help solve the real-world problems farmers face. Full story: https://ow.ly/ByUq50XtNpU#UCSB #SpeakUp4Science

in "Queer Traffic," #UCSB's Jennifer Tyburczy traces the intersections of global economics & social regulation, arguing that the rise of “trafficking” discourse reveals how economic & moral anxieties reinforce each other, shaping who is criminalized and who is protected: https://ow.ly/yqij50XqN4i

#UCSB's professor David Valentine's discovery of widespread DDT dumping off the California coast is featured in "Out of Plain Sight," an L.A. Times documentary making its L.A. theatrical debut: https://ow.ly/1rbN50Xuhqn More about Valentine's discovery: https://ow.ly/cNgj50Xuhpf

#UCSB researchers have proposed a target therapy could interrupt the growth of fluid-filled cysts caused by polycystic kidney disease 🔬 "The cysts just keep growing endlessly,” said UCSB's Thomas Weimbs. "And we want to stop them." Full story https://ow.ly/8TLu50XuccZ

Procrastination happens to all of us. New research from #UCSB offers a science-backed way to break the cycle The team found that a brief reflection exercise can help people take the first step toward action, inspiring new app Dawdle AI, which features a guided exercise: https://ow.ly/tqGz50XtaIs

More on @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social's collaboration with the Dust-To-Digital Foundation to make rare historical recordings available for free online through DAHR. Reporting from @npr.org affiliate KPCC/@laist.com in Los Angeles. laist.com/news/arts-an...

#UCSB professor Daniel Blumenthal's lab joins the National Science Foundation's National Quantum Virtual Laboratory 🔬 With MIT, UCLA, Harvard & University of Maryland, the lab is working on high-tech infrastructure to accelerate the development of quantum technologies. https://ow.ly/N6O850XrUFZ

A treasure trove of rare and historic American music—including songs by Memphis Minnie, the Carter Family, Blind Willie Johnson, and more—is now freely available to the public thanks to a new collaboration between the UC Santa Barbara Library and Dust-to-Digital Foundation https://ow.ly/J8Bg50Xpuf2

With two species of endangered river dolphins turning up dead, a team including #UCSB researchers has been documenting the unprecedented high water temps in the Amazon's freshwater lakes. The extreme droughts there in recent years are a warning: https://ow.ly/Yq3A50XqAlf

Traffic & creative freedom, urban sprawl & self-expression. The UCSB AD&A Museum exhibition "Big Bang Beat L.A." highlights the 1970s L.A. Environmental Communications collective. The photos are a historical record & a meditation on L.A.'s environmental vulnerability: https://ow.ly/yYgW50XotoP

A treasure trove of rare and historic American music—including songs by Memphis Minnie, the Carter Family, Blind Willie Johnson, and more—is now freely available to the public thanks to a new collaboration between the UC Santa Barbara Library and Dust-to-Digital Foundation https://ow.ly/J8Bg50Xpuf2

#UCSB has proven it helps students take steps in the right direction 🔝 We're ranked as the No. 19 Best National University for Social Mobility 🏆 Full story: https://ow.ly/pzyy50Xm9XS

#UCSB professor Omar Saleh has spent decades studying polymer behavior, conducting experiments to better understand coacervates. He estimates his lab is 1 of 10 labs globally conducting nanoscale measurements of microgel polymers with custom-built machinery 💡 Full story https://ow.ly/GbZf50XmPoL

UCSB professor Michael Gurven's new book, "Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer," examines anatomic and societal aspects of aging. He believes being "old" is less about age than the ability to fend for one’s self and one’s community 🤲 Full story https://ow.ly/KPay50XmMsn

Civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill hosts a talk this week as part of #UCSB Arts & Lectures' Justice for All initiative. Ifill has dedicated decades to fighting for justice and challenges audiences to imagine a democracy that fulfills its founding ideals. Full story: https://ow.ly/Q6Qr50Xm8ZT