http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org provides the latest news from University of California - Santa Barbara When UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Seeta Sistla and her adviser, environmental studies professor Josh Schimel, went north not long ago to study how long-term warming in the Arctic affects carbon storage, they had made certain assumptions. http://phys.org/news287935211.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 May 2013 15:00:18 EST news287935211 –After taking a rented camper outfitted with special equipment to measure methane on a cross-continent drive, a UC Santa Barbara scientist has found that methane emissions across large parts of the U.S. are higher than currently known, confirming what other more local studies have found. Their research is published in the journal Atmospheric Environment. http://phys.org/news287851416.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 May 2013 15:43:43 EST news287851416 (Phys.org) —If somebody in a remote corner of the world sets fire to an American flag, but no one else is there to see it, did it really burn? http://phys.org/news287135952.html Technology Tue, 07 May 2013 08:59:22 EST news287135952 By using light, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have manipulated the quantum state of a single atomic-sized defect in diamond –– the nitrogen-vacancy center –– in a method that not only allows for more unified control than conventional processes, but is more versatile, and opens up the possibility of exploring new solid-state quantum systems. Their results are published in the latest edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news286640860.html Physics Wed, 01 May 2013 15:28:09 EST news286640860 (Phys.org)—Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with colleagues at the École Polytechnique in France, have conclusively identified Auger recombination as the mechanism that causes light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be less efficient at high drive currents. http://phys.org/news285931625.html Physics Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:27:13 EST news285931625 Understanding exactly how stem cells form into specific organs and tissues is the holy grail of regenerative medicine. Now a UC Santa Barbara researcher has added to that body of knowledge by determining how stem cells produce different types of "daughter" cells in Drosophila (fruit flies). The findings appear today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news285868741.html Biology Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:59:10 EST news285868741 (Phys.org) —Marine scientists have long understood the detrimental effect of fossil fuel emissions on marine ecosystems. But a group led by a UC Santa Barbara professor has found a point of resilience in a microscopic shelled plant with a massive environmental impact, which suggests the future of ocean life may not be so bleak. http://phys.org/news285233209.html Space & Earth Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:26:56 EST news285233209 (Phys.org) —There's an epic battle taking place that's not on the national radar: intercellular competition. While it's not an Olympic event, new research from UC Santa Barbara demonstrates that this microscopic rivalry can be just as fierce as humans going for the gold. http://phys.org/news284659500.html Biology Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:05:25 EST news284659500 Solutions that meet the broad, varied, and often competing priorities of conservation are difficult to come by. Research published in the March 28 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences takes a hard look at why, in an effort to find ways to resolve the issue. http://phys.org/news283447793.html Biology Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:36:06 EST news283447793 After almost four decades of absence from local waters, a special sea slug appears to be making a comeback, and marine scientists at UC Santa Barbara are eagerly anticipating its return. http://phys.org/news282828396.html Biology Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:27:35 EST news282828396 (Phys.org) —Physicists at UC Santa Barbara are manipulating light on superconducting chips, and forging new pathways to building the quantum devices of the future –– including super-fast and powerful quantum computers. http://phys.org/news281634273.html Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:44:41 EST news281634273 A new method of harvesting the Sun's energy is emerging, thanks to scientists at UC Santa Barbara's Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materials. Though still in its infancy, the research promises to convert sunlight into energy using a process based on metals that are more robust than many of the semiconductors used in conventional methods. The researchers' findings are published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news280915714.html Nanotechnology Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:00:01 EST news280915714 For over a century, the rubber tappers of Acre, Brazil collected the valuable sap of the rubber trees from the forests of the western Amazon. As the demand for natural rubber declined, however, the Brazilian government sought to stimulate the economy in the 1970's by encouraging southern ranchers to bring their cattle to the isolated state and convert the forests to pastureland. http://phys.org/news280748063.html Space & Earth Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:35:21 EST news280748063 As an asteroid roughly half as large as a football field—and with energy equal to a large hydrogen bomb—readies for a fly-by of Earth on Friday, two California scientists are unveiling their proposal for a system that could eliminate a threat of this size in an hour. The same system could destroy asteroids 10 times larger than the one known as 2012 DA14 in about a year, with evaporation starting at a distance as far away as the Sun. http://phys.org/news280144968.html Space & Earth Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:02:59 EST news280144968 (Phys.org)—Women are reaching the upper echelons of business in record numbers—Marissa Mayer at Yahoo!, Meg Whitman at Hewlett-Packard, Ginni Rometty at IBM and Rosalind Brewer at Sam's Club, to name a few. Even so, women comprise a mere 4 percent of the chief executive officer positions at Fortune 500 companies. Economists at UC Santa Barbara are exploring some of the reasons behind this continuing disparity, and they're using a 1-mile race as their data source. Their findings appear in the current issue of the journal Economic Inquiry. http://phys.org/news279535983.html Other Sciences Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:53:16 EST news279535983