What do populations in Bolivia & Tanzania have in common? They have strikingly similar gut microbiomes, researchers at #UCSB & Stanford University have found. "We’re learning another way that urbanization & industrialization have rapidly impacted our bodies and our health."
https://ow.ly/Y0Ll50ZVzFf

Nitrogen is essential for proteins and DNA, yet most organisms can’t use nitrogen gas directly from the atmosphere. Biogeochemists at #UCSB and UCLA have found that a rare form of nitrogen gas can act as a natural fingerprint for microbial nitrogen conversion.

https://ow.ly/9znU50ZWsJc

A yearlong archival project by students in Santa Barbara culminated with "Finding Fiesta," an exhibit exploring the communities and current events reshaping Old Spanish Days. As they formulated lesson plans, teachers kept in mind how the colonial past has shaped Fiesta.

https://ow.ly/gurw50ZWmhQ

New findings about young infants out of #UCSB: Saliva is one key piece of evidence. The work that Brandon Woo, a Psychological & Brain Sciences researcher, is doing delivers nuance to a longstanding debate scholars in human development have had about how much babies know.

https://ow.ly/XlY650ZVyg3

The calls alerting the winners went out at 3 a.m. and everything changed: A look back at 2025 when two #UCSB professors, Michel Devoret and John Martinis, won the Nobel Prize in Physics for work they did together.

Full story: https://ow.ly/Fcn750ZVuR2

#UCSB has launched a new minor in environmental humanities 👏 The program, based in the College of Letters & Science, examines how culture, history, ethics, research and storytelling shape the ways people understand and respond to environmental change.

Full Story: https://ow.ly/MS2v50ZV9B7

What does it take to build the world's most precise clocks? ⚛️⏱️

UCSB ECE Prof. Daniel Blumenthal is part of NSF's $290M Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes renewal, putting lasers on chips 🔬

📖 engineering.ucsb.edu/news/775

#UCSBECE #Quantum @ucsbengineering.bsky.social @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social

From early issues of “Lowrider” magazine to files on gang violence reduction initiatives, and decades of photographs, audio recordings and video footage, the Luis J. Rodriguez Papers are now open for research in #UCSB Library’s Department of Special Research Collections.

https://ow.ly/rG9C50ZUywm

Three #UCSB researchers received honors this year from the American Geophysical Union: David Valentine for the 2026 Ambassador Award; Leander Anderegg for the James B. Macelwane Medal, and Kelly Caylor has been elected as an AGU Fellow.

https://ow.ly/Wa4i50ZU97H

Chosen as one of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s 2026 Experimental Physics Investigators, #UCSB's Bolin Liao is working to develop a platform for imaging and controlling quantum interactions with 2D materials.

Full story: https://ow.ly/xQC850ZU4GX

#UCSB's John Bowers, a pioneer in silicon photonics, received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural UC Regents Innovation Awards 🏆

Full story: https://ow.ly/35K850ZTc8K

The effects of gratitude interventions differ across countries and cultures 🙏 In a megastudy, #UCSB's Hongbo Yu and collaborators tease out these differences across 34 countries, with findings that illustrate the importance of cultural context.

https://ow.ly/fP7c50ZTaJi

#UCSB is top-ranked for value and career placement by the Princeton Review! Based on academics, costs, financial aid, debt, graduation rates, and alumni career and salary data, the campus is the No. 15 Best Value College and No. 20 for Best Career Placement among public schools 🏆

Through the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes program, #UCSB researchers are poised to tackle hurdles on the road to building widespread quantum-based technologies. A total of eight Institutes will receive between $28-$37 million over 5 years: https://ow.ly/V89r50ZSpOi

Economist and demographer Shelly Lundberg, a distinguished professor and Leonard Broom Professor of Demography at #UCSB, has won the 2026 Jacob Mincer Award by the Society of Labor Economists for her lifetime contributions to labor economics 🏆

Full story: https://ow.ly/nBns50ZRAyZ

The arts are blooming this fall at #UCSB. From Romeo and Juliet to metaphysical spirituality. From the creative art of hard science to the handcasted names on a museum wall. There’s plenty to take in, and much of it is accessible for free. 🍁🎭

Full story: https://ow.ly/EcuZ50ZREO2

On Dolly Parton Day, #UCSB professor, author and "Dollyologist" Helen Morales shares about Dolly's radical empathy and the cultural power that let her hold contradictions—and people—together 💓

Full story: https://ow.ly/qNhH50ZRyYw

Starting college comes with a learning curve! 🎓 ✨

Recent @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social grads shared their top advice for new students:
🌟 Say 'yes' to new opportunities
💡 Use available resources early
💙 Give yourself grace
⏳ Cherish every moment!

#UCSBLibrary #UCSB #CollegeLife #CollegeTips

New findings out of #UCSB add rare incidence data to dementia research among Indigenous peoples.

"Under their traditional lifeways, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia is low, but it may not be as low as we originally thought."

Full story: https://ow.ly/hn8c50ZQKBb