What About the Oceans?

Ben Halpern Photo Credit: ELENA ZHUKOVA FOR UCOP

The oceans are an integral part of life on Earth, to say the least. Half of our air comes from oceans. They absorb vast amounts of heat produced by climate change and provide enormous value in the form of natural goods and services essential to life, including carbon sequestration and food. They also cover two-thirds of the planet.

Yet a conceptual…

Ashley Larsen Photo Credit: SONIA FERNANDEZ

Although common opinion holds that exposure to pesticides increases adverse birth outcomes, the existing body of scientific evidence is ambiguous. Logistical and ethical barriers — pesticide use data are not widely available and randomized control trials are impossible — have gotten in the way of more accurate conclusions.

A new study by researchers at

Dumping billions of gallons on California every year, rain is the state’s way out of drought — if only all that water could be captured instead of washing into drains and out to sea.

An ambitious new collaboration spanning five University of California campuses, including UC Santa Barbara, hopes to do exactly that. The research partnership of UCSB, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside and UC San Diegoai…

Drivers of Insecticide Use

Ashley Larsen and Frederik Noack Photo Credit: SPENCER BRUTTIG

Over the past half century, food production has intensified to meet the growing demand. And as agricultural fields have become ever larger, more pesticides are required to enhance yield.

Among increasingly huge spreads of single crops, insects tend to thrive as the landscape leaves little habitat for natural enemies such as birds or…