by Julia Calderone | Dec 10, 2013 | Posts
As we sat in my car outside a silent movie theater in Los Angeles, my friend anxiously opened a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt she’d slept in for the past three nights. “Does it smell like me?” she asked nervously, gesturing the open end toward my face. I...
by Nsikan Akpan | Dec 9, 2013 | Posts
Doe-eyed kids will rise from their comfy beds on Christmas, eager to rush downstairs and unwrap the presents under the tree, all the while, unwittingly taking a huge dump on the environment. U.S. household waste is highest between Thanksgiving and New Years, rising by...
by Becky Bach | Dec 7, 2013 | Posts
Following the recent sexual harassment scandal at Scientific American, heated ethical debates dominated the science journalism digisphere. We —the ten budding writers in the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program class of 2014, led by our instructor, Nature...
by Molly Sharlach | Dec 4, 2013 | Posts
On African savannas, poachers have forced black rhinos nearly to extinction. Closer to home, poaching, poisoning and habitat loss threaten California condors. Yet nearly 60 percent of all endangered species in California are plants. With more than 6,000 native plant...
by Jyoti Madhusoodanan | Nov 29, 2013 | Posts
As the holidays roll around, some of us can’t wait to pile our plates with cookies, candy and family favorites. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by seasonal excess, try focusing on the color red. According to a new study, people tend to eat — or use...
by Patricia Waldron | Nov 25, 2013 | Posts
A monster lurks in Watsonville, California. It can poison your dog, give you diarrhea, and cause cancer in sea otters. The mayhem is unintentional – the monster, a microscopic bacterium, is just trying to make a living. But while the microbe thrives in the warm...
by Matt Davenport | Nov 22, 2013 | Posts
Today, the Food and Drug Administration will close down the outside comment period on changes proposed to the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. Field mice could give a crap. One of the proposed changes would establish rules to minimize the risk of crops becoming...
by Cat Ferguson | Nov 11, 2013 | Posts
Hand a glass of white wine to a professional wine taster—how will he rate it? Let’s say 88 on a scale of 80 to 100. Give the same wine to him again, even minutes later—the rating will be plus or minus four points, on average. After adding flavorless dye to one of the...
by Nsikan Akpan | Nov 8, 2013 | Posts
Dressed in orange and black, they have traveled epic distances, through the unforgiving environs of urban development, only to arrive with feverish anticipation for what’s to come. Who are these eager travelers? Legions of kids flooding into Natural Bridges State...
by Cynthia McKelvey | Nov 6, 2013 | Posts
Gamer culture has been put under the microscope ever since pop-culture critic Anita Sarkeesian faced a barrage of gender-based hate for announcing a project examining common sexist tropes of female characters in video games, such as the “damsel in distress” or the...
by Becky Bach | Nov 4, 2013 | Posts
A beach-baked couple beat me into Togo’s a few weeks ago. The sandwich maker, a 20-something fellow who was gloomily plopping mayonnaise onto bread, muttered hello. “We’re great. We’re in Santa Cruz,” the man chirped. “But I’m not doing as well as you are, I’m...
by Jyoti Madhusoodanan | Nov 1, 2013 | Posts
The lights are dim, the music loud, and the dance floor crowded. Despite the alcohol and food, the large space smells refreshingly clean. People wander the hall with hopeful expressions, name tags stuck on shirts, drinks in hand, attempting to strike up conversations....
