News Archive

June 8, 2017 — An alumnus of the University of California San Diego is part of the new class of astronauts NASA announced June 7, 2017. Robb Kulin earned his master’s and PhD degrees in materials science from UC San Diego. He made nearly every decision in his career with an eye toward going to space, according to his Ph.D. advisor, nanoengineering professor Kenneth Vecchio from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

May 31, 2017 — Engineers at UC San Diego are using soft robotics technology to make light, flexible gloves that allow users to feel tactile feedback when they interact with virtual reality environments. The researchers used the gloves to realistically simulate the tactile feeling of playing a virtual piano keyboard.

May 26, 2017 — Unusually warm nights can harm human sleep, researchers show, and the poor and the elderly are most affected. Rising temperatures could make sleep loss more severe.

May 24, 2017 — The UC San Diego 2017 Sustainability Awards recognized individuals and groups that have made the campus more sustainable. Six recipients were honored for their efforts to share information about and prioritize sustainability in UC San Diego’s education, research, planning, and operations and outreach programs.

May 24, 2017 — Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the first printed battery that is flexible, stretchable and rechargeable. The zinc batteries could be used to power everything from wearable sensors to solar cells and other kinds of electronics. The work appears in the April 19, 2017 issue of Advanced Energy Materials.

May 23, 2017 — The Institute for the Global Entrepreneur (IGE) at UC San Diego has announced team selections for its new technology accelerator. Five UC San Diego research teams, with innovations ranging from advanced healthcare diagnostics and medical device technologies to next generation LIDAR for autonomous-vehicle navigation, have been selected to join the new campus program.

May 22, 2017 — An international team of researchers has uncovered the mechanism that allowed Volkswagen to circumvent U.S. and European emission tests over at least six years before the Environmental Protection Agency put the company on notice in 2015 for violating the Clean Air Act. During a year-long investigation, researchers found code that allowed a car’s onboard computer to determine that the vehicle was undergoing an emissions test. The computer then activated the car’s emission-curbing systems, reducing the amount of pollutants emitted. Once the computer determined that the test was over, these systems were deactivated.

May 17, 2017 — Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the first soft robot that is capable of walking on rough surfaces, such as sand and pebbles. The 3D-printed, four-legged robot can climb over obstacles and walk on different terrains. Researchers led by Michael Tolley, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of California San Diego, will present the robot at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation from May 29 to June 3 in Singapore. The robot could be used to capture sensor readings in dangerous environments or for search and rescue.

May 17, 2017 — The field researchers also collected paleo-environmental data concerning climate and environmental change during the Late Bronze Age.

May 15, 2017 — A new study suggests that an aggressive reef competitor—the Threespot Damselfish—may have impeded the recovery of Caribbean long-spined sea urchin populations after a mysterious disease outbreak caused a massive die-off of these animals over three decades ago.