Science & Environment

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The Latest

When Art Becomes Autonomous

What does autonomy mean in an age when technology is radically transforming the ability of objects and even ideas to have a life of their own – from smart cars, to viral videos?

NSF Awards $12 Million to SDSC to Deploy “Comet” Supercomputer

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has been awarded a $12-million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to deploy Comet, a new petascale supercomputer designed to transform advanced scientific computing by expanding access and capacity among traditional as well as non-traditional research domains.

Computer Scientists Develop New Approach to Sort Cells Up to 38 Times Faster

A team of engineers led by computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a new approach that marries computer vision and hardware optimization to sort cells up to 38 times faster than is currently possible. The approach could be used for clinical diagnostics, stem cell characterization and other applications.

Robotic Surgery Program Expands at UC San Diego Health System to Treat Stomach Cancer

Surgeons at UC San Diego Health System have performed the region’s first robotic gastrectomy, a potentially lifesaving procedure to remove a section of the stomach after a diagnosis of gastric cancer. Aided by a da Vinci robot, surgeons remove the diseased tissue, perform a delicate reconstruction and remove local lymph nodes for further testing.

Fear of Predators Drives Honey Bees Away from Good Food Sources

Most of us think of honey bees as having a bucolic, pastoral existence—flying from flower to flower to collect the nectar they then turn into honey. But while they’re capable of defending themselves with their painful stings, honey bees live in a world filled with danger in which predators seize them from the sky and wait to ambush them on flowers. Such fear drives bees to avoid food sources closely associated with predators and, interestingly, makes colonies of bees less risk-tolerant than individual bees, according to a study published in this week’s issue of the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

‘Our Energy Future’ Lecture Series to Engage Community with UC San Diego Energy Research

Despite 50 years of recommendations from U.S. Presidents to end the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, energy policy in the United States remains focused on keeping the price of gasoline cheap today, rather than creating a plan for sustainable energy production. This political stagnation is becoming all the more consequential as our energy use and production continue to detrimentally affect our economy, food supplies, national security and climate.