Journalism

Apr

2010

Mystery Object Defies Astronomical Classification

WIREDScience blog, April 7, 2010.

A mysterious object discovered near a brown dwarf doesn’t fit into any known astronomical category.

The newly discovered mystery companion forms a binary system with the brown dwarf, located 460 light-years away in the Taurus star-forming system. The object is too light to be another brown dwarf, but it’s too young to have formed by accretion, the way a typical planet does.

“Although this small companion appears to have a mass that is comparable to the mass of planets around stars, we don’t think it formed like a planet,” said astronomer Kevin Luhman of Penn State University, co-author of the study April 5 in The Astrophysical Journal. “This seems to indicate that there are two different ways for nature to make small companions.” Read More >

Apr

2010

Sequencing the Video Genome

WIREDScience blog. April 5, 2010.

THINK ORGANISMS ARE the only ones with genomes? Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology are sequencing the “video genome” to put an end to video piracy on the internet.

The technique works by detecting features that remain basically unchanged by typical color and resolution manipulations. Current methods rely on action recognition algorithms, which match video sequences by the movement they contain. Read More >

Mar

2010

Ethnomusicologist to lecture on Bhutan

Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 25, 2010.

Music is a mainstay of any culture. Santa Cruz”s own Music of Bhutan Research Center has made it its mission to document the traditional folk music of Bhutan.

Ethnomusicologist Janet Herman and photographer Jane Hancock, both of the center, will present a multi-media lecture on Bhutanese culture and music Sunday at the Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel. The presentation will include music clips, a short video and pictures from their excursions to Bhutan.

“Bhutanese traditional music is unique and beautiful,” Herman said. Read More >

Mar

2010

Walk to benefit Santa Cruz AIDS project set for April 10

Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 21, 2010.

SANTA CRUZ — Merle Smith is praying for a clear day on April 10.

That”s the date set for the 20th annual Santa Cruz AIDS walk. The 10K walk makes a loop from Santa Cruz wharf out to Natural Bridges state park and back. The walk normally raises about $30,000 in donation to support the work of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project.

“We are really hoping to do more this year,” said Smith, executive director of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, which hosts the event. “This money is desperately needed because of all the budget cuts.” Read more >

Feb

2010

UC Santa Cruz lecturer Tony Hoffman is helping Haiti’s displaced children during a five-week trip

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 28, 2010.

Tony Hoffman touched down in Haiti on Feb 16, four weeks after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated the nation.

“Haitians are resilient, hopeful, hard-working people,” Hoffman said over Skype Chat on Friday. “They are getting exhausted and worn out, but every day I see people working to care for themselves and their families, with no pay, little food, inadequate shelter and water.”

Hoffmann, a child psychologist and lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, is staying at a displacement camp called Terraine D’Acra, located on top of a garbage dump and complete with open sewage flows. Read more >

Feb

2010

$4 million grant funds projects monitoring marine protection areas

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 25th, 2010.

The Ocean Protection Council recently awarded $4 million, almost half of it going to a UC Santa Cruz- based consortium, to monitor north Central Coast marine protected areas.

The projects, which will continue for up to three years, will study the organisms inside and outside the protected areas to establish an integrated picture of marine ecosystems and human activities. The region being studied ranges from Alder Creek in Mendocino County to Pigeon Point in San Mateo County.

“I’m very excited about what the baseline project will deliver. It will be right on target with determining how these areas are performing,” said Cheri Recchia of the Ocean Protection Council. Read More >

Feb

2010

Sharp Solutions for Home Medicine has collected 15,000 pounds of medical waste since 2007

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 18, 2010.

WATSONVILLE — Those pills may dissolve when you flush them, but their chemicals ghost along in our water.

The medicines that help heal may wreak havoc on our ecosystem. Medicines tossed into the trash can leech into ground water and “sharps” — needles and lancets, anything designed to pierce the skin — can stick municipal waste workers, sometimes making them sick. Read More >

Feb

2010

Learn more about sharks and their relatives during “Shark Days” at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 17, 2010.

MONTEREY — “Shark Days” at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Saturday and Sunday aims to set your brain swimming with shark facts.

The celebration will include activities, videos and presentations about the aquarium”s seven sharks and their relatives, the rays and skates.

“We are hoping people will learn more about sharks, get closer to them and be inspired to want to help and conserve them,” said Jenny Slafkosky, an aquarium spokeswoman. Read more >

Feb

2010

UC Santa Cruz astronomy professor discusses the music he has created from stellar movements

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 11, 2010.

The silent sterility of space mutes even the most destructive astronomical events.

But Gregory Laughlin is translating — “sonifying” — stellar movements into sound, allowing the public to listen in on thousands of years of gravitational interplay between a star and its orbiting planets.

Laughlin, an astronomy professor at UC Santa Cruz, will be featured on KZSC”s “On What Grounds?” today to discuss his work and his upcoming lecture with composer Philip Glass on art and science, and to play some of the sounds he has created. Read More >

Feb

2010

The Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County held their Kick-off breakfast Wednesday, marking the start of fundraising season for the 30th annual Human Race, to be held on May 8.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 4, 2010.

APTOS — Attention Santa Cruz County nonprofits and volunteers: Start your donation-gathering engines.

The Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County kicked off the 30th annual Human Race fundraising drive during a breakfast event Wednesday.

The Human Race brings local nonprofits, schools and churches together to “get connected and have an easy way to fund raise,” said race coordinator Chris Braccini. The course runs about three miles along West Cliff Drive. Read More >