the UCTV BLOG

Category: Science

  • Evolution and Creationism as Science and Myth

    Myths symbolize ideas, values, history and other issues that are important to a people. They may be true or false, mundane or fantastic; their significance is their meaning, not their narrative content. Science is a way of knowing about the natural world. Its conclusions tentatively may be true or false, but its significance is its…

  • Bone-eaters, Green Bombers, Ruby Seadragons and More!

    The oceans are very big, very deep and their exploration continues to reveal strange new animals. Come along as Scripps Oceanography’s Greg Rouse reviews some of the more famous discoveries from the last century, and shares some recent amazing discoveries particularly focusing on California and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Find out about the bizarre bone-eating…

  • Cancer from an Evolutionary Perspective

    Humans have a relatively high risk of developing cancer in their lifetimes. But cancer is not unique to humans. Across the tree of life, we can trace cancer vulnerabilities back to the origins of multicellularity. Cancer is observed in almost all multicellular phyla, including lineages leading to plants, fungi, and animals. However, species vary remarkably…

  • Talking with Machines – Artificial Intelligence

    With the vast amount of data available in digital form, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly. If you’ve even been caught on a phone tree with a computer that doesn’t understand what you are saying, you’ll appreciate that scientists are trying to figure out how to teach machines to understand, to communicate…

  • Building Bridges Across Nations

    Have you ever wondered how Amazon knows what products might pair well with your most recent purchase? Or how Netflix knows what you should watch next? They use recommender systems. Two students from Mexican universities spent their summer learning all about these complex systems at UC San Diego. The students were part of the new…

  • Oddities: Scripps’ Fascinating Collection of Ocean Life

    From super vision and invisibility to protective armor and the ability to create electricity to zap prey, marine creatures do amazing things every day that stretch even the wildest imagination. Join the team from the world-renowned Scripps Oceanographic Collections, where millions of specimens allow scientists to understand some of the amazing adaptations marine creatures have…

  • Summer With CSE

    Sum-sum, sum-sum sum-sum summetime! It’s baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and…a bananiano?! Well, its UC San Diego’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, so you shouldn’t expect anything near ordinary! That’s Summer with UC San Diego CSE. From High School teachers going to summer school classes to learn coding, to hyperdimensional computing to building robots…

  • Imagination and Human Origins

    Try to remember the first time in your life when you imagined something. It may have been imagining what was behind the door or under the bed, or a fantastic universe of wonders and exciting adventure. As children, our imaginations are furtive and encouraged as ways in which we develop our cognitive capabilities. As we…

  • Beyond the Brink?

    Are we beyond the brink? With months of oppressive heat and unrelenting fires – the fingerprint – or perhaps the firm boot print – of climate change is planted on California as global warming marches on to change everything about the future. “Adequate water for food for the nation is a water security issue, and…

  • Adapting to Climate Change

    As humankind faces massive changes in weather patterns, sea level, ocean acidity, and oxygen levels, Scripps Oceanography has launched a new center focused on understanding and adapting to the impacts of climate change. Mark Merrifield, director of the new center explains how the members of this dynamic network will develop strategies for climate change adaptation.…