UC Santa Barbara (Video)

Overcoming gridlock to achieve solutions to society’s pressing problems usually requires compromise but around a quarter of legislators reject compromise proposals if they perceive that their voters – especially their primary voters - are likely to punish them for compromising. But political scientist Sarah Anderson shows that only a small slice of primary voters who oppose a particular policy really do punish compromise. Solutions that insulate legislators from the small groups of legislators who punish for compromise may allow legislators to more easily support a beneficial compromise. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 33940]

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 in their susceptibility to cancer. Amy Boddy (UCSB Integrated Anthropological Sciences Unit) discusses how this variation in cancer susceptibility is characterized by life history trade-offs, as cancer defense mechanisms are a major component of a body's maintenance. She also looks at how understanding these trade-offs in the context of evolution may help explain the variability we see in cancer susceptibility across human populations. Series: "Women in Science" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 34028]

Communicating through the Internet is different than face-to-face interaction. No matter how familiar people are with email, chat, and the web, differences in the availability of nonverbal cues lead people to underestimate the interpersonal and emotional impact of online interaction. Joe Walther (UCSB Communication) explores the hyperpersonal model of communication and explains how people actually create more intense impressions and relationships as they influence each other online, often more positive than those occurring face-to-face. The results of studies from several online settings show how we and our communication partners sometimes unwittingly affect our perceptions of others and ourselves through computer-mediated interaction. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34027]

It has been a long-standing challenge to create new technologies that can match the perceptual and movement abilities of the human hand and its sense of touch in robots. Yon Visell describes the work in his lab on haptics, the science and engineering for the sense of touch, and explains how the results are guiding the development of new technologies for wearable computing, and robotics. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 33939]

Embryos are the most complex self-assembling machines known in the universe. Joel Rothman, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at UCSB, explores the instructions for self-assembly using a tiny animal -- the humble C. elegans worm. Find out what he has discovered and the research into life-support systems that may allow these creatures to become the first interstellar astronauts, departing the solar system at near-light speeds. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 33848]

With the vast amount of data available in digital form, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly. In this talk, William Wang (UCSB Computer Science) summarizes the stunning achievements of Artificial Intelligence for the past decade, especially in the subareas of Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Computer Vision. He also looks at big resarch challenges ahead. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 34034]

Polymers, known colloquially as plastics, abound in the world around us due to a host of useful properties. In this talk, Christopher Bates (UCSB Materials and Chemical Engineering Departments) discusses a fascinating subset of these materials known as block copolymers, which naturally self-assemble into intricate, nanometer-sized patterns. Bates' lab provides a look into the natural universe through the lens of chemistry and materials science. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 34029]

Bing Chen is a digital media pioneer and entrepreneur. As a founding architect behind YouTube's multi-billion dollar global digital creator and influencer ecosystem, he was responsible for numerous groundbreaking initiatives that engaged more than 500 million content creators worldwide. Here Chen shares his three rules of job networking. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Business] [Show ID: 34036]

Bing Chen is a digital media pioneer and entrepreneur. As a founding architect behind YouTube's multi-billion dollar global digital creator and influencer ecosystem, he was responsible for numerous groundbreaking initiatives that engaged more than 500 million content creators worldwide. Here Chen shares his three rules of job networking. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Show ID: 34036]

Abigail Pogrebin is the author of the recently published book, My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. Hear how she spent 12 months researching and observing every holiday in the Jewish calendar. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33750]