Women in Science

The ocean plays a major role in regulating Earth’s temperature through exchange of chemicals and microbes with the atmosphere. When waves break, ocean-derived biological species including viruses and bacteria are transferred into the atmosphere. These species can ultimately form clouds, altering precipitation and climate. Highlights will be presented of novel experiments being conducted in a unique ocean-atmosphere simulator developed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE). Kimberly Prather, Professor of Climate, Atmospheric Science, and Physical Oceanography at UC San Diego will focus on recent CAICE studies aimed at advancing our understanding of how the oceans influence human and planetary health. New insights will be discussed as well as future studies designed to unravel human versus microbial impacts on the changing Earth’s system. Series: "Exploring Ethics" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 35000]

Biological anthropologist Katerina Semendeferi describes how the human brain's extraordinary powers of social cognition may predispose only humans to conditions like autism and how she aids the search for the neurophysiology underlying these conditions. Series: "Women in Science" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 34330]

Catherine Lucey, MD is Vice Dean for Education and Executive Vice Dean for the UCSF School of Medicine. In her education role, she directs the undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education programs of the School of Medicine. In her role as Executive Vice Dean, she serves on the executive management team for the Schools Differences Matters Initiative and oversees other strategic initiatives for the medical school and the campus. At UCSF, she led a major revamp of the medical school curriculum, placing more emphasis on the skills needed for 21st century physicians and lifelong learners. Series: "Women in Science" [Health and Medicine] [Business] [Education] [Show ID: 35444]

In 2017 alone, an estimated 674,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in the United States and over 1,000 of these children died from maltreatment. Mothers were the perpetrators in 69% of these cases. How does dysfunction in the maternal brain arise? Danielle Stolzenberg (UC Davis) describes new research that has shed some light on how the brain regulates maternal and neglectful responses to infants with a particular emphasis on how the brain might change as mothers transition between these two behavioral states. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 35289]

What defines consciousness? Can it develop in a petri dish? Patricia Churchland reviews the current state of brain organoid research and shares her views on how conciseness and physical structures within the brain intersect. She also cautions the media on the tendency to "over hype" new research advances. Series: "Women in Science" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 35247]

Metals are vital to life functions. We have iron zinc and copper in us – but in the ocean is different. We know that organism evolve against the chemical constraints of their environments and Allison Butler looks at what kind of metalloenzymes are present in marine organisms.

Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 35266]

There are only two Northern White Rhinos left on the planet. How can we reverse extinction to save them and use the lessons learned to help other endangered species? Marisa L. Korody, PhD of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research shares how scientists are using the latest in stem cell technology for a genetic rescue. Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 35227]

Jennifer Doudna, co-discoverer of CRISPR-Cas9 and winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, discusses how genome editing with CRISPR technology is transforming biology. CRISPR-Cas9, an RNA-guided enzyme with remarkable abilities to recognize and cleave DNA, operates by mechanisms that both explain its biological function and provide insights into technology development. Doudna covers research into this amazing family of proteins: where they came from, how they work and how CAS-9-based technologies are revolutionizing research, biomedicine and agriculture. Series: "Frontiers of Knowledge" [Science] [Show ID: 35215]

Increasingly, Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications require energy efficiency, low-latency, privacy and security of code and data, and programming support that simplifies IoT software development and deployment. UCSB Professor of Computer Science Chandra Krintz presents a new distributed software platform and programming model that addresses these requirements for the next generation of IoT applications. Her research lab (the UCSB RACELab) develops novel approaches to code portability for heterogenous devices and IoT tiers, energy efficiency for resource-constrained execution, privacy and security control, and integration of IoT services (e.g. data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.), and automated, multi-tier application deployment and management at scale — which together enable write-once, run-anywhere software development for IoT. Series: "Institute for Energy Efficiency" [Science] [Show ID: 35162]

Stochasticity (randomness) is ubiquitous in biological systems. Linda Petzold explores some of the ways in which it arises and is used to advantage by biological systems, at a wide range of scales. Petzold is a professor in the UCSB Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 35173]