amgen foundation

A boat is arriving in Ventura Harbor, wrapping up a trip from the Channel Islands which was more than 20 million years in the making. As Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History geologist Jonathan Hoffman watches, a crane moves a 700 pound crate from the boat to a dock. Inside are some fossils which may be the oldest of their kind ever found on the West Coast, from what’s known as a Sea Cow.

A new national study involving a Central Coast university has helped develop an approach for pregnant women to control unhealthy weight gain.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo contributed to the study that found lifestyle changes can help pregnant women who are overweight or obese reduce excess weight gain.

South Coast scientists have figured out how to use DNA to find white sharks.

Kevin Lafferty, a UC Santa Barbara researcher and U.S. Geological Survey scientist, has been working with colleagues from across the country to determine how to locate white sharks by using what’s called environmental DNA. That’s genetic material from what animals leave behind.

An astronomer is coming to the South Coast this week to talk about her research into one of the most unusual stars ever discovered.

Dr. Tabetha Boyajian – a professor at Louisiana State University – has used Goleta-based Las Cumbres Observatory’s worldwide network of telescopes to lead research into a unique star nicknamed “Tabby’s Star.”

Research from a South Coast university finds that only a small percentage of the ocean is left relatively untouched.

UC Santa Barbara Marine Biology professor Ben Halpern was among scientists involved in an international study on just how much ocean can be classified as wilderness -- meaning that it has hardly been touched by human activity and remains pristine. The answer is only 13%.

A little girl uses a small knife to turn what was a cardboard box into a new creation.

In fact, there are about 20 first and second grade children at Santa Barbara’s Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation, better known as MOXI, giving new life to recycled cardboard.  They are having fun while learning about engineering at the same time.

In a giant tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, people are getting an eye to eye look at some giant fish. They are Giant Sea Bass. The endangered fish are the focus of a new research project involving the aquarium and UC Santa Barbara.

Empathy is an important part of nursing that’s difficult to teach. But now nursing students on the South Coast are using technology to learn how to empathize with their patients. Virtual reality is helping students step in their patients’ shoes.

Can you tell if someone is telling you a little fib, or a big lie? You might think you have the answer, but an expert on the subject says you probably are wrong. Norah Dunbar is a UC Santa Barbara communications professor who’s been studying deception detection for two decades. Dunbar is the author of a new study on the subject, which shows video games could be an important new training tool.

You may come across shells, rocks or even fossils on a nature walk without paying much attention to them. But, there’s a unique program on the South Coast that involves collecting these natural objects, learning more about them and trading them in for other items found in nature.

Children and adults alike are becoming citizen scientists at a museum in Santa Barbara.

A South Coast biotech foundation has donated millions of dollars to design an online biology tool to help aspiring scientists.

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Foundation awarded a $6.5 million grant to Harvard University to develop LabXchange. This interactive platform will provide high school and college students with exposure to the scientific process through virtual lab experiences.

Dozens of Ventura County middle and high school girls spent a large part of their weekend doing computer coding. 

The Ventura County Office of Education organized this Hackathon by the Sea that took place Friday evening and all day Saturday at its education center in Moorpark. It was geared towards getting girls excited about computer science.

Summer school is in session at a Ventura County school. But, what makes this class so unusual is that some teachers are the students, and some middle and high school students are the teachers. The students are showing a half dozen teachers how to use some custom made carts which are at the center of this unique educational effort.

South and Central Coast researchers say they created a model that they hope develops the ocean in a sustainable way. 

Several industries utilize the ocean, such as fisheries, offshore wind farms and aquaculture, which is the farming of seafood.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo biology professor Crow White worked with UC Santa Barbara researchers to develop a model so that these different marine industries can most effectively and sustainably use the ocean.

A South Coast scientist is among an international group of researchers that discovered the farthest star ever seen. 

Dr. Curtis McCully, an astrophysicist at Las Cumbres Observatory in Goleta, played a part in the discovery of an enormous blue star nicknamed Icarus that’s located nine billion lightyears away.