UC Santa Cruz

Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97 A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful.

We are saddened to hear about the passing of Tom Lehrer, who, in addition to being “the most brilliant song satirist ever recorded," was a member of our mathematics faculty for 29 years. His classes were cherished, and, of course, often musical. He will be missed deeply. bit.ly/45eABt9

Two male elephant seals face each other in a display of dominance, with chests puffed and their large noses in the air. Female seals and their pups lie around the bull on the left.

🦭🧬 After nearly going extinct, northern elephant seals bounced back, but lost almost all genetic variation.

Now, thanks to a new tool out of @ucsantacruz.bsky.social, we can trace family lines for species with low genetic diversity and improve conservation strategies.

📄: doi.org/10.1111/acv....

🥼 🩺 BIG news Slugs! We're teaming up with UC Davis to launch a brand-new medical education program on the Central Coast called PRIME Central Coast, a program that will train future doctors in the region, for the region.

Just over here continuing to grow our health pipeline!

bit.ly/4eS3sb0

YES CHEF! Congrats to UC Santa Cruz alumna Emily Brubaker, who won the first season of ‘Yes, Chef!’ against 11 other professional chefs! The series was co-hosted and judged by Martha Stewart and José Andrés.

In addition to bragging rights, Brubaker walks off set with $250k.

bit.ly/3GgU83L

Which path did you take at UC Santa Cruz?

Happy 25th to the UCSC Genome Project! 🧬 🧬🧬

A jellyfish with 28 eyes? 👀 UCSC scientists sequenced the genome of Bougainvillia cf. muscus, revealing how jellyfish evolved vision independently, possibly multiple times, and providing new insights into sight and regeneration. bit.ly/3GhzH6L

#science #genomics #genome #STEM #academia

YouTube video by UC Santa Cruz Social Documentation at UC Santa Cruz

New Soc Doc Lab! New Soc Doc Lab! New Soc Doc Lab!

UC Santa Cruz’s Film and Digital Media Department has opened a state-of-the-art lab at the Westside Research Park to support graduate students in socially engaged media production.

Watch more: youtu.be/w14nE_5JXCk?...

Read more: bit.ly/4e8eJnf

AI is good at weather forecasting. Can it predict freak weather events? New study tests neural networks’ ability to handle ‘gray swan’ events.

🤖🌪️ AI is great at predicting everyday weather—but what about extreme, rare events like Cat 5 hurricanes? A new UCSC study explores how adding physics to AI models could help forecast these climate wildcards. 🌍⚡️

Read more: bit.ly/4kErF6m

#science 🌍 #academia #stem #weather #climatechange

Molecular observations by UC Santa Cruz scientists demystify parasitic mind control Using brain mapping, genetic engineering and machine learning, scientists reveal how parasitic bacteria take over fruit fly brains.

UCSC scientists have discovered a parasite that hacks into the brains of fruit flies, turning them into flirtatious zombies to boost its reproductive success. Mind-control is real—and it’s happening in bugs. 🧠💘🦟

Someone tell Pedro Pascal it's not just the cordyceps! bit.ly/3YLsx0G

#science

Stories in the sky: UCSC student connects cultural tradition through the stars UCSC student Piramon Kumnurdmanee amplifies inclusivity in astronomy, showcasing indigenous stories and practices on her self produced website, Culture in the Cosmos.

🔭⭐💫 UCSC student Piramon Kumnurdmanee amplifies inclusivity in astronomy, showcasing indigenous stories and practices on her website, Culture in the Cosmos. She will graduate in June and has been accepted into Northwestern University’s Ph.D. program in astronomy. YAY!

bit.ly/3ZeLBEx

Science-ing on Science Hill! ⚗️🔭🥼🧪

#photography

Springtime at #BaskinEngineering 🌷😍

@ucsantacruz.bsky.social

Acclaimed evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro elected to National Academy of Sciences The academy provides science, engineering, and health-policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

Three cheers to acclaimed paleo-biologist UC Santa Cruz professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Beth Shapiro for being elected as a National Academy of Sciences member! 🥳 bit.ly/3GFUGjr

@nationalacademies.org
#academicsky
#womeninstem

Research on dry-farmed tomatoes will better equip organic growers to adapt to climate change New research led by UC Santa Cruz will strengthen understanding of which traits set tomato plants up to be grown successfully without irrigation.

Tomato. Tomatoe. But how do we grow them in drier climate?UCSC researchers are evaluating traits and environmental conditions associated with successful dry-farmed tomato production to better equip West Coast farmers to adapt to a changing climate. bit.ly/4iCUGhl

#climatechange 🌍 #academicsky

Representing @ucsantacruz.bsky.social, #GradSlam Jenna Myers will present on "A Sticky Situation: The Age-Related Influx of Clot-producing Platelets." Tune in to the livestream Tuesday, April 29 10:30am bit.ly/42Mn6j2

Kenny Farrell and the making of a 50-year-old UC Santa Cruz steel icon In 1974, Vietnam veteran and art student Kenny Farrell created a bold steel sculpture that became an enduring symbol of UC Santa Cruz. Fifty years later, his untitled structure still stands in the Por...

“This sculpture is my legacy. It will be on t-shirts and postcards long after I’m gone and will have countless nicknames I’ll never hear. It’s my hope that students continue to make it part of their experience.”

bit.ly/4lLB7pS

The 30 best nonfiction books of the last 30 years To celebrate the 30th edition of the L.A. Times Festival of Books, we asked authors, editors, critics and scholars to select the 30 best nonfiction books since the festival was inaugurated.

UC Santa Cruz alum William Finnegan's ‘Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life’ makes the list!

www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

A nice lil day at Porter College.

Academia 🤝 Industry

Advancing de-extinction efforts that aid in conserving endangered species, scientists at UCSC and Colossal Biosciences have achieved a groundbreaking milestone by using ancient dire wolf DNA to modify gray wolves genetically, resulting in the birth of pups. bit.ly/3Y1m69b

We've got Breakthrough Prize winners! Congrats to Rebecca Jensen-Clem who was among a unique, mass honoring of physicists who were presented with the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. bit.ly/4iiQ93G

#research #astronomy #breakthroughprize

Alumna Reyna Grande named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the 21st Century Grande’s memoir, 'A Dream Called Home', chronicles Grande’s journey to UC Santa Cruz and becoming a best-selling author

Did you go to school with UC Santa Cruz alumna Reyna Grande? If so, you can now say you've gone to school with the author of one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the 21st Century! bit.ly/4jmF6aB

#booksky 💙📚

An icon.

They could be twins. 👬

Where's our Slugs at?

UC Santa Cruz alumna Cassi Janakos (Porter ’11, economics) has been named to the prestigious Inc. 2025 Female Founders 500 list for leading workplace lactation solutions as Healthy Horizons COO. Congrats Cassi! bit.ly/4hLf5k1

🏈 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering undergrads (and siblings!) Guy and Roee Haiby, who scored an honorable mention for their project in the NFL Big Data Bowl—standing out among 7,000 teams! 🚀 After graduation, they will grow AI-powered startup Blitz! bit.ly/4hQ63Ch @ucsantacruz.bsky.social

You're looking at the largest 3D map of our universe ever made, which helped cosmologists, including those at UCSC, see that the universe might not be expanding the way we thought.

And that changes everything. 🚀🔭

Read more: bit.ly/41LZdI5

#academicsky #astronomy

Hear from Jennifer Finney Boylan - celebrated trans author and advocate - as she visits UC Santa Cruz as a scholar in residence for the Humanities Institute at UCSC during a fraught time for both trans rights and the humanities. bit.ly/41xi3lZ

@jennyboylan.bsky.social

Pi Day! How many digits of Pi can you recall? 3.14.....