Harrison Tasoff

1 week ago | news.ucsb.edu | Harrison Tasoff

May 8, 2025 Nicknamed the “king of the kelp forest,” giant sea bass are among scuba divers’ favorite characters to spot off the California Coast. But very few of these charismatic fish remain. A team led by researchers at UC Santa Barbara has conducted the first direct population estimate of this critically endangered species in Southern California.

1 week ago | independent.com | Harrison Tasoff

This article was originally published in UCSB’s ‘The Current‘. The schoolyard is hot today. The forecast called for sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s, but no breeze blows on the playground as the blacktop cooks under the So Cal sun. It’s no secret that California is getting hotter on average, but scientists, educators and policymakers still don’t fully understand how that trend will affect school children.

1 week ago | news.ucsb.edu | Harrison Tasoff

The schoolyard is hot today. The forecast called for sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s, but no breeze blows on the playground as the blacktop cooks under the So Cal sun. It’s no secret that California is getting hotter on average, but scientists, educators and policymakers still don't fully understand how that trend will affect school children. And heat literacy — an understanding of heat, heat effects and heat effects mitigation — varies widely among teachers, parents and kids.

2 weeks ago | news.ucsb.edu | Harrison Tasoff

The natural world is currently experiencing many changes that threaten critical species and natural resources. Recognizing and understanding the often intertwined causes of these changes is tricky, and precisely the focus of Joan Dudney’s research.

1 month ago | phys.org | Harrison Tasoff

While it may be an unfamiliar sensation to humans, electroreception is relatively commonplace in the animal kingdom. Sharks, bees and even the platypus all share this ability to detect electric fields in their environment. Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have just added fruit flies to that list.