Sunday Reads: An ode to the vinyl evangelists

Wallace Baine: Let us now praise the record store

A stack of vinyls at Streetlight Records

Vinyl vitality: Amid sweeping market changes and technological turmoil, the neighborhood record store improbably finds a way to survive. Wallace Baine takes inventory of the quintessential music establishment’s comings and goings.

UCSC astronomer Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is a star teacher and mentor

Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz

Interstellar instruction: Earlier this year, the White House honored UC Santa Cruz professor of astronomy Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz with a Presidential Award for his ground-breaking mentorship program that helps propel students — particularly women and marginalized groups — forward. With this momentum, the astronomer now aims to expand such impacts, founding a new campus center for STEM leadership. Hillary Ojeda has the story here.

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‘We’re really growing students’: Cabrillo horticulturist Heather Blume is in full bloom this season

Garden of giving: Cabrillo College horticulture center coordinator Heather Blume might be a well-known face at the Aptos Farmers Market, but her drive to create and maintain a space for horticulture students to hone their skills is what makes her stand out. Max Chun with the Q&A.

How UC Santa Cruz scientists bridged the gap in the human genome

DNA: An international team of scientists, co-led by UCSC Genomics Institute Associate Director Karen Miga, completed the first gap-free human genome sequence — an achievement experts weren’t expecting to happen this quickly. Her team’s work builds on the efforts of UCSC computer scientists who helped assemble the first working draft of a human genome with the international Human Genome Project in 2000. Hillary Ojeda has the details.