California State Sen. John Laird, reelected to a second term, faces a complex landscape as former President Donald Trump returns to office. Drawing on his past experiences resisting first-Trump-term environmental policies, Laird anticipates new challenges for California, from federal tensions over climate initiatives to potential impacts on immigration and education policy.
Lookout Q&A
Posted inEducation
She knits, she sails and she studies whales: UCSC graduate student Lauren Fritz wants to know how tourism affects humpback whales
UC Santa Cruz graduate student Lauren Fritz is worried about humans’ impact on humpback whales. She grew enchanted by the gentle giants after college while working on whale-watching boats, but began to wonder about how tourism vessels were affecting the whales’ lives. Now, she studies them in Monterey Bay, using drones and tissue samples to find out more about their lives, and in Antarctica, where she studies how tourist boats disturb the whales.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
What might ‘the Latino century’ mean to Santa Cruz and the country? A conversation with political strategist Mike Madrid
In “The Latino Century: How America’s Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy,” veteran Republican Mike Madrid likens the American political struggle as a footrace between an emerging and hopeful, largely Latino generation and an older, privileged, largely white generation with a bleak view of the future. The Lincoln Project co-founder will talk about it July 8 at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
Posted inEducation
Can the smell of fog help fight climate change? UCSC professor thinks we need art to get serious about climate change
Jennifer Parker writes research papers with algae. Yes, you read that right. The UC Santa Cruz professor of digital media (and her partners) consider algae a collaborator and teacher. But learning from nature is only one of her creative methods. Parker founded OpenLab at UCSC 10 years ago to inspire interdisciplinary collaboration, because, she believes, it will take both science and the senses to explain climate change to the public and inspire action to protect the planet. Scientists, she says, have been in charge for the past 100 years, “and it’s not working.”
Posted inEducation
Professor James Lindholm has found a way to get the public interested in marine science: He writes action thrillers
James Lindholm is a distinguished professor of marine biology at California State University Monterey Bay. But he is also the author of four books (so far) in the Chris Black adventure series, which take readers on a globe-trotting adventure across the world, from Carmel-by-the-Sea to South Africa, the Galapagos Islands and more, with science at the base. The idea, Lindholm tells Lookout, is to teach readers about science and to imagine a world where scientists don’t back down.
Posted inEducation
Drawing from our natural world: How curator Liz Broughton brings ‘Art of Nature’ exhibit to life
Liz Broughton has curated the “Art of Nature” exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for more than a decade and loves the way it brings the wonder of nature to life. The exhibit’s 60 objects are designed to see, touch and make visitors think about the natural world and how artists depict it. Broughton, who grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley, is the museum’s longest full-time employee; she has watched the museum change over the years and says it works to tell stories that are “relevant” to our community.
Posted inEducation
What can exoplanets teach us about love? Astrophysicist Melodie Kao on science and what it means to humans
Astrophysicist Melodie Kao had a rocky road to recognition. In 2016, while still a graduate student, she and her team discovered the first aurorae beyond our solar system, among other phenomena. No one believed her at first, but in today’s golden age of exoplanet research, the team’s finds have opened a new window into these faraway worlds. Kao has spent the past year at UC Santa Cruz as a postdoctoral fellow deepening her research, but now she is leaving for a new job. She talked to Lookout about the find, the ensuing controversy, and why science taught her how to love.
Posted inEducation
‘Oh my God, that’s a beautiful bone!’ What a rare sloth fossil tells us about ancient Santa Cruz County
Last spring, when local paleontologist Wayne Thompson received a photo of an object that looked like a bone from Tara Redwood School students and their families, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. The object, an ancient sloth fossil, is making history.
Posted inEducation
Ron DeSantis or ChatGPT? When is it cheating? UCSC chancellor on artificial intelligence in education
The emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI applications has marked an inflection point in education, technology and beyond. UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive sat down with local tech heavy hitter Guy Kawasaki for an insightful conversation about education in this new era, what Larive considers cheating and the role of a teacher in a world when knowledge sits at the tip of our keyboard.
Posted inBusiness & Technology
$65M in storm-related losses just one of many challenges ag chief sees for Santa Cruz County farmers
“It’s been a tough year,” David Sanford says of 2023 for Santa Cruz County farmers and farmworkers. Sanford, who took over as county agricultural commissioner earlier this from Juan Hidalgo, talks about how local growers are tackling the variety of issues stemming from climate change, the effects of inflation and more in a Q&A with Jessica M. Pasko.