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• Chewing gum has a mysterious effect on the brain
  In research on fidgeting, UC Santa Cruz Professor of Computational Media Katherine Isbister has found that people engage in fidgeting when they’re trying to pay attention to a task that’s taking a long time, or in a long meeting (even if at the annoyance of those around them).
• How a new system of drones and low-cost sensors can protect communities from air pollution
  A project led by Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics Javier Gonzalez-Rocha is using drone flights and new monitoring technologies to better understand when and where farmworkers are most severely exposed to air pollution.
• The Top 6 Biomedical Stories of 2025 
  IEEE Spectrum’s most popular biomedical stories of the past year centered both on incorporating new technologies and revamping old ones, featuring work from Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Katia Obraczka’s lab on using Wi-Fi to detect heartbeat.
• AI Wildfire Modeling Expands Beyond The West As Climate Risks Shift
  Fire Oracle, one of the projects developed at the Reboot the Earth hackathon hosted by the United Nations and the UC Santa Cruz Baskin School of Engineering, uses machine learning to accelerate prescribed burn planning.
• Our Brains May Have Pre-Configured Instructions to Understand the World When We’re Born
  Using lab-grown brain organoids, scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz led by Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Tal Sharf found that neurons begin firing in recognizable, information-like patterns long before any sensory system is active. Additional coverage in StudyFinds and The Debrief.
• Smart Bandage Uses Electricity and Drugs to Heal Wounds
  A multidisciplinary research team led by Marco Rolandi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, developed a smart bandage that could speed up wound healing by actively tracking and responding to the healing process.

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