The term ‘selfie’ took on a life of its own in 2013, especially after the Oxford English Dictionary selected it as the ‘international word of the year’. The Internet and mobile phones were awash in self-portraits as consumers purchased more smartphones with front-facing cameras – turning the selfie into a truly worldwide phenomenon. Now, the … Read more
In the first global snapshot of its kind, a team of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography has shown how overfishing has impacted seaweed-eating fish that are vital to coral reef health. Study leader Jennifer Smith says there are many species of fish and invertebrates that act as lawnmowers in these fragile ecosystems. If you take away … Read more
Spoilers give away endings before stories begin and the conventional wisdom is that they diminish suspense and ruin a story, but here’s the twist… Research by UC San Diego psychologists find that spoilers make reading stories more enjoyable (Story spoilers don’t spoil stories). How they tested it: Participants in the study were given a series … Read more
“Men don’t think they do it, but they do,” explains Amanda Ritchart, a linguistics grad student at UCSD. ‘It’ is uptalk, the oft-mocked conversational style that uses a rising pitch at the end of utterances. Here’s a classic example: A coffee shop barista asks a person for his or her name. The person says their name … Read more
LEGO CUUSO, a website where you can vote on user submitted LEGO ideas, recently featured UC San Diego alum Stephen Pakbaz’s Mars Curiosity Rover model. Pakbaz actually worked at NASA as a mechanical engineer on the actual rover project. Read more about him here →