Scientists are bringing the search for life beyond the bounds of
our blue, green planet right into UCLA’s backyard today.
Schoenberg Music Hall will resonate with the voices of
inquisitive community members as UCLA welcomes scientists from all
over the country for the 16th annual Center for the Study of
Evolution and the Origin of Life Symposium.

When Einstein introduced special relativity in 1905, physics did
a summersault.
But his revolutionary theory also changed the way philosophers
since then have looked at some of the tensions raised by science,
said Christopher Smeenk, an assistant professor of philosophy at
UCLA whose specialty is the history and philosophy of science.

Invisible, foreign and reclusive, the dark matter that courses
quietly through the universe may finally be within grasp. With the
construction of a new detector for dark matter, UCLA scientists and
their international collaborators are participating in the
beginnings of a potential revolution in physics.

Sprawled beneath a pale orange sky, the foreign wind rustling
its recently discharged parachute, a solitary probe sent its first
signal to expectant earthlings nearly a billion miles away.

Twenty-six thousand light years away, at the center of our
galaxy, a band of renegade black holes is congregating like a horde
of bandits, flinging the hapless stars that cross its path into
space, sending some directly into the maw of the massive black hole
in the middle of the Milky Way, and possibly shaking the fabric of
space-time itself.

The deadly wall of water that devastated the coastal communities
of nearly a dozen countries in South Asia on Dec. 26 was the
ocean’s natural response to the massive underwater
earthquake, UCLA geophysicists say.

Three UCLA professors are leading the way to the development of
a new space observatory that will fly around the country in the
belly of a modified Boeing 747 airplane.

UCLA students are preparing for a week of activities centered
around educating the community about the dangers of premature
births. They hope to teach others on campus about the risks and
issues concerning babies born early.

A solitary spacecraft 750 miles away orbits Saturn, gathering
information about the giant planet’s moons, rings, atmosphere
and magnetic field that may help scientists recreate the formation
of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.

Students, teachers and scientists rallied together Wednesday
night at a neighboring university to discuss the ways Americans
think about science and how they can help keep people and the
planet healthy.