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Teeter totters as activism: How the border wall became a playground

When UC Berkeley architect Ronald Rael took his bright pink teeter totters to the U.S.-Mexico border wall, he didn’t know what he and his team did next would go viral. He just wanted to create a moment where people on both sides of the wall felt connected to each other. “Women and children completely disempowered this wall for a moment, for 40 minutes,” says Rael. “There was a kind of sanctuary hovering over this event.”

Hindu and Muslim children show unexpected religious tolerance

In a region of India with a long history of tension between Hindus and Muslims, children of different faiths are showing unexpected tolerance for one another’s religious beliefs and customs.

History professor’s ‘Work of the Dead’ wins 2018 Shannon Prize

“The Work of the Dead,” a book by history professor Thomas W. Laqueur, was selected to receive the 2018 Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.

Buddhist monk standing in the middle of a corridor lit with candles

Berkeley part of new international Buddhist Studies network

Center for Buddhist Studies is part of a new international network of universities that is receiving $4.9 million to advance the study of Buddhism and East Asian cultures.

Neha Zahid, left, at a dental health intervention in Nepal.

A research experience to smile about

Neha Zahid came to Puranchaur and Hansapur in the winter of 2016 with Karen Sokal-Gutierrez in collaboration with a local Nepali non-profit organization, Jevaia Oral Health Care, to teach proper nutrition and oral hygiene.

Team members Ramah Award, Jerry Philip and Sarrah Nomanbhoy at the Ritsona Refugee camp on mainland Greece

On the ground in Greece, students test tech to help refugees

In a sweltering a refugee camp on the Greek mainland, Berkeley Haas MBA student Sarrah Nomanbhoy listened closely as a mother and her teenage son told their story.

European Patent Office to grant UC a broad patent on CRISPR-Cas9

The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced its intention to grant a broad patent for the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.

Renewable energy has robust future in much of Africa

As Africa gears up for a tripling of electricity demand by 2030, a new Berkeley study maps out a viable strategy for developing wind and solar power while simultaneously reducing the continent’s reliance on fossil fuels and lowering power plant construction costs.

Researchers unveil new initiative on human migration

UC Berkeley researchers today announced the launch of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, a joint project of faculty, researchers and students that will explore such timely issues as refugee crises, human rights, mmigration, nativism and border control concerns.

Berkeley SETI turns Australian telescope on nearest exoplanet to Earth

Breakthrough Listen, the UC Berkeley-led 10-year, $100 million search for intelligent life beyond Earth, inaugurated its observations with the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia.

To improve Beijing’s air quality, cut household fuel use too

China’s plans to curb Beijing’s health-damaging air pollution by focusing on restricting emissions from power plants and vehicles may have limited impact if household use of coal and other dirty fuels is not also curtailed, according to a new study.

Taiwan’s Tang Prizes awarded to Doudna, Rosenfeld

Taiwan’s top science award, the Tang Prize, has gone to two UC Berkeley scientists well-known in the fields of biochemistry and physics: Jennifer Doudna, for her invention of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and Arthur Rosenfeld, often called the “godfather of energy efficiency.”

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