Research News

Patients with dementia may actually die sooner if their family caregivers are mentally stressed, according to a new UC Berkeley study.

Although hydrologists say California has emerged from its most recent drought, how cities get their water is weighing on the state’s experts — now more than ever.

Did our sun have a twin when it was born 4.5 billion years ago? Almost certainly yes — though not an identical twin.

It may be law, but that doesn’t mean Californians have to like recent legislation authorizing higher gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees. And they don’t.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have found unexpected effects of viral infections, a discovery that may explain why viruses can make people feel so lousy.

UC Berkeley study of mice reveals, for the first time, how puberty hormones might impede some aspects of flexible youthful learning.

Preschools that strongly promote academics boost the early literacy and math skills of children from middle-class families, according to a nationwide study released today by researchers at the UC Berkeley.

Grabbing the awkwardly shaped items that people pick up in their day-to-day lives is a slippery task for robots. Roboticists at UC Berkeley have a built a robot that can pick up and move unfamiliar, real-world objects with a 99 percent success rate.

It’s true—some rocks can float on water for years at a time. And now scientists know how they do it, and what causes them to eventually sink.

Humans are not the only species to show a strong work ethic and scruples. UC Berkeley researchers have found evidence of conscientiousness in insects, reptiles, birds, fish and other critters.

Two chemicals found in anti-fertility folk medicines block a key step in fertilization – the meeting of egg and sperm – and may make effective alternatives to today’s hormone-based contraceptives, which sometimes cause side effects.

UC Berkeley professor Mary Firestone is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Taking advantage of a rare orbital alignment between two of Jupiter’s moons, Io and Europa, researchers have obtained an exceptionally detailed map of the largest lava lake on Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

Signatures Fellow Lisa Garcia Bedolla works to help more people join in the political process, locally and nationally.

The six-episode series Climate Lab explores global climate change and UC’s groundbreaking work to mitigate its effects.

Imagine a future in which every home has an appliance that pulls all the water the household needs out of the air, even in dry or desert climates, using only the power of the sun.