Research News

Are depressed people simply more realistic in judging how much they control their lives, while others view the world through rose-colored lenses, living under the illusion that they have more control than they do?

In Berkeley Talks episode 152, UC Berkeley history professor Rebecca Herman discusses her new book, Cooperating with the Colossus: A Social and Political History of U.S. Military Bases in World War II Latin America. She’s joined by Margaret Chowning, professor and Sonne Chair in Latin American History at Berkeley, and Kyle Jackson, a Berkeley Ph.D. candidate in history and a transnational historian of the Americas.

Amid much speculation and research about how our genetics affect the way we age, a University of California, Berkeley, study now shows that individual differences in our DNA matter less as we get older and become prone to diseases of aging, such as diabetes and cancer.

On June 11, lightning struck a remote ridge in the Baboquivari Mountain range outside of Tucson, Arizona. Within days, the Contreras Fire had traveled eight miles and climbed Kitt Peak, a 6,800-foot mountain dotted with white telescope domes. Within one was the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), the heart of a next-generation sky survey that is creating the largest 3D map of the universe.

Oil and gas prices skyrocketed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022, creating a global energy crisis similar to the oil crisis of the 1970s. While some countries used the price shock to accelerate the transition to cleaner sources of energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, others have responded by expanding the production of fossil fuels.

A team led by researchers from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has now developed a method, using a solid-state “twisted” crystalline layered material, which gives rise to tiny light-emitting points called color centers. These color centers can be switched on and off with the simple application of an external voltage.

Coccidioidomycosis—also known as Valley fever—is an infectious disease that is taking an increasing toll on the health of Californians and people living throughout the Southwest. In a study published today in Lancet Planetary Health, researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered a pronounced role of California’s recent droughts in driving the transmission of the pathogen in the state.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have discovered a pronounced role of California’s recent droughts in driving the transmission of Valley fever in the state.

In 1971, graduate student Stuart Freedman and postdoctoral fellow John Clauser took over a room in the sub-basement of Birge Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, and built an experiment that would put to the test one of the most enduring weirdnesses of quantum mechanics, what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”

Andrew Reddie has launched the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL), thanks to a $1.8M grant from the Founders Pledge Fund

Addressing the toughest questions at the intersection of technology, politics, and security. How will emerging technologies shape the future of war and peace? How might a new era of strategic competition between superpowers complicate matters?

EECS Assistant Prof. Sophia Shao is among the 15 recipients of the Intel Rising Star Award this year. Awarded annually, the Intel Rising Star Award (RSA) program supports early-career faculty whose research is groundbreaking and demonstrates the potential to disrupt industries.

A new process developed at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory could change the way polyethylene plastics — in particular, the ubiquitous plastic bag that blights the landscape — are notoriously recycled.

A new study—led by UC Berkeley School of Public Health postdoctoral researcher Heather K. Amato and co-authored by Environmental Health Sciences Professor Jay Graham—found that increased access to public toilets reduced feces reports to the San Francisco Department of Public Works, especially in neighborhoods with people experiencing homelessness (PEH).

The College of Chemistry is pleased to announce the scientific committee of the Alpine Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Solids has awarded Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ashok Ajoy the prestigious 2022 Caldarelli Prize in Magnetic Resonance.

A new UC Berkeley institute will bring together top machine learning and chemistry researchers to make this vision a reality, and a Bay Area foundation is providing a substantial gift to launch and enable this work at UC Berkeley over the next five years.