Research News

If underrepresented groups make up 30% of the increasingly diverse U.S. population, why do they represent less than 5% of the faculty nationwide, less than 6% of postdoctoral scholars and only about 10% of Ph.D. students in key STEM fields — mathematical, physical and environmental sciences, and engineering?

How confident should you be in election polls? Not nearly as confident as the pollsters claim, according to a new Berkeley Haas study.

In a study published today in the journal Cell,  UC Berkeley Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology professor Anders Näär led a group of researchers from 12 institutions in the United States and Europe, to better understand a region on the second human chromosome previously linked to both the digestion of milk and metabolic disorders. They discovered that a microRNA, which are tiny snippets of non-coding RNA that prevent genes from making proteins, is associated with energy storage and metabolic diseases such as obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

The atmosphere on Jupiter’s moon Io is a witches’ brew, composed primarily of the sulfurous exhalations of more than 400 volcanoes that dot the surface.

How can the partisan divide be bridged when conservatives and liberals consume the same political content, yet interpret it through their own biased lens?

A new report from the California Policy Lab at UC Berkeley finds that a greater number of people booked into custody in California would be released before their arraignments if California voters approve Proposition 25 in November and bail reform is implemented state-wide.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology Carlos Bustamante has been awarded the 2021 Biophysical Society (BPS) Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics.

In a study published today in the journal Cell,  UC Berkeley Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology professor Anders Näär led a group of researchers from 12 institutions in the United States and Europe, to better understand a region on the second human chromosome previously linked to both the digestion of milk and metabolic disorders.

English has become the de facto language of science: International conferences are held in English, the world’s top scientific journals are in English and academics in non-English speaking countries get promoted based on their publications in English language journals. Even scientific jargon is in English — most non-English speakers use English terms and don’t bother inventing equivalent words in their native languages.

AI has helped “superstar” firms such as Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and UnitedHealth, get even bigger, according to a new paper co-authored by Berkeley Haas Assistant Professor Anastassia Fedyk.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new way to reinforce concrete with a polymer lattice, an advance that could rival other polymer-based enhancements and improve concrete’s ductility while reducing the material’s carbon emissions.

Generations of racism shaped the structures of the United States, working into the very DNA of our institutions and culture. Simply reforming the structures won’t do, a panel of experts said Friday, Oct. 9 at a UC Berkeley event. Instead, the experts urged, we must work to build a more just world. 

Air pollution has disproportionately hurt minority and low-income communities, leading to reduced life expectancy, research has found. Yet a lack of data has stymied efforts to quantify the problem—and its causes—nationwide.

Like many other labs, Graham Fleming’s group is focusing on interdisciplinary techniques to make new discoveries and explore the mysteries of fundamental processes. Chemistry graduate student Kaydren Orcutt highlights how researchers can combine physics and biology, generating single photons in a bid to unentangle the mysteries of photosynthesis.

In just two days, UC Berkeley is two Nobel Prizes richer. Today (Wednesday, Oct. 7), biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with her colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows scientists to rewrite DNA.

When UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna went to sleep last night, she didn’t give serious thought to her chance of winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Then, a phone call woke her up today, just before 3 a.m. It was a reporter, asking for a comment about winning the prize. Doudna said her initial response was, “Who won?”