Research News

A new analysis by researchers at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health shows that Black youth in California experience disproportionate injuries at the hands of law enforcement, with Black boys and Black girls aged 10-14 injured at 5.3 and 6.7 times the rate for White boys and White girls, respectively, in the same age group.

The amount of air pollution in a community depends greatly on its proximity to emission sources, such as automobiles, factories and power plants. Now, a group of researchers — led by Joshua Apte, UC Berkeley assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and in the School of Public Health — has shown that levels of air pollution vary not only by region, such as between urban and rural areas, but by city block.

A gecko’s tail is a wondrous and versatile thing.

Researchers at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve east of San Jose, and Sedgwick Reserve in the Santa Ynez Valley, are using science to evaluate how best to remove fire fuels from the land. What they find promises to make the foothills both safer for people and improve conditions for native wildlife.

If you’re agonizing over the long hours tweens and teens spend scrolling through and posting to Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media sharing and messaging platforms, new UC Berkeley research has some enlightening news to share.

Wearing face masks, particularly surgical masks, is truly effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in community settings, finds a new study led by researchers from Yale University, Stanford Medical School, the University of California, Berkeley, and the nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).

Jessica Cabrera knows the recipe for homemade window cleaner by heart — and is more than happy to share it. “All you have to do is mix vinegar, water and dish soap, and there you have it,” Cabrera said. Cabrera, who grew up in California’s Salinas Valley, just started her first year as an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. And while it may seem unusual for a new college student to have a passion for window cleaner, Cabrera has good reason for knowing the ins and outs of DIY cleaning products.

In a new study, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, used data from 1,400 indoor air sensors and even more outdoor air sensors included on the crowdsourced PurpleAir network to find out how well residents of the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas were able to protect the air inside their homes on days when the air outside was hazardous.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) will be home to a cutting-edge quantum network testbed, thanks to a new five-year, $12.5 million funding award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Led by personnel from Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Networking Division/ESnet, UC Berkeley, and Caltech, the R&D collaboration will also leverage quantum development efforts at Berkeley Lab and beyond.

UC Berkeley’s Ting Xu and her students have come up with one solution for the global problem of single-use plastics: embed enzymes in the plastic, so that once the bag or cup is no longer wanted, it will self-destruct with a little heat and water.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has appointed University of California, Berkeley, scientist Patrick Gonzalez as assistant director for climate and biodiversity. The OSTP advises the president, vice president and the executive office on the science needed to develop and implement national policies.

Smartphones, laptops, and lighting applications rely on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to shine bright. But the brighter these LED technologies shine, the more inefficient they become, releasing more energy as heat instead of light. Now, as reported in the journal Science, a team led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley has demonstrated an approach for achieving near 100% light-emission efficiency at all brightness levels.

The sugar-making process developed by Cestellos-Blanco and his UC Berkeley team, led by chemist and professor Peidong Yang, shared the top prize — $650,000 — with two other teams competing in the CO2 Conversion Challenge.

An interplanetary mission led by the University of California, Berkeley, to put two satellites — dubbed “Blue” and “Gold” — into orbit around Mars has been officially authorized to prepare for launch in October 2024.

Scientists have taken the clearest picture yet of electronic particles that make up a mysterious magnetic state called a quantum spin liquid (QSL). The achievement could facilitate the development of superfast quantum computers and energy-efficient superconductors.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, it has been a banner year for University of California, Berkeley, research. The campus’s budget for sponsored projects rose by 30% in the fiscal year ending June 30 — an increase of $240 million from the previous year. This was due primarily to a nearly 50% increase in funding from the federal government and robust growth in support from private foundations.