News | Research UC Berkeley

A grey-colored sits on an illustration of a brain

Wireless ‘pacemaker for the brain’ could be new standard treatment for neurological disorders

A new neurostimulator developed by engineers at UC Berkeley can listen to and stimulate electric current in the brain at the same time, potentially delivering fine-tuned treatments to patients with diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s. The device, named the WAND, works like a “pacemaker for the brain,” monitoring the brain’s electrical activity and delivering electrical stimulation if it detects something amiss.

Advancement of artificial intelligence opens health data privacy to attack

Advances in artificial intelligence have created new threats to the privacy of health data. A new UC Berkeley study suggests current laws and regulations are nowhere near sufficient to keep an individual’s health status private in the face of AI development.

Evidence supporting EPA’s obligation to regulate greenhouse gases stronger than ever

Sixteen prominent climate scientists argue that there is more reason than ever for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases, at the same time some politicians are pushing the EPA to reverse its 2009 decision to do so.

An illustration shows hydrogen gas bubbling off of a sheet of metal carbide

Researchers use jiggly Jell-O to make powerful new hydrogen fuel catalyst

A cheap and effective new catalyst developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, can generate hydrogen fuel from water just as efficiently as platinum, currently the best — but also most expensive — water-splitting catalyst out there.

Amanda Goldstein’s fascination with William Blake leads to MLA book award

Just when William Blake was out of Amanda Goldstein’s life, he came stomping back in a most unexpected way.The book the Berkeley associate professor had written about the melding of poetry and science centuries past, Sweet Science: Romantic Materialism and the New Logics of Life, had been out of her mind for the better part of a year. Then, not long ago came an email telling her that she’d won the Modern Language Association’s 25th annual Prize for a First Book.

Connie Chang-Hasnain named National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Electrical engineering and computer sciences professor Connie Chang-Hasnain has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), an organization that champions the societal benefits of university research.

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Social interactions among gut microbes shape our lives

When it comes to the gut, it’s not which microbes you have but how they interact that appears to affect health. This insight comes from a recent study of fruit fly gut microbes that explored the puzzling results of a UC Berkeley study from 91 years ago.

Dopamine’s yin-yang personality: It’s an upper and a downer

For decades, psychologists have viewed the neurotransmitter dopamine as a double-edged sword: released in the brain as a reward to train us to seek out pleasurable experiences, but also a “drug” the constant pursuit of which leads to addiction.

Acrobatic geckos can even race on water’s surface

Geckos are renowned for their acrobatic feats on land and in the air, but a new discovery that they can also run on water puts them in the superhero category, says a University of California, Berkeley, biologist.

Hang in there. As couples age, humor replaces bickering

Honeymoon long over? Hang in there. A new UC Berkeley study shows those prickly disagreements that can mark the early and middle years of marriage mellow with age as conflicts give way to humor and acceptance.

shopping cart view of product aisle in store

Prenatal exposure to chemicals in personal care products may speed puberty in girls

Girls exposed to chemicals commonly found in toothpaste, makeup, soap and other personal care products before birth may hit puberty earlier, according to a new longitudinal study led by researchers at UC Berkeley.

New quantum materials could take computers beyond the semiconductor era

Researchers from Intel Corp. and UC Berkeley are looking beyond current transistor technology and preparing the way for a new type of memory and logic circuit that could someday be in every computer on the planet.

Fire + water: Restoring natural fire to California’s mountains

Frequent, moderate-intensity burns in California forests don’t just reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. They also serve an ecological role by promoting biodiversity and the regeneration of fire-adapted native plants.

Side-by-side portraits of Allen Goldstein, Sung-Huo Kim and Katherin Yelick

Three faculty members elected AAAS fellows

Three senior UC Berkeley faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nation’s largest scientific organization: Allen Goldstein, Sung-Hou Kim and Katherine Yelick.

Study: State healthcare gains will fade without increased effort

Roughly 12 percent of Californians could be without health insurance by 2020 if California fails to enact a new state healthcare mandate, expand coverage to low-income Californians or use government money to make healthcare more affordable.

What magnetic fields can tell us about life on other planets

Every school kid knows that Earth has a magnetic field – it’s what makes compasses align north-south and lets us navigate the oceans. It also protects the atmosphere, and thus life, from the sun’s powerful wind. But what about other Earth-like planets in the galaxy? Do they also have magnetic fields to protect emerging life? A new analysis say they do have a magnetic field, but one generated in a totally novel way.

image of boy standing on diameter of large clock from Hugo movie

To predict the future, the brain has two clocks

That moment when you step on the gas pedal a split second before the light changes, or when you tap your toes even before the first piano note of Camila Cabello’s “Havana” is struck. That’s anticipatory timing. New research shows the neural networks supporting each of these timekeepers are split between two different parts of the brain.

flowery fields in the Mt. Hamilton range

As Climate and Land-Use Change Accelerate, so Must Efforts to Preserve State’s Plants

As the IPCC warns that we have only 12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half or risk significantly greater impacts from climate change, UC Berkeley scientists are charting the best course to save California’s native plants from these human threats.

artist's concept of blue star before it exploded

Tracking down a star that disappeared 65 million years ago

Astronomers may finally have tracked down the type of star that explodes with a distinctive but unusual signature: They show no evidence of hydrogen and helium, by far the most abundant elements in the universe.

Freeze-frame microscopy captures molecule’s ‘lock-and-load’ on DNA

Pushing the limits of cryo-electron microscopy, University of California, Berkeley, scientists have captured freeze-frames of the changing shape of a huge molecule, one of the body’s key molecular machines, as it locks onto DNA and loads the machinery for reading the genetic code.

A 3D representation of a magnetic resonance imaging scan, showing areas in the front and rear of the brain lit up.

Playing high school football changes the teenage brain

A single season of high school football may be enough to cause microscopic changes in the structure of the brain, according to a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

a woman sits at a computer with the word mortgage on the screen

Mortgage algorithms perpetuate racial bias in lending, study finds

Both online and face-to-face mortgage lenders charge higher interest rates to black and Latino borrowers, costing those homebuyers up to half a billion dollars more in interest every year than white borrowers with comparable credit scores.

Rare fossil bird deepens mystery of avian extinctions

During the late Cretaceous period, more than 65 million years ago, hundreds of different species of birds flitted around the dinosaurs and through the forests as abundantly as they flit about our woods and fields today. But after the cataclysm that wiped out most of the dinosaurs, only one group of birds remained: the ancestors of the birds we see today. Why did only one family survive the mass extinction?

To get students on financial aid, tell them they belong in college

Telling low-income California high school students that they “belong” in college makes them more more likely to apply for the financial aid needed to attend college.

A thin, flexible electronic board, lit-up with red and infrared lights, and approximately three inches wide by three inches wide, is held above a person's forearm.

Skin-like sensor maps blood-oxygen levels anywhere in the body

A new flexible sensor developed by engineers at UC Berkeley can map blood-oxygen levels over large areas of skin, tissue and organs, potentially giving doctors a new way to monitor healing wounds in real time.

Chronically anxious? Deep sleep may take the edge off

Extreme angst is on the rise nationally and globally, especially among teens and millennials. Among other factors, preliminary findings from UC Berkeley sleep researchers point to a chronic lack of deep restorative sleep.

Holographic images are superimposed over an illustration of a car dashboard.

Turning cars into robot traffic managers

Self-driving cars may one day do more than just get us from point A to point B. By adjusting their speed and position while they merge they could also help reduce the bottlenecks and random slowdowns on busy thoroughfares like the Bay Bridge, getting us where we’re going faster and more efficiently than if we all drove ourselves.

Research initiative launched on health in working families

A new research hub based at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C., will explore the health effects of income and workplace policies.

Patent awarded for DNA-targeting complex at heart of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing

The University of California announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent Number 10,113,167, covering unique RNA guides that, when combined with the Cas9 protein, are effective at homing in on and editing genes.

Popular meal-kit companies may be creating low-wage, dead-end jobs, study finds

Meal kits make cooking easier for millions of busy families and time-starved professionals. But a new study suggests that the workers filling boxes with pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards are struggling with low wages, unaffordable benefits, unpredictable schedules, inconsistent wage increase policies, risk of injuries and recurrent problems with timely payment.

Thermal ‘earmuffs’ protect cell phone batteries from extreme temperatures

New research may soon make it more practical to use battery-powered vehicles and devices in extreme temperatures.

A close-up view of a shiny etched silicon wafer

Berkeley computer theorists show path to verifying that quantum beats classical

As multiple research groups around the world race to build a scalable quantum computer questions remain about how the achievement of quantum supremacy will be verified.

CRISPR opens door to new type of medicine: ‘genome surgery’

UC San Francisco doctors working closely with UC Berkeley scientists plan to edit genomes to correct rare genetic mutations and slow or halt progression of their diseases. Within a few years we may see the first patients benefiting from CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.

Lion conservation efforts severely underfunded, study shows

Lion conservation is at a tipping point. After dropping 43 percent over the past two decades – to about 20,000 – the populations of these big cats are in decline, but could still bounce back with proper protections.

New Packard Fellow leverages time crystals to improve quantum measurement

Two years ago, Norman Yao made a big splash by showing physicists how to create a unique material — a time crystal — that reimagines the idea of flashy diamonds and emeralds. That breakthrough helped Yao garner a fellowship from the Packard Foundation.

Smallest life forms have smallest working CRISPR system

An ancient group of microbes that contains some of the smallest life forms on Earth also has the smallest CRISPR gene-editing machinery discovered to date.

A photo of a hillside vineyard that combines vines, crops and orchards.

Bring the wild back into farmlands to protect diversity, researchers say

Retaining a bit of the wild in our working lands – including farmland, rangeland and forests – may be key to preserving biodiversity in the face of climate change.

American Cancer Society honoree, Jennifer Doudna

Doudna receives Medal of Honor from American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society will bestow its highest honor, the Medal of Honor, on Jennifer Doudna and four others. The medal is awarded to distinguished individuals who have made valuable contributions in the fight against cancer through basic research, clinical research and cancer control.

Video of eye moving while solving a logical reasoning problem.

To track how students ace the LSAT, watch their eyes

Previous research has found that training for law school admission exams boosted brain connections that sharpen reasoning skills. Today, they’ve taken a major step closer to understanding how practicing the LSAT makes students smarter. They’re watching their eyes.

National Academy of Medicine elects three faculty members to its ranks

Hector Rodriguez, John Kuriyan and Barbara Meyer are newly elected members of the National Academy of Medicine.

Solar power could electrify sub-Saharan Africa

Solar energy could be the key to providing low-cost, highly reliable energy to the roughly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who currently live without power.

New test rapidly identifies antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’

The technique could help doctors prescribe the right antibiotics fast.

Randy Katz: The 2018 Nobel Prizes and use-inspired research

Vice Chancellor Randy Katz writes about the 2018 recipients of the Nobel Prize with deep roots to UC Berkeley. Jim Allison, honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, performed his award-winning research as director of Berkeley’s Cancer Research Laboratory. Frances Arnold, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, conducted her doctoral work here under the guidance of Professor Emeritus Harvey Blanch. And Paul Romer, a professor at Berkeley in the 1990s, won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Xu, Titov receive million-dollar New Innovator awards

Two young faculty members — assistant professors Ke Xu of chemistry and Denis Titov of molecular and cell biology — were among 89 recipients of “high-risk, high-reward” grants announced last week by the National Institutes of Health.

Earthquake early warning milestone: ShakeAlert rolled out to entire Bay Area

UC Berkeley partners with ShakeAlert, the United States Geological Survey Earthquake Early Warning System to run first test drill on BART trains.

Clean Water Act dramatically cut pollution in U.S. waterways

The 1972 Clean Water Act has driven significant improvements in U.S. water quality, according to the first comprehensive study of water pollution over the past several decades, by researchers at UC Berkeley and Iowa State University.

Harvesting solar fuels through a bacterium’s unusual appetite for gold

When fed gold nanoclusters, the bacterium Moorella thermoacetica is transformed into a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system that converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into useful chemicals for solar fuels.

Two Berkeley alums win MacArthur ‘genius’ awards

The MacArthur Foundation yesterday unveiled the 25 newest stars in its constellation of “genius” award winners, and two — computer scientist Deborah Estrin and mathematician Allan Sly — have roots at UC Berkeley.

A black woman with her hands on her forehead

Racial discrimination linked to higher risk of chronic illness in African American women

Less-educated African American women who report experiencing high levels of racial discrimination may face greater risk of developing chronic diseases, says a new study by UC Berkeley researchers.

drawing blood from arm of pregnant woman

Tales from 141,430 and one genomes

Analysis of the world’s largest set of genome data from pregnant women, totaling 141,431 expectant mothers from across China, has uncovered unsuspected associations between genes and birth outcomes, including the birth of twins and a woman’s age at first pregnancy.

animated gif showing bursts change in brightness

Ghost objects in the sky

Astronomers typically study objects that are visible night after night or explode suddenly, like supernovas, but Casey Law is scouring vast amounts of data in search of bright objects that disappear, never to be seen again.

Chemistry Nobel goes to UC Berkeley Ph.D. Frances Arnold

When Frances Arnold first came to UC Berkeley as a graduate student in 1980, she was focused on biofuels — at that time a promising new technology and, for Arnold, a way to benefit humanity by weaning society off fossil fuels.

Study details how business districts target homeless people

The first major study of California’s Business Improvement Districts shows that they are increasingly targeting homeless people and excluding them from public spaces.

Black holes ruled out as universe’s missing dark matter

For one brief shining moment after the 2015 detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, astronomers held out hope that the universe’s mysterious dark matter might consist of a plenitude of black holes sprinkled throughout the universe.

UC Berkeley research led to Nobel Prize-winning immunotherapy

Immunologist James P. Allison today shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for groundbreaking work he conducted on cancer immunotherapy at UC Berkeley during his 20 years as director of the campus’s Cancer Research Laboratory.

‘Spacesuits’ protect microbes destined to live in space

Just as spacesuits help astronauts survive in inhospitable environments, newly developed “spacesuits” for bacteria allow them to survive in environments that would otherwise kill them.

CZ Biohub awards $13.7 million for new collaborative health research

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research organization, announced that it is awarding $13.7 million over three years to support cutting-edge biomedical research from seven teams of scientists, physicians and engineers, with faculty members from UC Berkeley, UCSF and Stanford.

New lab-campus partnership to harness power of ‘spooky action at a distance’

A new alliance between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley will seek to harness the power of quantum coherence, known popularly as “spooky action at a distance,” to develop a variety of exciting new technologies, from quantum computers to ultra-secure ways to transmit information.

Berkeley Lab to Build Advanced Quantum Computing Testbed

The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will receive $30 million over five years to build and operate an Advanced Quantum Testbed (AQT). Researchers will use the testbed to explore superconducting quantum processors and evaluate how these emerging quantum devices can be utilized to advance scientific research.

A photo of half-dome and a waterfall in Yosemite National Park

National parks bear the brunt of climate change

Human-caused climate change has exposed U.S. national parks to conditions hotter and drier than the rest of the nation, says a study that quantifies for the first time the magnitude of climate change on all 417 parks in the system.

ceo on phone and Union members demonstrating

Expanding CEO-to-worker pay gap bad for business

Companies whose CEOs earn hundreds of times their average employee’s pay are viewed as less desirable to work for, and to do business with, according to a new UC Berkeley study.

map of bay area showing where 1600 people moved

Rising housing costs are re-segregating the Bay Area, study shows

New reports from the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley and the California Housing Partnership confirm that rising housing costs between 2000 and 2015 have contributed to displacement of low-income people of color and resulted in new concentrations of poverty and racial segregation in the Bay Area.

Images of brain noting electrode location, rest activity, and regret encoding.

Regret is a gambler’s curse, scientists say

What goes through a gambler’s mind after she’s placed her bet? It’s not just the anticipation of a big payoff, or doubts about the wisdom of her bet. It’s also regret about previous bets, both won and lost.

Gut bacteria’s shocking secret: They produce electricity

While bacteria that produce electricity have been found in exotic environments like mines and the bottoms of lakes, scientists have missed a source closer to home: the human gut.

graphic of racially and ethnically diverse people

Stereotypes measurably influence how we treat each other

Our race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, socio-economic class and physical appearance can determine whether or not we get a break in life. But how big a role do social stereotypes really play when it comes to landing a job, loan, university spot or other opportunity?

a robot scanning radio data in search of interesting signals from space

AI helps track down mysterious cosmic radio bursts

Artificial intelligence is invading many fields, most recently astronomy and the search for intelligent life in the universe, or SETI.

Iron filings gather in a magnetic field pattern

Diamond dust enables low-cost, high-efficiency magnetic field detection

UC Berkeley engineers have created a device that dramatically reduces the energy needed to power magnetic field detectors, which could revolutionize how we measure the magnetic fields that flow through our electronics, our planet and even our bodies.

Enigmatic ‘lunar swirls’ linked to moon’s volcanic past

Lunar swirls, beautiful features of the moon that are found on no other body in the solar system, may be caused by the interaction some 3 billion years ago between erupting lava and the moon’s strong magnetic field.

Minimum wage hikes in six cities: big impact on pay, none on jobs

The first-ever evaluation of minimum wage increases in Chicago, the District of Columbia, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle reveals good news for some low-wage workers.

Blood tests reveal broad extent of Zika infection

A new study shows that nearly half of the population of Managua, Nicaragua, has been infected with the Zika virus. Previous infection with the Zika virus imparts immunity to the disease and can help quell future outbreaks.

Man holding sign reading "Global Warming is a Socialist Scam"

Why we stick to false beliefs: Feedback trumps hard evidence

New findings from researchers at UC Berkeley suggest that feedback, rather than hard evidence, boosts people’s sense of certainty when learning new things or trying to tell right from wrong.

Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants

UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.

Improving soil quality can slow global warming

Low-tech ways of improving soil quality on farms and rangelands worldwide could pull significant amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and slow the pace of climate change.

Looking for water in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Scientists have for the first time detected water clouds deep inside Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – a centuries-old storm larger than planet Earth – allowing them to put tighter limits on the total amount of water in the planet.

UC Berkeley Leads New Assessment of Bay Area Climate Impacts

California today issued its latest assessment of the many challenges the state faces from climate change — including wildfires like those still raging throughout the state – and highlighted for the first time the regional impacts with nine deep-dive reports spearheaded by University of California scientists.

Correctional officers at high risk for depression, PTSD, suicide, survey finds

A first-of-its kind report states that California’s correctional officers are regularly exposed to traumatic events that make them more likely to grapple with depression, PTSD and suicidal thoughts.

UC system reaching an existential ‘tipping point,’ new paper concludes

After years of sagging funding and rising enrollment, the University of California system is nearing a “tipping point” where it cannot continue to grow with California’s population and labor needs without seeking new revenues and state reinvestment.

Climate change has the Arctic seeing green

As temperatures in the Arctic rise in response to climate change, vegetation has invaded areas once too frigid to support plant life.

Ecological winners and losers of California’s drought

A long-term study led by UC Berkeley and the University of Washington tracked how hundreds of species in Carrizo Plain National Monument valley fared during the historic drought that struck California from 2012 to 2015. It shows surprising winners and losers, uncovering patterns that may be relevant for climate change.

pool of liquid hydrogen like that at the core of Jupiter

Zapping hydrogen gas with 168 lasers turns it into a metal

Bombarding hydrogen - to reproduce what happens to the gas under the intense pressures at the core of giant planets - turns it into a shiny metal.

infograph on 5 myths about California's low-wage workers

Interactive data explorer offers in-depth look at California’s low-wage workforce

UC Berkeley's Labor Center offers an in-depth look at the people who make up California’s low-wage workforce.

An engineer with Peanut Robotics works on a robotics arm inside UC Berkeley's SkyDeck startup incubator in Berkeley, Calif. Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. Photo: Jessica Christian, The Chronicle

UC Berkeley startup accelerator gets a boost from venture fund

SkyDeck, UC Berkeley's accelerator and incubator, is accelerating its own growth. A new venture fund enables SkyDeck to invest $100,000 in the companies in its accelerator, and its accepting a broader and more global range of entrepreneurs, tripling its adviser group and doubling its office size.

Poor sleep triggers viral loneliness and social rejection

Poor sleep can literally kill your social life. UC Berkeley researchers have found that sleep-deprived people feel lonelier and less inclined to engage with others, avoiding close contact in much the same way as people with social anxiety.

Long-sought carbon structure joins graphene, fullerene family

he discovery of buckyballs surprised and delighted chemists in the 1980s, nanotubes jazzed physicists in the 1990s, and graphene charged up materials scientists in the 2000s, but one nanoscale carbon structure – a negatively curved surface called a schwarzite – has eluded everyone. Until now.

Blocking sunlight to cool Earth won’t reduce crop damage from global warming

While lowering Earth's temperature reduces heat stress on crops, decreased solar intensity reduces crop yield. They cancel one another.

Tying electrons down with nanoribbons

UC Berkeley scientists have discovered possible role for narrow strips of graphene, called nanoribbons, as nanoscale electron traps with potential applications in quantum computers.

Mojave birds crashed over last century due to climate change

Bird communities in the Mojave Desert straddling the California/Nevada border have collapsed over the past 100 years, most likely because of lower rainfall due to climate change.

the solar probe flying over the surface of the sun

Space probe to plunge into fiery corona of the sun

Instruments built by UC Berkeley space scientist will fly aboard the Parker Solar Probe to explore the hot atmosphere of the sun.

Handshake makes for better deals in business

Shaking hands can improve the outcome of negotiations for both sides.

a fruit fly infected with puppeteering fungus

Flies meet gruesome end under influence of puppeteer fungus

Carolyn Elya discovered the puppet-master on the balcony of her Berkeley apartment. It was a fungus that infects fruit flies, invading their nervous system and eating them from the inside out.

DNA repair after CRISPR cutting not at all what people thought

Despite high hopes and high investment in CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, scientists still have a lot to learn about how it works in humans.

Five innovators join the ranks of the Bakar Fellows

Five UC Berkeley faculty innovators have been selected for the Bakar Fellows Program, which supports faculty working to apply scientific discoveries to real-world issues in the fields of engineering, computer science, chemistry and biological and physical sciences.

Fertilizer destroys plant microbiome’s ability to protect against disease

Fertilizing crops may make them more susceptible to disease

Child care, preschool remain hard to find, and stark gaps exist in California

Pre-k remains notably scarce for California families with 3-year-olds

Warming climate will likely boost suicide rates worldwide

Suicide rates likely to increase as global temperatures rise

A boy stretches his arms out while standing in front of a life-size photo of Kevin Durant's wingspan

Study shows wingspan has a correlation to athletic prowess in the NBA, MMA

Ratio of arm length to height significantly associated with elite athlete success in the NBA and mixed martial arts.

Teresa Head-Gordon named ACS Fellow

Head-Gordon has been recognized for her development of advanced theoretical and computational models and methodologies applied to chemical physics and biophysics of water and solvation, macromolecules and assemblies, complex interfaces, and catalysis.

Nature is proving to be awesome medicine for PTSD

The singular sensation of awe shown to boosts one's sense of well-being

Kathy Yelick Testifies on 'Big Data Challenges and Advanced Computing Solutions'

NEWS & EVENTS News Archived News CS In the News InTheLoop Seminars & Events Kathy Yelick Testifies on 'Big Data Challenges and Advanced Computing Solutions' JULY 12, 2018 Contact: John German, jdgerman@lbl.gov, +1 510-486-6601 Kathy Yelick, Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences at Berkeley Lab, was one of four witnesses testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology at 7 a.m. PDT / 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 12. The discussion focused on big-data challenges and advanced computing solutions.

California’s cap-and-trade air quality benefits go mostly out of state

California residents not benefiting from improved air quality during first 3 years of cap-and-trade program, while other states show reductions in greenhouse gas.

graphic of laser induced molycarbide-graphene-induced paper

Berkeley engineers develop origami electronics from cheap, foldable paper

UC Berkeley engineers have fabricated foldable electronic switches and sensors directly onto paper, along with prototype generators, supercapacitors and other electronic devices.

Odds of living to 110-plus level out — once you hit 105

Want to be a supercentenarian? The chances of reaching the ripe old age of 110 are within reach – if you survive the perilous 90s and make it to 105.

CRISPR reduces autism symptoms in mice

Scientists have used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to lessen some autism symptoms in mice with a form of fragile X syndrome, the most common known single-gene cause of autism spectrum disorder.

Tiny fossils give clues to origins of human social structure

When you’re caught without a comb on a windy day, you might wish for fingernails that could untangle your hair just as well. A new study suggests that our distant ancestors actually had such nails, known as grooming claws.

Image of a woman's worried face in a crowd.

Everything big data claims to know about you could be wrong

New research suggests that bigger sample sets of human subjects may not necessarily be better.

New DNA synthesis technique promises rapid, high-fidelity DNA printing

Scientists at the UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have invented a new way to synthesize DNA that promises to be easier and faster, does not require the use of toxic chemicals and is potentially more accurate.

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.

Mammals going nocturnal to avoid humans

Human disturbance is creating a more nocturnal natural world.

Soil prospecting yields wealth of potential antibiotics

Soil microbes produce many types of chemicals that could be turned into antibiotics, drugs or industrial chemicals.

In desert trials, next-generation water harvester delivers fresh water from air

UC Berkeley scientist demonstrated that their device can collect drinkable water from the air each day/night cycle.

students hold blue t-shirt with yellow lettering reading "I am the future"

Study: L.A. lacks plan for narrowing achievement gaps, four years after funding reform

New study finds that education officials in Los Angeles fail to equitably fund schools hindered by poverty, stalling efforts to close achievement gaps.

June 14 launch of ICON satellite to probe the edge of space

NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is charged with the task to measure the winds of ionized atoms at the edge of space and determine how they are impacted by atmospheric weather, in particular seasonal monsoons in the tropics.

Jennifer Sowerwine and Jon Hoffman in discussion at farm setting.

Restoring culturally relevant food systems to Native American and immigrant populations

The Karuk Tribe once lived on more than a million acres in remote Northern California, but their food system had been broken almost overnight, and has yet to recover. Jennifer Sowerwine believes it still can be.

Person getting blood drawn while on stationary bike during study of respiration and lactate metabolism in humans.

Rehabilitating lactate: from poison to cure

George Brooks, who discovered the key role lactate plays during exercise, says that it also plays a vital role in recovery from disease

Closing coal, oil power plants leads to healthier babies

Shuttering coal- and oil-fired power plants lowers the rate of preterm births in neighboring communities and improves fertility, according to two new University of California, Berkeley, studies.

Photo of top of Hippopotamus head above water.

Hippo poop a growing problem in African rivers

Hippopotamus are a major tourist draw to African watering holes, but their bountiful poop is increasingly fouling African rivers and lakes during the dry season, killing off fish and other aquatic life. And human activity is making it worse.

Promising research could lead to new strategies in NMR and MRI using diamonds and lasers

Diamond tech could lead to low-cost medical imaging tools

Urban Resilience: Hiding in Plain Sight

More than 1,500 abandoned parcels of land lie scattered throughout San Francisco, from unused alleys to vacant parking lots and public easements. The combined area rivals the size of Golden Gate Park. By integrating the potent tools of digital mapping with digital design technology used in architecture and engineering, Nicholas de Monchaux has created a new way to envision these many unused and underused sites together.

spectral tarsier feeding on a grasshopper

What we inherited from our bug-eating ancestors

People who advocate adding insects to the human diet may be channeling their distant ancestors.

graphic of human head partially comprised of puzzle pieces that look to be drifting away from the head.

New structure of tau protein, a key player in Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease develops when proteins in the brain form abnormal tangles, and a key player is tau protein, which normally stabilizes the cytoskeleton of neurons.

CRISPR-EZ: Improving on a Good Thing

Lin He’s lab uses CRISPR technology to study how different genetic elements in a mouse embryo’s cell nucleus – genes that encode proteins, functional RNAs, and repetitive sequences – interact to assure normal development or trigger cancer.

Google Earth image of Mt. Mantap in North Korea

Radar reveals details of mountain collapse after North Korea’s most recent nuclear test

As North Korea’s president pledges to “denuclearize” the Korean peninsula, an international team of scientists is publishing the most detailed view yet of the site of the country’s latest and largest underground nuclear test on Sept. 3, 2017.

Reconnection tames the turbulent magnetic fields around Earth

When the solar wind – which is really a driving rain of charged particles from the sun – strikes Earth’s protective magnetic field, the shock generates roiling, turbulent magnetic fields that enshroud the planet and stretch for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Doctoral candidate Raissa Estrela with Professor Jamie Cates in laboratory.

Ramping up Production of Vital Industrial Products

Jamie Cate is studying stains of yeast that can handle industrial conditions to create a new platform organism for new biofuels and a range of industrial chemicals.

National Academy of Sciences Adds Five Berkeley Faculty Members to its Ranks

UC Berkeley has more than 135 faculty members who are members of the National Academy of Sciences

Sample hologram with randomly distributed neuron targets in red around the box. True depth, x/y/z

Editing brain activity with holography

What if we could edit the sensations we feel; paste in our brain pictures that we never saw, cut out unwanted pain or insert non-existent scents into memory?

A room full of desks with chairs in rows

Scalable, cost-effective intervention helps parents improve student attendance, new study finds

Informing parents about not just when but how often their children miss school reduces absenteeism by 10 percent or more at every level from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

A visualization of human telomerase. Chromosomes in a blue x. Line of enzymes, the closest red, the next blue, and then purple

Long-sought structure of telomerase paves way for drugs for aging, cancer

While neither telomerase-based anti-aging drugs, touted as a “fountain of youth,” nor anticancer drugs have yet appeared, the publication today of the first detailed picture of the molecular structure of human telomerase should jump-start that effort.

A step toward faster, more accurate breast cancer detection

New technology being developed by engineers could dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of early breast cancer detection through the use of microfluidics.

Medical Exams: There’s an App for That

Your cell phone can already find your car and tell you what song the restaurant is playing. How about an app to screen for eye disease? By coupling the sophisticated imaging capabilities of smart phone cameras with lenses and software for examining the retina, Daniel Fletcher and his students have developed a hand-held, user-friendly version of the optometrist’s ophthalmoscope and are teaming up with clinical collaborators to detect retinal disease caused by diabetes.

shrub next to body of water on Northwestern Alaskan town of Kotzebue

Did last ice age affect breast feeding in Native Americans?

The critical role that breast feeding plays in infant survival may have led, during the last ice age, to a common genetic mutation in East Asians and Native Americans that also, surprisingly, affects the shape of their teeth.

Enlarged spleen key to diving endurance of ‘sea nomads’

Over hundreds if not thousands of years, however, a group of Southeast Asian “sea nomads” known for their deep-diving prowess has evolved a solution to increase their time underwater: larger spleens.

Julia Anderson taking apart a plastic cast protecting a fossil

Calaveras Dam fossil trove gives researchers greatest local find in decades

Researchers are using an exceptional stash of fossils found during the construction of a new East Bay dam to piece together a picture of what the Bay Area may have looked like some 15-20 million years ago.

In ‘Gone City,’ geographer questions Silicon Valley’s boom times

Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area, a new book by geographer Richard Walker, sets off some seismic tremors in its unflinching evaluation of the perch of Silicon Valley.

UC Berkeley’s massive egg collection helps project up for possible Webby

Can the 12,800 egg sets in the collection of Museum of Vertebrate Zoology tell us why some eggs are oval, and others are round?

Drought treatment restructures plants’ microbiomes

New research demonstrates that exposing sorghum plants to drought conditions can shift the balance between specific types of microorganisms found within their root systems.

Thin film device: three components, the closest with generated current

Thin film converts heat from electronics into energy

Engineers have developed a thin-film system that can be applied to sources of waste heat like these to produce energy at levels unprecedented for this kind of technology.

Patrick Gonzalez posing in front of trees

Berkeley ecologist selected as a lead author for IPCC report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has selected Patrick Gonzalez as a lead author for its next major report on climate change.

Gerbrand Ceder standing in front of a whiteboard

New technology could wean the battery world off cobalt

Now, a research team has opened the door to using other metals in lithium-based batteries, and have built cathodes with 50 percent more lithium-storage capacity than conventional materials.

StimDust placed on top of the face of a dime, fits on top of the ear of the head on the dime

Berkeley engineers build smallest volume, most efficient wireless nerve stimulator

Now, Berkeley engineers have taken neural dust a step forward by building the smallest volume, most efficient wireless nerve stimulator to date.

Two "virtual stuntmen", the left being a blue "simulation" stuntman and the right being a green "reference" stuntman. Both are leaping in the air

Making computer animation more agile, acrobatic — and realistic

It’s still easy to tell computer-simulated motions from the real thing – on the big screen or in video games, simulated humans and animals often move clumsily, without the rhythm and fluidity of their real-world counterparts.

close up of SQUID-based amplifier, a purple square in the middle of a green one

Start of most sensitive search yet for dark matter axion

Thanks to low-noise superconducting quantum amplifiers invented at UC Berkeley, physicists are now embarking on the most sensitive search yet for axions, one of today’s top candidates for dark matter.

A ‘Deep Look’ into leeches’ comeback

Once widely used as a cure-all for an array of ailments, leeches are making a resurgence in the medical community just for being their bloodthirsty selves.

8 people standing in a line next to the 60-inch cyclotron, Ernest Lawrence being the third person from the left

Podcast explores UC’s pivotal role in California history

In 1929, a young physicist named Ernest Lawrence was going through physics periodicals in the library when he came across a diagram in an obscure technical journal.

Person sitting at a school desk in a row of school desks

Study asks why students with more to gain from charter schools are less likely to apply

Low-achieving, non-white and poor students stand to gain the most academically from attending charter schools but are less likely to seek charter school enrollment than higher-achieving, more advantaged students who live closer to charter schools.

Graphic of a hand holding a house on top of a pile of a cash, both on top of a jenga set

Mortgage industry is back on shaky ground, experts warn

A decade after the last housing crash, the mortgage market faces the risk of another meltdown that could endanger the economy.

2,000 time magnification of a distant star. Current magnification comparison to images taken in both 2011 and 2016, in which the star could not be seen

Hubble peers through cosmic lens to capture most distant star ever seen

A phenomenon called gravitational lensing – the bending of light by massive galaxy clusters in the line of sight – can magnify the distant universe and make dim, far away objects visible.

Image of man seated at a desk, sleeping with his head down

Poor grades tied to class times that don’t match our biological clocks

It may be time to tailor students’ class schedules to their natural biological rhythms, according to a new study.

Eating out increases exposure to harmful phthalates

A new study has found that people who ate more fast food were exposed to higher levels of potentially harmful chemicals known as phthalates than people who ate more home-cooked meals.

Land degradation pushing planet towards sixth mass extinction

More than 100 experts from 45 countries have published a three-year study of the Earth’s land degradation, calling the problem “critical”.

Why some people are selling their cars and renting their neighbors’

Peer-to-peer car sharing services have encouraged a small number of their members to ditch car ownership, according to a first-of-its-kind study of from the Transportation Sustainability Research Center.

Many people standing in excavated cavern in Boulby mine

First large-scale nuclear reactor monitor will boost neutrino physics

A new U.S. Department of Energy project to develop the first detector able to remotely monitor nuclear reactors will also help physicists test the next generation of neutrino observatories.

Image of demo of bright-light emitting device covered by the campanile

Atomically thin light emitting device opens the possibility for ‘invisible’ displays

UC Berkeley engineers have built a bright-light emitting device that is millimeters wide and fully transparent when turned off.

Beginning of a kind of stellar explosion called a Fast-Evolving Luminous Transient, or FELT

Flash-in-the-pan supernovas explained

Most exploding stars flare brightly and then slowly fade over weeks to months, but an unusual group of supernovas noticed only in the last 10 years flare up and disappear within days.

$Image of fracking$

Want to clean up the environment? Make credit easier to get

Businesses are more likely to be environmentally friendly if it’s easier for them to borrow money.

Brewing hoppy beer without the hops

Hoppy beer is all the rage among craft brewers and beer lovers, and now UC Berkeley biologists have come up with a way to create these unique flavors and aromas without using hops.

David Patterson, pioneer of modern computer architecture, receives Turing Award

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) today named David A. Patterson, professor emeritus, a recipient of the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award for pioneering a systematic, quantitative approach to the design of computer architectures.

Illustration of early ocean in Mars called Arabia, along with orange land

Mars’ oceans formed early, possibly aided by massive volcanic eruptions

A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars’ putative oceans came and went over the last 4 billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million years earlier and were not as deep as once thought.

White fiber mat that is hanging from a cable

Researchers create a protein ‘mat’ that can soak up pollution

In a breakthrough that could lead to a new class of materials with functions found only in living systems, scientists have figured out a way to keep certain proteins active outside of the cell.

Illustration of Pyrene molecules, which are four-ring, 16-carbon polycyclic hydrocarbons, are likely formed around giant stars.

How to make space molecules

How could complex carbon-based molecules – a rich zoo of chemical compounds formed from fused rings of carbon and hydrogen – possibly form in the cold vacuum of space?

Mottled Molokai Spider hanging off a branch

How brightly colored spiders evolved on Hawaii again and again … and again

In Hawaiian Ariamnes stick spiders, adaptive radiation has resulted in 14 species now living across Hawaii.

Map of the bay area, portions of the south bay below foster city are at risk of flooding by 2100 because of sea level rise alone, red areas across the bay from foster city because of sea level rise and local land subsidence

Sinking land will exacerbate flooding from sea level rise in Bay Area

A new study warns that sinking land — primarily the compaction of landfill in places such as Treasure Island and Foster City — will make flooding even worse.

graphic of white fat and brown fat energy storage and burn

Brown fat flexes its muscle to burn energy -- and calories

Scientists have discovered that the same kind of fat cells that help newborn babies regulate their body temperature could be a target for weight-loss drugs in adults.

Smart Materials: Getting the Sun to Pull Down the Shade

When a car seat heats up on a hot day, it just gets.... hot. But some materials become totally transformed by the sun’s heat. They undergo a kind of Jekyll and Hyde reversal called a phase change. They turn from insulators to metals. Junqiao Wu is exploiting the most remarkable of these compounds, called vanadium dioxide, to devise ways to cool buildings, winter-proof car engines, and even create novel sunglasses.

Scientist leaning over vials with plants

A way to grow plants with less water

Crops possibly can be grown with significantly less water by altering a gene involved in regulating photosynthesis, according to new research.

Graphic of a woman sitting at a desk with pen and paper worrying about money

How to improve health care affordability in California

A new report offers options for California policymakers interested in narrowing the coverage and affordability gaps for people struggling to afford premiums and out-of-pocket costs for health insurance.

Illustration of rat generating visual feedback to a computer

Retraining the brain’s vision center to take action

Neuroscientists have demonstrated the astounding flexibility of the brain by training neurons that normally process input from the eyes to develop new skills, in this case, to control a computer-generated tone.

Scientists detect how words grow new meanings. Maybe computers will, too

What are voice-controlled personal assistants like Alexa and Siri to do when faced with words like “face” that have multiple meanings ranging from a bod

Ion Stoica sitting in the center of two people

$10 Million for Berkeley RISELab’s AI Research

The National Science Foundation today announced that RISELab has been awarded an Expeditions in Computing award to enable game-changing advances in real-time decision making technologies.

Illustration of rock moisture storage above seasonal groundwater storage above fresh bedrock

Hidden ‘rock moisture’ may be key to tree survival during drought

An oft-neglected layer of weathered rock underlying the soil on hillslopes could be a significant reservoir for water, providing critical moisture for trees during droughts, according to a new study.

Mechanical Engineering To Aid Back Surgery

Lower back pain is not as common as the common cold. But it’s close. About 80 percent of people suffer back pain sooner or later.

How the ‘I approve’ tagline boosts nasty political ads

With primary season just around the corner, voters will soon start hearing a familiar refrain: “I’m Candidate X, and I approve this message.”

Better planetary management though data science

In the past, world leaders had little but magic to predict the future. Today, they can turn to masses of data to project the future and help prepare for it.

Image of Supernova 2016gkg in the galaxy NGC 613

Amateur astronomer captures rare first light from massive exploding star

Thanks to lucky snapshots taken by an amateur astronomer in Argentina, scientists have obtained their first view of the initial burst of light from the explosion of a massive star.

Animation of event horizon of a black hole

Some black holes erase your past

If someone were to venture into a relatively benign black hole, they could survive, but their past would be obliterated and they could have an infinite number of possible futures.

UC Berkeley footage of cockroaches crashing into a wall

Cockroach-inspired robot is no crash-test dummy

UC Berkeley researchers have taken a lesson from cockroaches and built a robot called DASH that uses the momentum of a head-on crash to tip itself upward to climb a wall.

Security for data analytics – gaining a grip on the two-edged sword

In the world of data analytics, privacy restrictions can get in the way of analysis. It’s a classic two-edged sword, and finding a flexible but secure solution to assure both privacy and deep data access has been difficult to achieve.

CRISPR scissors, Cas12a, enables cutting-edge diagnostics

CRISPR-Cas12a, one of the DNA-cutting proteins revolutionizing biology today, has an unexpected side effect that makes it an ideal enzyme for simple, rapid and accurate disease diagnostics.

Six young faculty members named Sloan Research Fellows

Six assistant professors from the fields of computer science, economics, neuroscience and physics have been named 2018 Sloan Research Fellows, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced today.

Security for Data Analytics - Gaining a Grip on the Two-Edged Sword

In the information age, data is power, and the ability to mine it can boost business profits, save patients’ lives and aid government security.

Ryan Crestani, Lucie Bardet, Ludwig Schoenack and Matt Morrison

Haas Startup Squad connects MBA students to Skydeck

Ludwig Schoenack is known as “the connector” in UC Berkeley startup circles. It’s an apt nickname the MBA student, who just launched the Haas Startup Squad, a team of matchmakers who help connect Haas students to entrepreneurs at the UC Berkeley incubator, Skydeck.

Connecting the dots between declining wildlife and human misery

Justin Brashares explores the social and cultural impacts of declining wildlife populations around the world, from fish to carnivores.

New Berkeley IGS Poll: Two Calif. House Republicans should worry about jobs

Two Republican House members from California should start to worry about their jobs, according to two new polls from UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies.

Computer Vision to Protect Patients — and Budgets

Alexandre Bayen and PhD student Pulkit Agrawal developed a computer vision-based system to help memory care centers monitor patient falls and to reduce them where possible.

Why traffic apps make congestion worse

Has your smartphone traffic app ever led you into a traffic jam? Join the club.

Super-resolution microscopy reveals fine detail of cellular mesh

One of today’s sharpest imaging tools, super-resolution microscopy, produces sparkling images of what until now has been the blurry interior of cells, detailing not only the cell’s internal organs and skeleton, but also providing insights into cells’ amazing flexibility.

Artificial leaves to produce fuel on Earth and, one day, Mars

Call it “liquid sunlight.” With the right technology, the gas station of the future will make its own fuel directly from sunlight, in the process sucking up carbon and producing oxygen.

Chemists create tinted windows that also generate electricity

A new discovery by Berkeley researchers may soon bring us windows that automatically tint on a sunny day to block the heat while also generating electricity.

Recording a thought’s fleeting trip through the brain

UC Berkeley neuroscientists have tracked the progress of a thought through the brain, showing clearly how the prefrontal cortex at the front of the brain coordinates activity to help us act in response to a perception.

2018 Ed Roberts Award for accessible design leader Raymond Lifchez

The Center for Independent Living will recognize UC Berkeley architecture and city planning professor Raymond Lifchez tomorrow (Jan. 23) with the second annual Ed Roberts Award, which recognizes and honors individual contributions to the success of CIL and the independent living/disability rights movement.

Research finds social media users actually wind down, not up

Contrary to conventional wisdom, people tend to wind down rather than whip themselves into a frenzy while browsing Facebook and Twitter.

swath of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada

100 million dead trees in the Sierra are a massive risk for unpredictable wildfires

To drive through parts of the Sierra Nevada these days is to witness a morbid reminder of California’s extreme drought: Vast landscapes of standing dead trees, a brown tide sweeping across the green landscape.

A swath of dead trees in the Sierra Nevada (Photo by Scott Stephens)

100 million dead trees in the Sierra are a massive risk for unpredictable wildfires

To drive through parts of the Sierra Nevada these days is to witness a morbid reminder of California’s extreme drought: Vast landscapes of standing dead tree

Study finds that people more likely to define relationships with female relatives as difficult.

Moms, sisters, wives rank among most ‘difficult’ kin

Most of us put up with whiners, naggers, control freaks and other annoying people in our lives for good reason – we’re related to them.

Amid flu epidemic, more bad news about its spread

Getting lots of sleep, drinking lots of water, sneezing into the crook of your arm and getting a vaccination no doubt will help fight back the flu. But if you don’t want to get it in the first place, don’t breathe.

Berkeley anthropologist honored with 2017 Huxley Award

Margaret Conkey, a professor emerita of anthropology, is the Royal Anthropological Institute’s 2017 Thomas J. Huxley Memorial Medal recipient.

Professor Lee Schruben receives INFORMS Simulation Society Lifetime Professional Achievement Award

IEOR Professor Lee W. Schruben recently received the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award (LPAA) by the Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Simulation Society, the highest honor given by the society.

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.

Building better batteries to provide renewable energy anytime, anywhere

Report on California correctional officers’ suicide risks spurs widespread attention

Response to a recent report finding that California’s correctional and parole officers face extraordinarily high risks of suicide and other mental health problems has Amy Lerman feeling cautiously optimistic about the state’s ability to address the issue.