Science News

UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists use light to convert carbon in tobacco leaves to biofuel.

Exploring the history and culture of the ancient city of Sardis in Turkey was a passion of classical archaeologist Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr., who died on May 4.

Eric Olliff, who is earning a B.S. in conservation and resource studies and a B.A. in Chinese language and literature, is the University Medalist, the annual award bestowed on Berkeley’s top graduating senior for the last 150 years. The... Ann Guy

Six new carved redwood benches, weighing 1,500-2,000 pounds each, made the journey from UC Russell Reservation, a research facility in the hills of Contra Costa County, to their new home adjacent to Mulford Hall today (May 7) to commemorate the... Ann Guy

By Sarah Yang, Public Affairs The competition between farmers and fish for precious water in California is intensifying in wine country, suggests a new study by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings, published in the May issue... Ann Guy

One of the oldest lakes in the world, Clear Lake has deep sediments that contain a record of the climate and local plants and animals going back perhaps 500,000 years. UC Berkeley scientists are drilling cores from the sediments to explore this history and fine-tune models for predicting the fate of today's flora and fauna in the face of global warming and pressure from a growing human population.

Roboticists in Ghana and at UC Berkeley this week launched AFRON, the African Robotics Network, an initiative to enhance robotics education, research and industry in Africa. Co-founder is professor Ken Goldberg, a fellow with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

Two types of naturally produced substances — one of them a bear bile acid — reduce the uptake of fat by the liver, opening the door to the development of new treatments for fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study by researchers at UC Berkeley.

Two types of naturally produced substances—one of them a bear bile acid—reduce the uptake of fat by the liver, opening the door to the development of new treatments for fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes, according to a new... Ann Guy

Four University of California, Berkeley, faculty members – physicists John Clarke and Bernard Sadoulet, chemist John Hartwig and ecologist Mary Power – have been elected members or foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences, bringing UC Berkeley's total NAS membership to 141.

When a 20-minute lecture about the economic supply chain goes viral, spawning a stunning 12 million views, a non-profit organization with a slate of multimedia offerings, and a vibrant online community of hundreds of thousands of citizens eager to... Ann Guy

Establishing a new research institute at a top-tier university is a major undertaking that required a great deal of teamwork to pull off. In a recent interview, Richard Karp, founding director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, gave the inside story on how it all came together.

The Simons Foundation has awarded a landmark $60 million grant to UC Berkeley to establish a theory of computing institute that promises to catalyze new advances in broad disciplines that affect our everyday lives, from how we spend our money to how we fight disease.

Patty Garcia, an MCB graduate student in Professor Mark Schlissel's lab, is the subject of this week's Berkeley NewsCenter "Persons of Interest" profile.

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The United States farm bill is up for renewal this year, and what goes into the $400 billion, 5,000-plus page piece of legislation will affect what tens of millions of Americans eat — and don’t eat — in the coming... Ann Guy

Persons of Interest: Immunology grad student Patty Garcia chips away at the barriers that divide science and society, while puzzling out the molecular mechanics of cancer.

UC Berkeley ecologist Jamie Voyles and SF State professor Vance Vredenburg took blood samples from frogs in the Sierra Nevada to track the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus. They found that the fungus disrupts fluid and electrolyte balance in wild frogs, severely depleting the frogs’ sodium and potassium levels and causing cardiac arrest and death.

From The New York Times Classifieds Marketplace Charles K. (Ned) Birdsall, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, died March 6, 2012. He was 86. Born in 1925 in Manhattan, Ned Birdsall graduated from the University of Michigan with... Ann Guy

In honor of Earth Day today, UC Berkeley professor Ron Amundson, a soil scientist and chair of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, was able to obtain an exclusive interview with our home planet.

ESPM faculty and students were included in major campus honors this spring in addition to recently announced Sarlo and Graduate Assembly mentoring honors. The Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service Each year, the Chancellor recognizes students, staff, faculty and community partnerships... Ann Guy