By Date

New study shows chronic jet lag increases risk of liver cancer

College of Natural Resources - Mon, 02/26/2024 - 10:46
A photo of a person asleep on a flight wearing a mask, headphones, and neck pillow. February 23, 2024

Mice spontaneously developed liver cancer under conditions that mimicked the chronic jet lag associated with many weeks of round-trip overseas flights.

Student Spotlight: Mayuresh Visswanathan

College of Natural Resources - Wed, 02/21/2024 - 13:03
Thumbnail of Mayuresh Visswanathan February 21, 2024

The fourth-year forestry and business administration double major talks about woodworking, forestry camp, and his time at UC Berkeley.

Fu and Nayak named 2024 Sloan Fellows

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology - Tue, 02/20/2024 - 10:58

Fu and Nayak named 2024 Sloan Research FellowsCongratulations to Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology Meng-meng Fu and Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development Dipti Nayak on being named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows. They are among 9 early-career researchers at Berkeley to receive this competitive and prestigious award. Learn more... 

From zero to hero in budget-making

Department of Bioengineering - Mon, 02/19/2024 - 12:29

photo of Amy Herr, seated

Professor Amy Herr weighs in on how researchers manage budgets and the ‘boom–bust’ grant cycle.
Categories: Science News

Exploring the connections between science fiction and climate change

College of Natural Resources - Thu, 02/15/2024 - 12:06
Author Kim Stanley Robinson and his book "The Ministry for the Future" February 15, 2024

UC Berkeley professors Daniel Aldana Cohen and Katherine Snyder spoke to award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson about climate, politics, and the future.

How a pair of Bay Area bobcats fueled one student's passion for wildlife photography

College of Natural Resources - Tue, 02/13/2024 - 11:46
thumbnail image of Vishal holding a camera February 13, 2024

Berkeley News recently interviewed fourth-year forestry and ecosystems management major Vishal Subramanyan about his work as a naturalist and wildlife photographer.

Rubinsky’s coral preservation work featured on PBS News

Department of Bioengineering - Thu, 02/08/2024 - 12:18

photograph of coral in the ocean, from the Smithsonian Institute

Professor Emeritus Boris Rubinsky's isochoric vitrification method of preserving coral samples in suspended animation is part of recent emergency efforts to save dying coral reefs. The method is being used by the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Categories: Science News

Artist, Writer, and Naturalist James Prosek to visit campus

College of Natural Resources - Wed, 02/07/2024 - 10:40
A man painting a bird on a wall February 07, 2024

A guest of the Berkeley Wildlife Program and Stone Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Prosek will deliver a public lecture on Friday, February 9th.

Unpacking plant diversity and climate change in California

College of Natural Resources - Tue, 02/06/2024 - 12:29
Image of Dean David Ackerly leading virtual workshop on plant diversity and climate change February 06, 2024

Dean David Ackerly offers an overview of how California’s native flora has responded to climate change through time in a new Jepson Herbaria mini-workshop.

Want to preserve groundwater? Tax it.

College of Natural Resources - Fri, 02/02/2024 - 13:26
Image of strawberry fields February 02, 2024

Research by Professor Ellen Bruno found that groundwater demand in California’s Pajaro Valley shrank in response to long-term price increases.

The booming business of discovering your biological age

Department of Bioengineering - Thu, 02/01/2024 - 12:43

Conboy photo

Professor Irina Conboy and former student Alina Su have founded a new company, Generation Lab, offering an at-home molecular aging test that analyzes a person's biological age by assessing "biological noise" in their system. The test evaluates an individual’s risk for top health conditions and the pace of aging across 19 systems in the body, which can help physicians see where interventions may be most needed and effective.
Categories: Science News

Researchers make advances toward more effective IBD therapies

Department of Bioengineering - Thu, 02/01/2024 - 11:18

Photo of person with hand on stomach, drawing of digestive system superimposed on top. Image by iStock.

Researchers in Professor Phillip Messersmith's lab have demonstrated that treatment with DPCA, an enzyme inhibitor molecule shown to trigger regeneration in mammals, can protect against and repair colon damage in a mouse model of colitis. This work suggests that short-term use of this small molecule drug could someday provide a restorative therapy for patients with IBD — and a path to remission.
Categories: Science News

Alum’s Wines Named to Wine Enthusiast’s 2023 Top 100 List

College of Natural Resources - Tue, 01/30/2024 - 11:13
Headshot of Jim Bundschu with truck in the background. January 30, 2024

Jim Bundschu (BS '66 Agricultural Economics) revitalized his family’s 100-year-old vineyards. Today, his winery's sustainable, organic wines are receiving highest honors.

Application Now Open: IB Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program

Department of Integrative Biology - Mon, 01/29/2024 - 12:12

IBSURE.interns.Hastings.2023.425.png
Justice Williams and Stephen Eun Song, 2023 IBSURE interns.

The IB Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (IB SURE) Program has now opened it's application. This program is for undergraduates or recent undergraduates who are considering a graduate degree in the biological sciences. Program runs from May 31 - Aug 9, 2024. Interested students should apply by April 1, 2024. See here for more information.

 

Categories: Science News

Student Spotlight: Shreya Chaudhuri

College of Natural Resources - Fri, 01/26/2024 - 11:57
A photo of Shreya Chaudhuri standing in front of Doe Library. January 26, 2024

The third-year environmental science and human geography student recently completed the Millennium Fellowship program through the United Nations Academic Impact initiative.

White House rule dramatically deregulated wetlands, streams, and drinking water

College of Natural Resources - Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:00
Image of stream with wildlife next to White House, aside a dark forrest. January 25, 2024

New research co-authored by ARE's Joe Shapiro and Simon Greenhill uses machine learning to reveal which streams and wetlands are protected—or not—by changing Clean Water Act regulations.

Sparrows uniquely adapted to Bay Area marshes are losing their uniqueness

Department of Integrative Biology - Wed, 01/24/2024 - 16:41

Benham.400w.png
Phred Benham, a postdoc in the Bowie Lab.

A new genomic analysis of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) from around the state — many of them collected as far back as 1889, their specimens stored in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley — shows that over the past 128 years, the Bay Area's sparrow's adaptation to salt water is being diminished by interbreeding with inland sparrows adapted to fresh water. Read More...

 

Categories: Science News

Over-credited cookstove offsets undermine climate action

College of Natural Resources - Fri, 01/19/2024 - 11:29
Annelise Gill-Wiehl studied the introduction of efficient cookstoves in Tanzania. Here, women gathered to hear about their advantages. January 23, 2024

A UC Berkeley study reveals that cookstoves, the fastest-growing project type on the voluntary carbon market, generated 9.2 times more credits than appropriate.

Pacific kelp forests are far older than we thought

Department of Integrative Biology - Thu, 01/18/2024 - 10:32

kelp.forest.2024.png

A new study by IB researchers (Professor Cindy Looy, PhD alum Rosemary Romero, and BA alum Tony Huynh) and collaborators shows that kelp flourished off the Northwest Coast more than 32 million years ago, long before the appearance of modern groups of marine mammals, sea urchins, birds and bivalves that today call the forests home. Read more...

 

Categories: Science News

Welcome new MCB faculty Allon Wagner

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology - Tue, 01/16/2024 - 15:29

Allon WagnerWelcome to MCB's newest faculty member, Allon Wagner, who joined us as an assistant professor of immunology and molecular medicine on January 1st 2024. Wagner works at the intersection of computational single-cell genomics and immunometabolism. His lab, the computational immunometabolism lab, will develop data-driven algorithms to study metabolic dysregulation of immunity in cancer, autoimmunity, and other disease states.