SubscribeBerkeley physicist Steve Boggs leads a new gamma-ray experiment launched over Antarctica on Dec. 28 aboard the first of NASA’s new ‘super pressure’ balloons, which aim to keep experiments aloft for more than 100 days. The experiment, the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), searches for polarized gamma rays from exploding stars and other cosmic phenomena.
News archive
Berkeley gamma-ray experiment tests new balloon technology over Antarctica
December 29, 2014:
Unique Sulawesi frog gives birth to tadpoles
December 31, 2014: Amid the amazing biodiversity of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi lives a 5-gram frog that gives direct birth to tadpoles, without ever laying eggs. This unique reproductive strategy, found in a group of fanged frogs endemic to the island, is described for the first time by UC Berkeley herpetologist Jim McGuire and colleagues from Indonesia and Canada.
UC Natural Reserve System gets $1.9 million for climate change research
December 23, 2014: An ambitious plan to use the UC Natural Reserve System to detect and forecast the ecological impacts of climate change in California has received a $1.9 million research award. The proposal will establish a UC-wide Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts (ISEECI).
Top 10 public-health stories of the year from Berkeley Wellness
December 23, 2014: From the increased legalization of marijuana for medical use to the Ebola epidemic to the re-emergence of nearly vanquished infectious diseases preventable by vaccines, 2014 has had more than its share of major public-health stories. Berkeley Wellness offers its list of the Top 10.
Tips for saving energy during the holiday curtailment
December 23, 2014: During last year’s winter curtailment, UC Berkeley saved 711,000 kWh of electricity, about enough to power 64 households for one month. The Office of Sustainability offers tips for saving energy again as the holiday break starts at the end of the day today.
UC Berkeley 2014: The year in pictures
December 23, 2014: Marked by a monthlong celebration of the Free Speech Movement and the unveiling of plans for an ambitious new Berkeley Global Campus, 2014 at UC Berkeley was both a year to remember and a time to reimagine the future.
Herb Strauss, professor emeritus of chemistry, has died at 78
December 22, 2014: Emeritus Professor of Chemistry Herbert “Herb” Leopold Strauss, an internationally recognized spectroscopist, died Tuesday, Dec. 2, at his home in Berkeley after a long illness. He was 78.
Light, not heat, marks December commencement
December 22, 2014: On Saturday, after months of controversy surrounding keynote speaker Bill Maher, the stars of the show were the nearly 500 graduating seniors receiving their diplomas in Haas Pavilion.
Quigley medal honors late real estate professor
December 19, 2014: The new John M. Quigley Medal has been established in memory of the late Berkeley-Haas housing expert and his extensive body of scholarly work in the fields of urban economics and housing policy. Professor Quigley passed away in May 2012.
BAM/PFA throws an all-day moving party
December 19, 2014: The Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive is celebrating its final day of programs in its Bancroft Way building, with art, music, dance, performance and a festive procession to its new site at Center and Oxford streets. Things kick off at 11 a.m. Sunday (Dec. 21).
Is it lonelier at the bottom or at the top? Psychologist links ambition to mental health
December 19, 2014: The indomitable human quest for power, influence and a foothold in the social hierarchy has long been a subject of fascination and study for UC Berkeley psychologist Sheri Johnson. “Some people really want to get to the top and others are happy in the middle, and others are just trying to avoid being at the bottom,” says Johnson in a Q & A just published in The Huffington Post.
Outstanding staff sought for 2015 COSA awards
December 19, 2014: UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks has sent out a call for nominations for exceptional individual staff members and/or teams of staff for the 2015 Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Awards. The deadline is Jan. 29.
Nominations are open for 2014 Haas Public Service Award
December 19, 2014: Nominations are open for the 2014 Peter E. Haas Public Service Award at UC Berkeley. The award honors alumni who have made an outstanding voluntary contribution in the fields of community service, health care, the environment or education. Nominations are due Feb. 12.
Berkeley researchers develop new standard for sharing neuroscience data
December 19, 2014: Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a computational framework for standardizing neuroscience data to assist data sharing among neuroscientists worldwide, much as the jpeg and TIFF standards have made sharing digital images easy. The researchers are part of the UC Berkeley, Berkeley Lab and UCSF partnership called BRAINSeed.
Napolitano appointed to Goldman School faculty
December 18, 2014: UC President Janet Napolitano has been appointed to the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Dean Henry Brady announced today (Thursday, Dec. 18).
Seven UC campuses make ‘Best Value’ public colleges list
December 18, 2014: UC Berkeley is the top among seven UC campuses that made Kiplinger Personal Finance’s top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2015, which are based on criteria that include academic quality and affordability.
Roberto Zoncu profile: Starving cancer
December 18, 2014: In a profile by The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2014 Pew Scholar Roberto Zoncu discusses the adventure of science and his own research to find a way to starve cancer of nutrients. A native of Sardinia, Italy, Zoncu is an assistant professor of molecular cell biology and a recipient of a NIH Innovator Award.
Sensing distant tornadoes, birds flew the coop. What tipped them off?
December 18, 2014: A UC Berkeley-led research team found that golden-winged warblers in Tennessee fled the path of tornado-generating storms one to two days ahead, well before any local signs of troubling weather. Signs point to the use of infrasound as Mother Nature’s early warning system.
Berkeley prof on ‘Becoming Richard Pryor’ 
December 17, 2014: Scott Saul’s biography and website are shedding new light on the late comic and actor.
Students show off ‘autonomous vehicles’ at L.A. Drone Expo
December 16, 2014: UC Berkeley engineering students joined civil engineering professor Raja Sengupta at the first-ever Drone Expo in Los Angeles on Saturday, demonstrating their “unmanned autonomous vehicles” to a crowd of some 4,000 hobbyists and enthusiasts.
Holiday gifts with a UC Berkeley twist
December 16, 2014: Whether you’re gift shopping for a Cal Athletics fan, an environmentally minded undergrad or a visiting music buff, campus organizations, museums and gifts shops offer a host of novel options. Here are a few holiday gift ideas.
Discovery advances ferroelectrics in quest for lower power transistors
December 16, 2014: A new study led by engineers at UC Berkeley and CITRIS describes the first direct observation of a long-hypothesized but elusive phenomenon called “negative capacitance.” The work describes a unique reaction of electrical charge to applied voltage in a ferroelectric material that could open the door to a radical reduction in the power consumed by transistors and the devices containing them.
Berkeley innovators named fellows of National Academy of Inventors
December 16, 2014: Biochemist Jennifer Doudna, chemical engineer Jay Keasling and chemist Richard Mathies were among 170 people named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors. The organization honors innovators who have file patents in the United States.
Beautiful botanical art, on display now at the Bot Garden
December 16, 2014: The beauty and complexity of plants are captured in extraordinary detail in the UC Botanical Garden’s new “Following in the Bartrams’ Footsteps” exhibit, which opened this week in Julia Morgan Hall. Featured are 44 original artworks by artists who create their pieces in the style of John and William Bartram, who lived three centuries ago. Watch our video to take an online tour with one of the artists.
Black staff, faculty stage silent protest at Sproul
December 15, 2014: Black staff and faculty at Berkeley led a silent protest in front of Sproul Hall on Monday, in solidarity with the nationwide #BlackLivesMatter movement. More than 100 stood in a driving rain to silently voice their support for the growing movement.
Study reveals resilience of Roman architectural concrete
December 15, 2014: An international research team studying the mortar used to build such Roman architectural marvels as the Pantheon, Trajan’s Markets and the Colosseum has found a secret to the material’s resilience. Led by scientists at UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab, the team found that as the mortar cures, it forms a crystalline binding hydrate that prevents microcracks from propagating.
Dirks, Richmonders get down to business on global campus
December 15, 2014: The chancellor met Thursday with Richmond civic leaders and city residents to hear their perspectives, and to reiterate — and reinforce — his commitment to the community as the new Berkeley Global Campus moves ahead.
Campus alerts individuals to IT security breach
December 15, 2014: The campus is notifying about 1,600 individuals that their personal informational may have been accessed during an IT security breach in the Real Estate Division. Letters have been sent to those impacted.
Grad student helps people in Bangalore know when the next drop of water will come
December 15, 2014: Many of the 9.9 million people in Bangalore, India, never know when they’ll turn on the tap and find water flowing. UC Berkeley graduate student Christopher Hyun is helping to change that.
Berkeley Stars sing and shine 
December 12, 2014: Taking a page from “American Idol,” 12 Berkeley singers took the mic on the Zellerbach stage on a recent Friday to compete for the title of Berkeley’s Star 2014.
