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Archaeologists working in eastern Jordan have announced its discovery of 20,000-year-old hut structures, the earliest yet found in that country. Along with materials found in the huts, the find suggests the area was once intensively occupied and offers a new perspective on how humans lived at the time.
Science archive
Sethian, Saye win Cozzarelli Prize for applied math paper
February 21, 2012: Two UC Berkeley and LBNL mathematicians, James Sethian and Robert Saye, have won the Cozzarelli Prize from the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for their paper on a new numerical method for tracking large numbers of interacting and evolving phases of materials. The prize is named after the late UC Berkeley biochemist & PNAS editor Nicholas Cozzarelli.
Yosemite’s alpine chipmunks take genetic hit from climate change
February 19, 2012: Global warming has driven Yosemite’s alpine chipmunks to higher ground, prompting a startling decline in the species’ genetic diversity. The genetic erosion occurred in the relatively short span of 90 years, highlighting the rapid threat changing climate can pose to a species, and putting the alpine chipmunk on a trajectory toward extinction.
Q&A: Allan Sly on probability theory and random processes
February 15, 2012: Newly awarded a 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Allan Sly, assistant professor of statistics, talks about his research into probability theory, his students and his own days a UC Berkeley graduate student.
Q&A: Sylvia Ratnasamy on helping students build their own networks
February 15, 2012: Newly awarded a 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, Sylvia Ratnasamy, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences in UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering, talks about her passion for improving the Internet and for helping students build their own networks.
Carlos Bustamante honored with Vilcek Prize
February 15, 2012: Carlos Bustamante, a professor of molecular and cell biology and of physics and chemistry, has been awarded the 2012 Vilcek Prize, given annually to individuals born abroad who have made lasting contributions to American society. Born in Peru, Bustamante uses magnetic beads, atomic-force microscopes and laser “tweezers” to explore the inner workings of the cell and DNA.
Breakthrough in designing cheaper, more efficient catalysts for fuel cells
February 9, 2012: UC Berkeley chemists Chris Chang, Jeff Long and Marcin Majda have redesigned catalysts in ways that could have a profound impact on the chemical industry as well as on the growing market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Robert Knight discusses ‘brain reading’ on Canadian TV (@ 3:51 min.)
February 9, 2012: Scientists have decoded electrical activity in the brain’s auditory system in order to predict the words a person has heard. Listen to the interview with Robert Knight on Canadian TV.
Advanced power-grid model finds low-cost, low-carbon future in West
February 9, 2012: The least expensive way for the Western U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to help prevent the worst consequences of global warming is to replace coal with renewable and other sources of energy that may include nuclear power, according to a new study by UC Berkeley researchers.
Physicist Hitoshi Murayama to direct new Kavli institute at Univ. of Tokyo
February 8, 2012: The Kavli Foundation endowed a new Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo to be directed by theoretical physicist Hitoshi Murayama. While maintaining his position as UC Berkeley professor of physics, Murayama will guide institute research into cosmological questions such as how the universe began, how it will end and what laws govern it.
For Chancellor Birgeneau, research is for life
February 6, 2012: Throughout his tenure as UC Berkeley chancellor, Robert Birgeneau has sustained a research interest in new materials, maintaining labs both on campus and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Upon his recent receipt of the Shull Prize from the Neutron Scattering Society of America, Birgeneau reflected on the role research has played in his life at Berkeley.
The key to biofuel’s carbon footprint? Location, location, location
February 3, 2012: Determining the climate impact of using grass to make cellulosic ethanol depends on how and where it’s grown, processed and transported, according to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters. Key factors affecting the greenhouse-gas emissions of cellulosic ethanol production were the amount of soil carbon emitted or stored during growth of the grass, and greenhouse-gas offset credits for electricity exported to the grid by biorefineries, said the authors, who are UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers at the Energy Biosciences Institute.
Energy secretary joins groundbreaking for new LBNL research facility
February 2, 2012: U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu joined UC and Lawrence Berkeley Lab (LBNL) leaders Feb. 1 to break ground on the lab’s new Computational Research and Theory facility.
Professors’ innovations benefit society, economy
February 1, 2012: Cutting-edge research is a hallmark of UC Berkeley, and it should come as no surprise that faculty members are eager to see their discoveries put to use. Many, such as chemistry dean Richard Mathies, have formed start-ups to develop their inventions to a point where they become viable in the marketplace, benefiting not only society but the university as well.
Scientists decode brain waves to eavesdrop on what we hear 
January 31, 2012: Stroke victims or paralyzed people unable to speak may someday be able to communicate via synthesizers that decode their internal speech and play it back. That hope comes from research by UC Berkeley neuroscientists Brian Pasley and Robert Knight, who have successfully decoded brain waves to predict what a person heard.
California native-plant classic gets a 21st-century makeover 
January 30, 2012: For California botany, The Jepson Manual is the authoritative reference book. Now the super-sized tome has been revised to incorporate a wealth of new knowledge about the state’s huge diversity of native plants. Scholars and staff at the Jepson Herbarium oversaw its 2nd edition, published by UC Press.
Remote sensing places nature at our fingertips
January 27, 2012: UC Berkeley geologist Bill Dietrich and biologist Todd Dawson are two of many UC scientists placing remote sensors in natural reserves to map land, track animals and collect environmental data.
Chemists to develop new materials for hydrogen storage in vehicles
January 26, 2012: The big challenge with hydrogen-powered fuel cells is how to safely and cheaply store enough hydrogen to power a vehicle for 300 miles. UC Berkeley and LBNL scientists led by chemists Jeffrey Long and Martin Head-Gordon recently received a three-year, $2.1 million grant from DOE to develop new hydrogen storage technologies for fuel cell electric vehicles.
NuSTAR X-ray mission readied for March 14 launch
January 25, 2012: NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Jan. 24 to be mated to its Pegasus launch vehicle in preparation for a Mar. 14 launch over the Pacific Ocean. The observatory, which will be operated from UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, will detect X-rays from our sun, giant black holes and other objects in space.
Study shows restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands
January 24, 2012: Half of all wetlands in the United States were destroyed during the 20th century, but a thriving restoration effort aims to recreate the marshes and other ecosystems lost. A new UC Berkeley study cautions, however, that restored wetlands may not recover to the condition of a natural, undamaged wetland for hundreds of years, if ever.
Lab picks Richmond Field Station for a second campus
January 23, 2012: The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, bursting at the seams of its home next door to UC Berkeley, announced Monday that it has picked the University of California’s bayside Richmond Field Station as the site of its second campus. The lab expansion will have benefits for Berkeley, Chancellor Birgeneau says.
UCTC receives funding for new transportation research
January 19, 2012: The University of California Transportation Center (UCTC) on the UC Berkeley campus is overseeing a new research consortium of five other UC and four Cal State University campuses that just received a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a matching amount from California’s Department of Transportation.
Researchers focus on the waste disposal units of living cells
January 13, 2012: Eva Nogales and her colleagues in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and at Berkeley Lab have taken the most detailed look ever at the “regulatory particle” used by the protein machines known as proteasomes to identify and degrade proteins marked for destruction. This particle is critical to a broad range of vital biochemical processes, including the immune defense system.
LBNL director Paul Alivisatos awarded Wolf Prize in Chemistry
January 12, 2012: UC Berkeley chemistry professor Paul Alivisatos, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an internationally recognized authority on the fabrication of nanocrystals and their use in solar energy applications, is the 2012 recipient of the Wolf Foundation Prize in Chemistry. He shares the prize with fellow nanoscience expert Charles Lieber of Harvard University.
Berkeley biologist Michael Eisen: Don’t hinder access to publicly funded research
January 11, 2012: Michael Eisen, professor of molecular and cell biology, argues in a New York Times op-ed that the government should require free access to all published scientific results that were obtained with funds from taxpayers. A bill before Congress would prevent the National Institutes of Health from requiring that all publications be freely available through the National Library of Medicine Web site.
Endowment for undergraduate women studying science, tech, math
January 11, 2012: A scholarship-mentorship endowment for undergraduate women pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is being offered at the UC Berkeley. Five students will be selected each year for the endowment, established by Silicon Valley executives Sandra and Douglas G. Bergeron.
Howard Bern, expert on effects of hormones, has died at 91
January 10, 2012: Howard A. Bern, professor emeritus of integrative biology at the UC Berkeley, and a pioneer in understanding how hormones affect development, including that of the human fetus, died Jan. 3 at his home in Berkeley after a nine-month battle with cancer. He was 91.
Western bluebirds: Rx for vineyards plagued by insect pests?
January 6, 2012: Research by Berkeley postdoc researcher Julie Jedlicka suggests that encouraging bluebirds to nest in vineyards can help control insect pests. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/06/HO9H1MJ6UG.DTL#ixzz1ijIxLms9
Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design 
January 4, 2012: Undergraduate and graduate students teamed up with biologist Robert Full to study how lizards use their tails when leaping. What they found can help design robots that are more stable on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls, which is critical to successful search and rescue operations.
Though it’s not mind-reading, neuroscientists explore perception
January 3, 2012: A team of neuroscientists led by Berkeley Professor Jack Gallant are beginning to figure out a way to reconstruct what we see, based on records of our brain activity. Jake Schoneker, a School of Journalism alum, reports on the PBS NewsHour.
