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Double major Eric Olliff’s inquisitive view of the world has helped earn him the 2012 University Medal, UC Berkeley’s top prize for graduating seniors.
Press Release archive
Public invited to Doe Library’s centennial party
March 13, 2012: Doe Library is inviting the public to join its centennial celebrations at an open house with exhibits, authors, music, cupcakes and more.
Chancellor Birgeneau announces he will step down at year’s end
March 13, 2012: Chancellor Birgeneau will step down from his post on Dec. 31, 2012, he announced Tuesday in a letter to the campus community. UC President Yudof praised him as “a passionate, dedicated and effective steward of the world’s greatest public university.”
Scientists tap the genius of babies and youngsters to make computers smarter 
March 12, 2012: People often wonder if computers make children smarter. UC Berkeley scientists are asking the reverse question: Can children make computers smarter? And their answer appears to be ‘yes’ as they tap the cognitive smarts of babies, toddlers and preschoolers to program computers to think more like humans.
New discovery is key to understanding neutrino transformations
March 8, 2012: The joint China-U.S. Daya Bay experiment to explore the multiple personalities of neutrinos announced its first results today (Thursday, Mar. 8), paving the way for further experiments to determine whether neutrinos and antineurtinos have similar split identities. If not, it may provide a clue to why the universe has more matter than antimatter, and thus why we exist.
Going mental: Study highlights brain’s flexibility, gives hope for natural-feeling neuroprosthetics
March 4, 2012: Neuroscientists have shown that the same brain processes used to learn new motor skills, such as riding a bike or driving a car, are also necessary to master abstract skills, such as working out the next chess move, or controlling a robotic arm using brain activity alone. The findings could be a major boost to the development of thought-controlled, natural-feeling prosthetic devices.
Experts assess results, potential impacts of the Republican primaries
February 29, 2012: UC Berkeley experts are looking into the Republican presidential primary contest, including reasons for the drawn-out Republican race; how the Tea Party may influence the outcomes; the chances of a brokered convention; gender politics; the power of words; and candidates’ emotions.
Upper class more likely to be scofflaws due to greed, study finds
February 27, 2012: The upper class has a higher propensity for cheating, driving illegally and endorsing unethical behavior in the workplace, believing – as did Gordon Gekko in the movie “Wall Street” – that “greed is good,” according to a new UC Berkeley study.
Huts, artifacts in Jordanian excavation offer new perspectives on life 20,000 years ago
February 21, 2012: 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.
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.
On-site worker rescue plan urged for confined spaces
February 13, 2012: Many employers rely upon public fire departments to rescue workers in confined spaces. That is a mistake, according to a UC Berkeley analysis of hundreds of worker deaths over 13 years in the United States. Companies need to station trained, rescue personnel on site so they can pull workers out within moments in an emergency, the study concludes.
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.
Advanced power-grid research 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.
UC Berkeley grad student’s research spurred by Gulf oil spill
February 8, 2012: Soon after the April 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil platform killed 11 workers and spilled 5 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, UC Berkeley graduate student Thomas Azwell packed his bags and headed to Louisiana. Azwell teamed up with researchers in the Gulf to develop marsh restoration technology that could impact remediation efforts nationwide.
Lost passport in Paris connects med student to ’49 Berkeley alumna
February 6, 2012: Betty Werther made a beeline for Paris after graduating from UC Berkeley in 1949 and embarked on a life of travel, romance and adventure. Somewhere along the road, she lost her passport. More than 60 years later, a young Portuguese medical student is heading to Paris to return the tattered, 1950-issued passport to Werther.
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.
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.
Lifelong brain-stimulating habits linked to lower Alzheimer’s protein levels
January 23, 2012: People who have made mental engagement a lifelong habit have lower levels of a key protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley neuroscientists. The findings could provide support for cognitive therapies to prevent the onset of a debilitating disease.
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life to open Jan. 22 
January 19, 2012: The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, the latest addition to the city’s burgeoning downtown arts and culture district, is opening to the public on Sunday, Jan. 22.
Media Advisory: North Korean crossroads
January 17, 2012:
Experts will assemble on campus Friday to assess North Korea
Gossip isn’t all bad — new study finds its social and psychological benefits
January 17, 2012: For centuries, gossip has been dismissed as salacious, idle chatter that can damage reputations and erode trust. But a new study suggests rumor-mongering can have positive outcomes such as helping us police bad behavior, prevent exploitation and lower stress. Listen to UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer discuss the virtues of gossip on KQED Forum.
Media Advisory: Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life open house Jan. 22
January 12, 2012:
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life to welcome the public to its new home with a Jan. 22 open house.
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.
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.
Study details how dengue infection hits harder second time around
December 21, 2011: One of the most vexing challenges in the battle against dengue virus, a potentially fatal mosquito-borne virus, is that getting infected once can put people at greater risk for a more severe infection down the road. A new study with UC Berkeley researchers details how the interaction between a person’s immune response and a subsequent dengue infection could mean the difference between getting a mild fever and going into a fatal circulatory failure.
F. Warren Hellman, philanthropist and friend of UC Berkeley, passes away
December 19, 2011: UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau issued a statement on the passing of his dear and trusted friend, Warren Hellman.
Hong Kong businessman honors father, Woo Hon Fai, with major gift to UC Berkeley
December 19, 2011: David Woo, who began his career in 1967 as an architect working on the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, has chosen to honor his late father, Woo Hon Fai — and to celebrate the now-historic structure — with a major gift to the campus.
Lower classes quicker to show compassion in the face of suffering
December 19, 2011: Emotional differences between the rich and poor, as depicted in such Charles Dickens classics as “A Christmas Carol” and “A Tale of Two Cities,” may have a scientific basis. Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that people in the lower socio-economic classes are more physiologically attuned to suffering, and quicker to express compassion than their more affluent counterparts.
Hubble images help pin down identity of August supernova’s companion star
December 15, 2011: Thanks to images obtained over the past nine years by the Hubble Space Telescope, UC Berkeley astronomers were able to narrow down the identity of the companion star to a supernova first observed in August. It was not a bright red giant or helium star, but probably a more modest star like the sun, a subgiant or even a white dwarf.
UC Berkeley launches groundbreaking middle-class financial aid plan
December 14, 2011: UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced on Wednesday, Dec. 14, a unique financial aid program to help students from middle-income families better afford a UC Berkeley education.
Disaster looms for gas cloud falling into Milky Way’s central black hole
December 14, 2011: Astronomers led by UC Berkeley’s Reinhard Genzel, also of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, have observed a cloud of gas several times the mass of Earth approaching the 4.3 million solar-mass black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Theorist Eliot Quataert calculates that the cloud will not survive the encounter, but will be heated and shredded in 2013.
