Subscribe
New technology developed at UC Berkeley is using wireless signals to provide real-time, non-invasive diagnoses of brain swelling or bleeding. The device could potentially become a cost-effective tool for medical diagnostics and to triage injuries in areas where access to medical care, especially medical imaging, is limited.
Research archive
Engineers watch photons going out for a spin
March 21, 2013: Engineers at UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab have created a 2D sheet of gold nanoantennas to get the strongest signal yet of the photonic spin Hall effect, an optical phenomenon of quantum mechanics that could play a prominent role in how information is encoded and processed in computing.
Salamander helps rewrite geologic history of Central & South America
March 20, 2013: UC Berkeley’s David Wake and colleague Kathryn Elmer at the University of Glasgow analyzed the genetic variability of salamanders that had moved from Central to South America and concluded that they could not have diversified within the 3 million years geologists think the two continents have been connected. They think the Panamanian land bridge formed 23 million years ago.
Helping to shape global response to wartime sexual violence
March 20, 2013: Working with the Human Rights Center’s Sexual Violence and Accountability Project, Berkeley law students are aiding a multi-year effort to gather data on sexual and gender-based violence during and after war, across the globe, and to help craft better response policies.
FDA urged to curb caffeine in energy drinks
March 19, 2013: Two UC Berkeley experts are among 18 signatories to a letter questioning the safety of highly caffeinated energy drinks. The letter, sent today (Tuesday, March 19) to the FDA, urges regulatory action since the drinks have not been proven safe, particularly for teens and children.
Professor makes case for U.S.-Mexico border without walls 
March 19, 2013: Against the background of fierce debate on immigration reform, Michael Dear’s Why Walls Won’t Work examines the often-thriving, but threatened, cross-border lives in communities straddling the U.S.-Mexico border.
Connected Corridors aims to up efficiency of existing roadways
March 18, 2013: Connected Corridors, a project led by engineering profs Alex Bayen and Roberto Horowitz, is developing technologies to help Caltrans gather and analyze traffic data. A goal of the research: to make existing roadways more efficient, rather than launching new highway-construction projects.
Synthetic biologists standardize genetic parts to engineer cells
March 12, 2013: A team of scientists has produced high-quality standardized biological parts that can be mixed and matched by biotech researchers creating new drugs, fuels or chemicals. The DNA sequences that encode all the parts are free and available online. The project, detailed in three research papers, is the work of researchers at the International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (BIOFAB), a collaboration led by UC Berkeley and Stanford University and funded by the National Science Foundation.
Americans and religion increasingly parting ways, new survey shows
March 12, 2013: Religious affiliation in the United States is at its lowest point since it began to be tracked in the 1930s, according to analysis of newly released survey data by researchers from UC Berkeley and Duke University. Last year, one in five Americans claimed they had no religious preference, more than double the number reported in 1990.
Research News Brief
March 12, 2013: A new study published in Ecology Letters analyzing 23 crops from 14 countries shows that diversified, organic farming boosts the abundance and diversity of pollinators. Animal-pollinated food products account for about one-third of the calories in the human diet, and upwards of 90 percent of some critical micronutrients, like vitamins A, C and E.
Haas faculty turn to crowdfunding for solar lights research
March 8, 2013: Three Haas professors are bypassing traditional grants and going straight to crowdfunding to raise money for a study on how to get people in rural Uganda to replace dangerous kerosene lanterns with life-changing solar lamps. They have launched a campaign on Indiegogo, which was co-founded by Haas alumni.
Long predicted atomic collapse state observed in graphene
March 7, 2013: Berkeley physicist Michael Crommie has demonstrated in graphene a strange behavior predicted more than 60 years ago and which holds important implications for the future of graphene-based electronic devices. He and colleagues have imaged the “atomic collapse” states theorized to occur around super-large atomic nuclei.
Berkeley-led consortium gets $3.4 million for transit research
March 5, 2013: The University of California Transportation Center, a consortium led by UC Berkeley, has received a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for research into new multidisciplinary research in three key areas of interest surrounding transit development: environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness and livability.
Evidence that comets could have seeded life on Earth
March 5, 2013: UC Berkeley and University of Hawaii scientists have shown that complex molecules can form on icy rocks in space, suggesting that comets may have seeded early Earth with the building blocks of life. The team zapped icy snowballs of carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, producing complex molecules, such as dipeptides, that are capable of catalyzing the formation of more complex structures.
After-school soccer gets inner-city kids moving
March 1, 2013: A UC Berkeley study evaluating a national after-school soccer program in large urban school districts found that they successfully got kids moving. The study authors noted that low-income and minority kids are disproportionately affected by a lack of physical activity and child obesity, so working soccer into after-school programs could be a promising way of targeting those populations.
Research News Briefs
February 28, 2013: Research News Briefs: Economic paper says social pressure affects women more than men when it comes to altruism / Neighborhoods teeming with liquor stores linked to big jump in binge drinking
How good are generic drugs?
February 26, 2013: Recently, many blockbuster prescription medications have become available as generics, and more brands will soon join the list — thus trimming billions from healthcare costs and allowing more people to afford the medication they need. While the FDA says generics are as effective and safe as the original products, some believe that cheaper can’t be better. Berkeley Wellness reviews the evidence.
Cockroaches teach robots how to balance
February 26, 2013: How do you design a mobile robot that keeps its balance? Berkeley scientist Shai Revzen and his colleagues have been studying the steady-footed cockroach for keys to this vexing problem. Their theory: it’s not in a better algorithm, but better leg design. Discovery News reports.
Students developing next-generation e-Books platform
February 25, 2013: The electronic book industry is booming, but so are complaints about the current e-book publishing system. Now a group of I School students is developing a next-generation open-source, cross-platform framework for the electronic books of the future.
New details on the molecular machinery of cancer
February 15, 2013: Chemist Jay Groves and colleagues at Berkeley Lab have used cutting-edge tools to reveal the workings of the epidermal growth factor receptor, which is screwed up in numerous cancers. Their picture of how the receptor changes structure when activated could help scientists understand other cancer triggers.
Scientists create automated ‘time machine’ to reconstruct ancient languages
February 11, 2013: Ancient languages hold a treasure trove of information about the culture, politics and commerce of millennia past. Yet, reconstructing them to reveal clues into human history can require decades of painstaking work. Now, UC Berkeley scientists have created an automated “time machine,” of sorts, that will greatly accelerate and improve the process of reconstructing hundreds of ancestral languages.
Intelligent civilizations rarer than one in a million
February 8, 2013: After looking for intelligent radio signals from 86 stars with known planets, UC Berkeley scientists have, for the first time, calculated the odds of finding intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. Fewer than one in a million stars probably are advanced enough for us to detect, though that means there are still potentially millions of such civilizations in the galaxy.
Study links air pollution to low birthweight babies
February 6, 2013: Pregnant women exposed to poor air quality are more likely to give birth to low birthweight babies, according to a study published today and described in the San Francisco Chronicle. UC Berkeley researchers and study co-authors Rachel Morello-Frosch and Bill Jesdale analyzed 1.7 million of the 3 million births in the study.
New research on AIDS transmission focuses on cheating spouses
February 6, 2013: Public-health policy for AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa underestimates the role that cheating spouses play in transmitting the virus, according to new research from UC Berkeley. For the new study, scientists created a highly detailed mathematical model to estimate whether HIV-positive individuals were infected during or prior to their current relationship.
Research News Briefs
January 31, 2013: Research News Brief: UC Berkeley astronomer Leo Blitz and his colleagues at the European Southern Observatory have used the Berkeley/Caltech CARMA radio telescope array to weigh the black hole at the center of a galaxy 53 million light years away, proving a technique that will allow future telescopes to find many more massive black holes lurking in the cores of distant galaxies.
Endowing cells with a magnetic personality
January 31, 2013: Research News Brief: Taking a hint from magnetotactic bacteria, which make their own tiny bar magnets, UC Berkeley scientists are trying to endow other cells with internal magnets so that they can be tracked with MRI.
Discovery opens the door to a potential ‘molecular fountain of youth’
January 31, 2013: UC Berkeley researchers were able to turn back the molecular clock of blood stem cells of old mice by infusing them with a longevity gene. The experiment rejuvenated the aged stem cells’ regenerative potential, providing new hope for the development of targeted treatments for age-related degenerative diseases.
Research News Briefs
January 30, 2013: Research News Briefs: The star-nosed mole is helping researchers discover touch and pain receptors in humans. / The Keck Foundation is funding a project to insert tiny magnets into cells to make them easy to track with magnetic resonance imaging. / Feelings of awe make people more generous.
Poor sleep in old age prevents the brain from storing memories
January 28, 2013: The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, UC Berkeley scientists have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens the door to boosting the quality of sleep in elderly people to improve memory.
Poor sleep can leave romantic partners feeling unappreciated
January 19, 2013: A UC Berkeley study looking into how sleep habits impact gratitude has found that sleep deprivation can leave couples “too tired to say thanks” and can make one or the other partner feel taken for granted.
When mom is the CEO at home, workplace ambitions take a back seat
January 18, 2013: It’s often said that women can have it all – motherhood and a successful career. But a new UC Berkeley study suggests that women who rule the household have less energy for or interest in being a rising star in the workplace.
