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Whether we’re listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from UC Berkeley. For instance, Mozart’s jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Video archive
Holder urges law-school grads to work for ‘a better world’
May 13, 2013: U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder delivered the commencement address at Berkeley Law on Saturday, congratulating graduates on what he called “your chance to help realize your vision of a better world.” Here is a video excerpt of his remarks.
An 18-year-old wunderkind named top graduating senior
May 9, 2013: Ritankar Das, 18, double major in bioengineering and chemical biology, is the youngest University Medalist in more than a century. He will be graduating from UC Berkeley in only three years with more than 200 credits and a GPA of 3.99.
Heady mathematics: Describing popping bubbles in a foam
May 9, 2013: Applied mathematicians James Sethian and Robert Saye from UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab have discovered a way to mathematically describe the evolution of bubbles in a foam, and have used the equations to create a computer-generated video showing how the process proceeds.
Berkeley GM crop specialist featured in KQED program Wednesday, May 8
May 6, 2013: UC Berkeley cooperative extension specialist Peggy Lemaux’s efforts to engineer crops to reduce malnutrition in developing countries.will be featured in a half-hour program, “Next Meal: Engineering Food,” that will be shown on KQED’s Quest on Wednesday. The program explores the pros and cons of GM crops, as well as the future of research and regulation.
Chancellor looks back: ‘a period where leadership mattered’
April 26, 2013: In an interview with NBC11, Robert Birgeneau talks access and excellence, Dreamers, and how — despite a budget model for UC Berkeley that has changed in response to severe state funding cuts during his time as chancellor — “we still spend our money, as we should, like a public university.”
Malaria milestone ‘took a village’
April 25, 2013: On April 25, World Malaria Day, the non-profit Zagaya released a video Illustrating why, in the words of UC Berkeley synthetic biologist Jay Keasling, “it took a village” to create an accessible treatment for malaria that will be essential to eradicating the disease.
‘Fitness for All’ is an exercise in inclusion
April 24, 2013: Campus staffer and Cal grad Matt Grigorieff is the driving force behind Fitness for All, a new program that aims to provide health and fitness options to UC Berkeley students with disabilities. Among the first offerings is a class on goalball, a court sport that puts blind and sighted players on a level playing field.
Cal Day open house promises laughs and learning aplenty
April 12, 2013: With more than 300 free events and activities — shoehorned into one unforgettable day of arts, music, dance, science, games and fun — UC Berkeley’s annual open-house is the place to be April 20.
Launch of antimalarial drug a triumph for UC Berkeley, synthetic biology
April 11, 2013: The best therapy today for malaria is a drug combination that includes a derivative of artemisinin, now solely available from plants. On April 11, Sanofi began production of the first semi-synthetic version of artemisinin, derived from yeast developed by biotech company Amyris based on discoveries in the laboratory of Jay Keasling at UC Berkeley.
For California Golden Bears, it’s a brand new look
April 10, 2013: Cal Athletics unveiled a new, streamlined visual identity, and new team uniforms, at an April 10 press conference.
#GlobalPOV: Art, videos and Twitter take poverty curriculum to the world
April 8, 2013: Three Cal alumni and teachers — a live-action sketch artist, a social-media proselytizer and a brilliant professor who is also an unapologetic Bono fan — have teamed up to create artful, provocative videos and brought Twitter into the classroom. The goal: to extend the teachings of Berkeley’s biggest minor, Global Poverty and Practice, online. The project could be a model for a new kind of public scholarship and online education.
Campus poised to join Obama’s BRAIN initiative
April 2, 2013: President Barack Obama has announced a major national initiative to understand how the brain works and how it goes awry. Neuroscientist John Ngai, chemist Paul Alivisatos and chemical engineer Jay Keasling were on hand at the White House to lend support to the so-called BRAIN initiative, which Ngai termed “our moon project.”
Latin America scholars on Chavez’s death, new Pope
March 21, 2013: What does the death of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, and the election of an Argentinian cardinal as Pope, mean for Latin America? Experts from the Americas offer commentary, in English and Spanish, via the Center for Latin American Studies’ online video series “Critical Insights.”
BBC video features Asian ‘Dreamers’ at Berkeley
March 21, 2013: Across California, Asian students make up 46 percent of ‘Dreamers’ (who would benefit from the proposed DREAM Act) on UC campuses. Undocumented Asians at Berkeley are featured in a BBC news video.
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.
1st 3D-printing vending machine headed to UC Berkeley
March 12, 2013: Dreambox founding members David Pastewka, Richard Berwick and Will Drevno met at a mobile-application development class at Berkeley in 2011. Finding it difficult to get quick delivery of 3D-printed creations from online vendors, they came up with the idea of creating a network of local, accessible, automated 3D-printing vending machines.
Standing up for low-paid restaurant workers
March 1, 2013: After 9/11, activist Saru Jayaraman co-founded Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, whose focus is workplace justice for restaurant workers. Jayaraman, who directs UC Berkeley’s Food Labor Research Center, is featured in a PBS “Moyers & Company” segment.
Math Club president reveals himself to be an undocumented immigrant
February 14, 2013: In a video released nationally on Feb. 14, UC Berkeley Math Club President Terrence Park reveals that he is an undocumented immigrant and, as part of an effort to sway American minds on immigration, makes an economic case for legislation to make young people like him citizens. SFGate’s Spin Cycle politics blog was first with the news.
Newts, up close and (very) personal
February 11, 2013: For a front-row view of a biological spectacle, newt love, there’s no better spectator stand than the banks of the UC Botanical Garden’s Japanese Pool, and no better time than now. Docents are on hand at specified times to explain the life-cycle and mating rituals of these lively and fascinating amphibians.
KQED Quest profiles Kathy Ann Miller, herbarium’s seaweed expert
February 6, 2013: KQED Quest producer Sheraz Sadiq profiles Kathy Ann Miller, a curator and seaweed expert in UC Berkeley’s University Herbarium, in the video “Preserving the Forest of the Sea.” Sadiq says he was struck by Miller’s “enthusiasm and warmth, especially when describing her herbarium ‘home’ and its red, green and brown-hued precious occupants whom she has cherished for over 30 years.”
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.
‘Great Lung Run’ honors Berkeley rower
December 20, 2012: When their teammate Jill Costello was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, the UC Berkeley Women’s crew committed themselves to the fight against the disease. On Dec. 1, “Team Jill” joined Kelcey Harrison in the last few miles of her four-month cross-country run, which raised money and awareness in Costello’s memory.
Nation’s single-largest gift for scholarships to undocumented students announced
December 13, 2012: A $1 million gift from the Haas, Jr. Fund, announced Tuesday, Dec. 11, will provide scholarship assistance for nearly 200 undocumented students on campus, who come from 20 different countries.
Study abroad in Cairo gives student eyewitness view of Arab Spring
December 10, 2012: A UCTV Prime story tells how UC Berkeley student Justin Hinton was taking classes in broadcast journalism as part of his semester in Egypt when he found himself at the center of world events. As the Tahrir Square protests erupted around him, Hinton took his camera onto the streets, posting his film dispatches to YouTube and sharing a first-hand glimpse into history unfolding.
Berkeley’s next chancellor visits campus
November 28, 2012: After his appointment became official at UCOP, Berkeley’s next chancellor visited the campus Tuesday with his wife, Janaki Bakhle. Read about Nicholas Dirks’ big day, see video of the welcoming event at Doe, watch an in-depth video interview and link to student reactions on social media.
In conversation: Chancellor-designate Nicholas Dirks
November 27, 2012: In a wide-ranging interview recorded shortly before the Regents approved his appointment, Chancellor-designate Nicholas Dirks talks in depth about his background and the values, principles and priorities that will inform his leadership of UC Berkeley. (See Doe steps video.)
Freshman and Sophomore Seminars celebrate 20 years
November 16, 2012: More than 730 Senate faculty at Berkeley have taught a Freshman or Sophomore Seminar since the program’s launch 20 years ago. Through this popular program, undergrads explore a scholarly subject in a small-group setting. Faculty members who have not already taken part are encouraged to consider doing so.
The backstory of a vital CO2 discovery
November 13, 2012: How do plants use carbon dioxide? Photosynthesis is at the heart of biology, but it wasn’t until biochemist and alum Andrew Benson got together with UC Berkeley chemistry professor Melvin Calvin in the years following World War II that the process was elucidated. A new video interview with Benson captures his perspective on the collaboration.
A conversation with writer-farmer Wendell Berry
November 9, 2012: Conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist and poet Wendell Berry currently holds the Townsend Center’s Avenali Chair in the Humanities. See video of his Nov. 1 reading and discussion at the Berkeley Art Museum.
