California Magazine

Valley Fever

The Bay Area titans of tech are having a rough week, at least in the press. While news organizations reported on the billions of dollars in taxes that Apple has allegedly avoided paying by maintaining large foreign subsidiaries, the New Yorker’s George Packer pondered Silicon Valley trickle-down socio-economic theory. Read more »

Posted by Pat Joseph on May 23, 2013 - 12:43pm
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Is Warming to Blame for Tornado Damage?

At least 24 people died in the tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma yesterday, and damage could hit the $2 billion mark.  It may be inaccurate – as well as hackneyed – to call the storm a “monster,” but it was certainly very big.  On the Enhanced Fujita scale of EF-1 to EF-5, the twister hit EF-4, with winds in excess of 190 mph. Read more »

Posted by Anne Pinckard on May 21, 2013 - 3:44pm
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The Gatsby Gap

Director Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby was released in theaters on May 10 and has since grossed more than $60 million. But another interesting Gatsby-related work you may not have heard about was released a little over a year ago: The Great Gatsby Curve. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 17, 2013 - 4:41pm
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Delta Blues

While everyone is justifiably fretting and fussing over the subpar ironware on the new Bay Bridge, another infrastructure problem looms even larger.  Read more »

Posted by Pat Joseph on May 16, 2013 - 1:36pm
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Remembering 'The Munc'

“He was like a bull, with speed,” said Ed White of his old teammate and fellow Cal alum Chuck Muncie, who died on Monday of a heart attack at age 60. The two played together at the San Diego Chargers in the early 80s, where Ed was an All-Pro offensive guard and Chuck was an All-Pro running back. Read more »

Posted by Pat Joseph on May 15, 2013 - 4:36pm
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Parents of the Corn - Part 2

  

We contacted Professor Peggy Lemaux of the College of Natural Resources after today’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Monsanto’s seed patents, and asked her about genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 13, 2013 - 4:42pm
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Parents of the Corn

  

The Supreme Court ruling today, in which all nine judges ruled in favor of Monsanto, might be a patent case, but it is one involving a contentious topic: genetically modified (GMO) foods. It is an issue that over the years UC researchers have tried to bring some perspective to, given that it hinges as much on emotion as science. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 13, 2013 - 12:30pm
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Triple Rock of Ages

There may be truth in wine, but as most Berkeley denizens know, there is solace and inspiration in beer—to a point, anyway. And of all the local venues for malted elixirs, perhaps the most popular is Triple Rock, conveniently holding down the northwest corner of campus on Shattuck. It’s also, by the evanescent standards of university-town commercial enterprises, positively venerable, having slung its first mug of hand-wrought brew in 1985. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 10, 2013 - 4:12pm
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To Catch a Terrorist

A piece in today’s New York Times explores the possible ramifications of the Boston Marathon bombings for the professional legacy of FBI director Robert Mueller, especially in light of the fact that agents from the bureau had interviewed one of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in 2011. Read more »

Posted by Pat Joseph on May 10, 2013 - 12:14pm
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Wild Things We Think We Love You

Americans are critter-besotted.  Dogs are surrogate children, kitten videos are almost as popular as porn on the internet, and animal-rights advocacy is de rigueur for up-and-coming (or down-and-declining) starlets hoping to establish some cred in the compassion and engagement departments.  Read more »

Posted by Pat Joseph on May 9, 2013 - 12:03pm
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Woz Up

When Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple Computer) finally graduated from Berkeley in 1986, 18 years after beginning his college career in Colorado, the name on his diploma read “Rocky Clark,” taken from the first name of his dog, Rocky Raccoon, and the last name of his then-wife, Candi Clark. Wozniak’s other nicknames include “The Woz” and “The Wizard of Woz.” Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 7, 2013 - 3:28pm
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Science Roundup for May 1, 2013

Today in newslets: dorm room physics debates, smiley faces and is the dismal science insufficiently dismal? Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on May 1, 2013 - 10:41am
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Hacking Bugs

Good news, humanity: The ant man is here! And he’s funded!

No, not Ant-Man of comic-book fame. We’re talking about Neil Tsutsui, an expert in ant genetics and behavior and an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 30, 2013 - 11:53am
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Really Cool Science

Meet two possible visitors from another galaxy, Bert and Ernie. You might have missed their respective arrivals in August 2011 and January 2012, just as, right now you’re missing their friends and distant relations, even though billions of them are passing through every square centimeter of your body every second. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 29, 2013 - 12:32pm
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Cal Performances New Season

On Tuesday, our friends over at Cal Performances unveiled the schedule for their 2013-24 season. Since then, we’ve been pouring over the brochure, looking at pictures and trying to decide what we’re most excited about. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 26, 2013 - 2:15pm
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Hold the Chicken Little

The news came out of China this week that a strain of bird flu known as H7N9 has broken into the human population. It’s infected 82 people, of whom 17 have died — a mortality rate of 21 percent — and is suspected of human-to-human transmission. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 25, 2013 - 10:25pm
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Science Roundup for April 25, 2013

Today’s mini-news: ten faculty members become distinguished, space tea, and exciting pictures of agriculture. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 25, 2013 - 1:34pm
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Science Roundup April 23, 2013

Today’s mini-news: The latest advances in brain science and a few lectures of note. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 23, 2013 - 7:25pm
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Eating Well While Eating Bad

Today Frank Bruni, The New York Times’ former restaurant reviewer and now one its general-purpose pontificators,  wrote a column calling on us all to eat invasive species. Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 23, 2013 - 2:24pm
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Earth Analog Day

Read more »

Posted by Kate McKinley on April 22, 2013 - 3:24pm
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