Health
Sight Unseen
By Leah Worthington and Illustration by David JunkinThe paradox of blindsight might unlock the mystery of consciousness.
The View from the Trenches
By Glen Martin and Photos by Marcus HanschenTwo years into the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 continues to defy predictions. At the date of this writing, the Omicron variant—as contagious as ultra-transmissible viruses such as measles, if somewhat less severe than earlier COVID variants—continues to spread rapidly. While the surge appears to be ebbing in some areas of the United States, hospitalizations remain high and, nationally, about 2,500 deaths are reported daily.
Peregrines in Love
By Hayden RoysterIf Berkeley has a celebrity couple, it’s Annie and Grinnell, the peregrine falcons who alighted on the Campanile and have called it home since late 2016. Year after year, the lovebirds have nested and fledged their chicks, generating 24/7 entertainment for those tuning in to the Cal Falcons live cams (first installed in 2019). Viewers have had unprecedented access to the daily lives of a falcon family: first meals, first flights, the one kid who just won’t leave the nest. It was like Jon & Kate Plus 8, but with a lot more dead pigeons and doves.
Unpacking PTSD
By Dhoha BarecheA study led by researchers from Berkeley and UCSF may help explain why some people are more resilient to traumatic stress than others and lead to possible therapies. Published in December in the journal Translational Psychiatry, the study found a link between increased myelination in the brain’s gray matter and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
You Are Probably Burned Out at Work
By Wyatte Grantham-PhilipsA Q&A with Dr. Christina Maslach
Post-Pandemic, Teletherapy Is Here to Stay
DR. HANNAH ZEAVIN’S WORK explores the question of how we recover from trauma, and the roles that technology and media play in how we understand each other and ourselves. She is a lecturer in the English and History departments at UC Berkeley and an affiliate of Berkeley’s Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society, and […]
Slippery Slopes and Other Concerns About End of Life Options
By Leah WorthingtonA Q&A on the ethics of aid-in-dying with Dr. Guy Micco.
Calculating the Emotional Cost of Remote Learning
The past year has been very difficult for the kids. Prolonged school closures, which have lasted over a year for most middle and high schoolers in California, have deprived students of normal social and academic interactions—during one of the most important stages in their social-emotional learning. Adolescent brains are particularly geared toward seeking status and […]
“We Are in A Race”: Surviving the Next Phase of the Pandemic
California periodically touches base on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic with John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley Public Health Clinical Professor and a globally respected authority on infectious diseases and vaccinology. In February, Dr. Swartzberg was highly optimistic about the rollout of several effective vaccines and opined that the coronavirus might be largely contained by the summer. Things […]
In the Navajo Nation, Fighting COVID and Years of Neglect
The scene is familiar: A hospital bed, a respirator, medical personnel in full PPE. But while the attending doctor is from San Francisco, California, the hospital is located 1,000 miles away, in the middle of 27,000 miles of vast, desert land. The Navajo Nation, which spans Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, is self-governed but receives […]
We All Waste Food. One Researcher Wants to Know Why and How We Can Waste Less.
One July morning in 2016, in the predawn quiet of a Nashville suburb, Laura Moreno and her team of assistants looked more like investigators on a clandestine raid than scientists. With goggles, gloves, and coordinated efficiency, they removed garbage bags from every bin on the block, just barely beating the garbage truck to the spoils. […]
“Our Stories Aren’t Told”: A Discourse on Anti-Asian Hate and How to Move Forward
The recent surge in attacks on Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, including the racially motivated shootings at three Atlanta spas, has sparked a nationwide movement to “Stop AAPI Hate.” There is, perhaps, no better place to discuss this than UC Berkeley, which was the home of the original Asian-American movement that began 50 […]
