Science & Tech
The Edge Episode 21: Abolish Race (in Medicine)!
For centuries, doctors have medically treated people differently according to their race because they believed that race is biological. But in the last few years, medical professionals and activists have argued that this is both wrongheaded and can be dangerous to people’s health. In this episode, we talk to Stephen Richmond, a primary care physician and assistant professor at Stanford about the movement to abolish race from medicine and how race and biology do and do not intersect.
11 Things You’ll Never Believe Came Out of Berkeley!
By Pat JosephYeah, okay, you’ll probably believe some of it. Still, we think it’s a fun list.
A White House Correspondent, A Vet, and Cal’s Mic Men
By Martin SnappColumnist Martin Snapp shares alumni’s stories.
Did You Know Saturn’s Rings are New?
By Margie CullenIn middle school science class, the planets were all reduced to their most obvious characteristic. Mercury is the smallest planet, Jupiter the biggest. Uranus is the funny one. And Saturn is the one with rings.
How To Speak Sperm Whale
By Madeline Taub, M.J. ’23Learning a new language is hard, especially when no human speaks it.
Nobel Season Brings Halloween Hat Trick
By Margie CullenEvery year, October brings two things: Halloween and Nobel Week. This year, the Berkeley laureates (yes, multiple!) seemed to combine the two.
Did Mice Reveal the Fountain of Youth?
By David YeAn experiment conducted by the lab of Berkeley bioengineering professor Irina Conboy showed that a single transfusion of blood from older mice to younger mice triggered cellular senescence in the younger animals.
Berkeley Lab Researchers Design Biodegradable and Recyclable Circuits
By Lizeth De La LuzIn response to the world’s growing e-waste burden, Berkeley Lab researchers have created a printed electronic circuit that is both recyclable and biodegradable.
What If We “Supercharged” Plants to Stop Climate Change?
By Margie CullenThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has cited carbon dioxide removal as essential to limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the Paris Agreement’s climate target.
Indigenous Californians Long Prevented Forest Fires with Controlled Burning. Now We’re Learning from Them.
By Maia NehmeOnly we can prevent forest fires. That’s what Smokey Bear always said, his trusty shovel ready to snuff out burning embers. New Berkeley research suggests that, counterintuitively, setting small, purposeful fires can actually minimize the risk of major wildfires.
Berkeley Astronomers Detect the First Known Free-Floating Black Hole
By Meher BhatiaBerkeley astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, have detected what may be the very first “free-floating” black hole ever recorded, about 2,200 to 6,200 light-years from Earth. Dubbed “stellar ghosts,” these black holes are invisible, left behind after a massive star—at least 10 times the mass of the sun—dies and collapses in on itself.
These Salamanders Skydive Sixty Feet and Live to Tell the Tale
By Krissy WaiteYou’ve heard of flying squirrels, but what about flying salamanders?
