Science & Tech
WTF is an NFT?
THIS MAY, THE UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCED it would auction off non-fungible tokens (NFTs) connected to two of its most recent Nobel Prize–winning discoveries: Jennifer Doudna’s gene-editing tool, CRISPR, and James Allison’s cancer immunotherapy.
De-extinction Could Reverse Species Loss. But Should We Do It?
By Leah WorthingtonWhat would it mean to reintroduce woolly mammoths and passenger pigeons now?
Welcome to the Age of Billionaires in Space
A space hotel for the super rich is on the horizon. But what about the rest of us?
Paleontology Is in the Midst of a Revolution.
The UC Museum of Paleontology celebrates a century of discoveries. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MUSEUM OF PALEONTOLOGY (UCMP) celebrates its centennial this year, but the story of its founding begins nearly two centuries ago, when California’s newly formed legislature commissioned a survey of the state, eager to map its gold deposits. A team of geologists led […]
Berkeley Experts Help Launch a Groundbreaking New Space Telescope
By Susan KarlinThe James Webb Space Telescope will offer an unprecedented view of the universe. AFTER A QUARTER-CENTURY IN DEVELOPMENT and years of delays, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is poised to finally launch in November. Its multiyear mission: to explore other Earth-like planets and seek out the universe’s first light. Orbiting one million miles from Earth, […]
“Dr. Fill” Becomes the First Computer to Win Crossword Tournament
Developed at Berkeley, the AI system edged out its top human competitor by 15 points. AT THE ANNUAL AMERICAN CROSSWORD PUZZLE TOURNAMENT in April, some 1,300 contestants raced to see who could complete the eight puzzles the fastest. The winner was Dr. Fill, an AI system developed by Matthew Ginsberg and helped to victory by Berkeley’s […]
Dr. Mireille Kamariza is Leading the Fight Against Tuberculosis
Growing up in the Burundi and Cameroon, Dr. Mireille Kamariza, dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
Editor’s Note: The Asteroid is Us
This used to be Bear Territory. Could it be again? We live in a place where the state animal—mascot of this very university—has been extinct for just shy of a century. No one alive today has ever seen one, but not so long ago they roamed California by the thousands, in kind with the Hupa, […]
A Frank Conversation About California’s Chronic Energy Crisis
Last year, a heat wave caused hundreds of thousands of people to be without power in California. The rolling blackouts were the first to affect the state in almost 20 years, and are unlikely to be the last.
The Edge Episode 12: 2021, A Space Hotel Odyssey
Since the first human left Earth’s atmosphere in 1961, few earthlings—and even fewer private citizens—have had the opportunity to “boldly go” there. But, with new advancements from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other spaceflight companies, wealthy tourists could soon be booking rooms in hotels in outer space. The rise of space tourism raises some new, sometimes uncomfortable, questions.
Bears in Space: Shining the Spotlight on Five Interstellar Alumni
From Berkeley to the beyond, these grads have really taken off. Margaret Rhea Seddon Margaret Rhea Seddon ’70 came to Cal in 1965 from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was an eye-opening, and liberating, experience for the Southern belle. As she recalls in her 2016 memoir, Go for Orbit: “While students at traditional colleges worried about the […]
Quenching Thirst and Generating Power Along California’s Irrigation Canals
Covering 4,000 miles of irrigation canals with solar panels could help solve the state’s water crisis. According to a team of scientists from UC Merced, California’s 4,000 miles of irrigation canals lose 63 billion gallons of water each year to evaporation—a problem that could be solved by shading them with solar panels. In their feasibility […]
