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Latest Issue

2022 Fall

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Where Do We Stand on Title IX?

Donna Seid ’76 never thought she’d play a sport in college.
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For more than 125 years, California magazine has told the story of Berkeley.

When you support California, you support independent journalism.

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(Kelley L Cox- KLC fotos)

Look Up

Ask an astronomer and they’ll tell you we’re living in a kind of golden age.

Adrift: NASA illustration of a black hole floating through the Milky Way galaxy. (NASA, FECYT, IAC)

Berkeley Astronomers Detect the First Known Free-Floating Black Hole

Berkeley 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. 

Current Issue

2022 Fall

Where Do We Stand on Title IX?

By Margie Cullen

Donna Seid ’76 never thought she’d play a sport in college.
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Editor’s Note from the Fall Issue of California Magazine

By Laura Smith

I don’t know about you, but I’m growing weary of living in unprecedented times. Here I’m talking about our most recent national schism: the fall of Roe.
Illustration by Ryan Johnson

40 Years Later, Officials Reflect on the Most Outrageous Football Finish

By James Rainey

The pounding on the door sent a shudder through the tiny locker room.
Laxmi, 2018

What Does the Post-Roe Future Look Like?

By Laura Smith

On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reversing 49 years of constitutional protection for abortion.

Top Stories

Photo by Margie Cullen

She Thought She Would Change Her Community as a Lawyer. Instead, She Did it with Mac and Cheese.

Erin Wade got a law degree from Berkeley in 2008, but quickly realized that she hated being a lawyer. Instead, she turned to her childhood love: mac and cheese.
Photo by Dexter Hake

Into the Ishi Wilderness

To get to the Ishi Wilderness you’ll want a full tank of gas and four-wheel-drive. Even then, you should be willing to ditch the car and walk. The approximately 41,000-acre wilderness area is located in the Lassen National Forest in a remote part of the southern Cascade foothills northeast of Chico, within sight of Mount Lassen.

10 Questions for Cal Football’s Favorite Bookworm

Cal running back and rising senior Patrick Laird is known for more than just his walk-on career and impressive collection of awards. An avid reader since childhood, Laird isn't afraid to flaunt his bibliophilia—on the football field and now, in the classroom.

Losing Joan Didion

Writer Joan Didion, who graduated from Berkeley in 1956, died on December 23, 2021, at age 87. She will be remembered as one of the most distinctive voices not only of her generation but in all of American letters. 

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California magazine's Laura Smith and Leah Worthington host The Edge, a podcast for surviving today's modern world.

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Quick Reads

Screen shot from video by Roxanne Makasdjian/Christian Brown

These Salamanders Skydive Sixty Feet and Live to Tell the Tale

You’ve heard of flying squirrels, but what about flying salamanders?

Image source: iStock, Pixabay // Illustration by Leah Worthington

Editors’ Picks: What to Read, Watch, and Listen to This Summer

Some of our favorite books, films, and performances, for your entertainment Our editors have curated a list of entertainment to indulge in this summer. Here are their top picks of TV series, novels, digital collections, and more, all produced by UC Berkeley faculty and alumni. The Other Madisons by Bettye Kearse Bettye Kearse grew up […]

Turns Out Nice Folks Don’t Finish Last After All

Turns out nice folks don’t finish last, after all. A UC Berkeley-led study published in August in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found that “disagreeable individuals,” defined as those with combative, selfish, and manipulative traits, don’t achieve greater career success than their kinder counterparts. 

I Learned What Blockchain Is So You Won’t Have To

Blockchain is all the rage right now, but most people don’t know what it is. Sure, we get that it’s somehow revolutionary, but it’s mostly strange and confusing—much like watching a Lars Von Trier movie or eating a Japanese water cake.

From the Archives

Black Cop, White Cop: What can two Berkeley police from the century before tell us about race relations in America today?

It was Berkeley in the 1920s. “The Fighting Swede” was driving through town, feeling even more pugnacious than usual. That’s because he was drunk. The Swede had carved out a reputation as a barroom brawler in the waterfront dives on both sides of the Bay, and he was always more than willing to defend his title—especially when he had a snootful of booze.

Fun with Fungi: Food Business is Still Mushrooming for Two Berkeley Grads

It was already their final semester at UC Berkeley, but Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez had never met. Both were sitting in a business ethics class when something the professor said caught their interest: It might be possible to grow gourmet mushrooms from used coffee grounds. Just a few weeks later, the two were practically best friends, brought together by an idea.

No Rest for the Wikied

You’ve probably been told, “Wikipedia is not a source. Don’t cite it. Don’t use it.”
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