UC San Francisco

Color My World: Innovative Glasses Allow Colorblind to See What They’ve Been Missing

I had to see for myself why some users have called them “happy glasses”—through them, everything looks more vibrant, distinct and intense. As soon as I donned the glasses, the run-down street I was walking on in West Berkeley looked as if it suddenly had been given a fresh coat of paint, the grays dusted away. I felt as if I was inside an oversaturated Instagram photo, or Pleasantville after the town was colored in.

The color shift I experienced while wearing EnChroma Cx lenses was overdramatic—but that’s because I’m not colorblind. Read more about Color My World: Innovative Glasses Allow Colorblind to See What They've Been Missing »

Posted on November 17, 2015 - 2:40pm

Innate or Learned Prejudice? Turns Out Even the Blind Aren’t Color Blind on Race

Stephen Colbert’s assertion notwithstanding, none of us is color blind. Not even the blind, it turns out. That’s according to the work of Osagie Obasogie, law professor at UC Hastings who earned his doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley. In 2005, he began interviewing more than a hundred people who had been blind since birth, asking how they understood race. Were they conscious of it? Did it shape how they interacted with people? Could blind people, in fact, be racist? Read more about Innate or Learned Prejudice? Turns Out Even the Blind Aren't Color Blind on Race »

From the Fall 2015 Questions of Race issue of California.

From Spider-Infested Digs, U.S. Company Devises Way to Spin Silk—Sans the Spiders

In the beginning, David Breslauer’s office was infested with spiders—lurking in the corners, hunkered down on their webs, crawling up his arms. “I had one right above my desk, and it pooed on my computer like a pigeon,” he says. And these were large, long-legged beasties, too: Nephila clavipes, an orb-weaving species commonly used in scientific studies. Read more about From Spider-Infested Digs, U.S. Company Devises Way to Spin Silk—Sans the Spiders »

Posted on June 29, 2015 - 4:11pm

UC Student Reps Demand UC System Divest from 9 Countries—and the List Hits Home

This week the UC Student Association board overwhelmingly voted to urge the University of California to divest from governments it says abuse human rights. And what countries would those be? Read more about UC Student Reps Demand UC System Divest from 9 Countries—and the List Hits Home »

Posted on February 10, 2015 - 6:32pm

Precaution or Paranoia? Berkeley Council to Require Cancer Warnings for Cell Phones

Update: The Berkeley City Council on May 12 unanimously voted to make Berkeley the nation’s first city with a “Right to Know” law about health risks associated with radio frequency radiation from cell phones. Read more about Precaution or Paranoia? Berkeley Council to Require Cancer Warnings for Cell Phones »

Posted on August 19, 2014 - 11:55am

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