UC Berkeley Votes: On-Campus Interviews about the 2016 Election
Not content to believe rumor, California talked to people around campus about the election, the candidates, and whether or not they'll vote.
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A Pound of Cure: Efforts to Prevent Breast Cancer Are Wide-Ranging and Slow Going
When it comes to breast cancer research, the most recognized (and best funded) names are all in treatment. And that has paid off: mortality has dropped from one in four in 1986 to about one in six in 2013. Unfortunately, breast cancer is just as common today as it was in 1983, with around 130 […]
Urban Ore: Berkeley’s Eternal Garage Sale
Enter any grocery store franchise and prepare to be worked. It’s almost Halloween so you’ll see pumpkins, candy, straw, and speckled corn garnishing produce bins overflowing with honeycombed stacks of shiny, plump fruit. You’ll smell flowers, fresh bread, and deli meats. If you came at the right time you might hear a faint thunderstorm in […]
Clear Sound, Sleek Styling, and Microwave Radiation
The release of AirPods, those sleek wireless earbuds from Apple, is again spurring debate over the safety of radiation-emitting devices—including cell phones, WiFi routers, and wireless headsets. While U.S. regulatory agencies and some scientists believe the risk from these devices is either low or unproven, there are experts, including a UC Berkeley public health researcher, […]
A Cal Alum’s Recipe for More Tuolumne River Salmon: Add Water
The Tuolumne River has long been revered by whitewater kayakers and rafters for its pristine wilderness canyon and challenging rapids. But “The T,” as it’s known by river-runners, was once famed for something else: Salmon. Before the Hetch Hetchy and Don Pedro Dams were built on the river’s upper reaches in the last century, the […]
Union Yet? Worker Protections Elude Graduate Student Researchers
Nearly 15,000 graduate teaching assistants, student instructors, and readers in the UC system are full-fledged members of the labor movement. But UC graduate student researchers (GSRs) are the only student employees who are not protected by the UC Student Workers Union contract, and are not eligible to negotiate for better working conditions. Teaching assistants (TAs) […]
Rockin’ the Nobel: Reactions to Dylan’s Literature Prize
The Nobel Committee announced this morning that an American had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. No, not Philip Roth or Don Delillo or Joyce Carol Oates or any other stalwart of American letters, but Bob Dylan. That’s right, Bob F@#$ing Dylan!—one of the most famous, not to mention enigmatic, rock stars of all time. While the adenoidal, […]
Sexual Politics: The 2016 Presidential Race Is Notable for Misogynist Rhetoric
If gender discrimination is one of the most talked about issues in this election, all the fault can’t just be given to ye olde sexist citizens of America (though they can be given some credit—I’d say C+ for overall behavior, definitely room for improvement). In fact, the fuss over gender is likely driven by what […]
A Little Dotty: Berkeley Startup Has a New Way to Make Your House Smart
When giant tech companies like Intel or Samsung need to make a circuit board, they simply pop one out of their multi-billion dollar fabs or pony up a few million for a new machine. But when you’re just a tiny, underfunded startup putting together a prototype that you need to bake, you’ve got to look […]
CalMatters: Old Blues Deliver the Scoop in Sacramento
It was about 10 years ago that the old news model was declared dead, skewered fatally through the heart by the Internet and social media. People began getting the information they wanted when they wanted, in gobs and snippets from a vast menu of choices ranging from their Facebook friends to the Gray Lady to […]
Making Believe: Actor Robert Sicular’s Devotion to Berkeley, the Bard, and The Bay
Born and raised in Berkeley, Robert Sicular feels sorry for people who didn’t grow up here. He even loved his time in high school, which he remembers as full of opportunities–not just in academics, but in sports and music and the arts. When he went there, Berkeley High School’s commitment to drama was clear—there was […]
New Life: A Documentary on Jazz Pianist Fred Hersch Revives Both Filmmakers and Subject
When filmmakers Carrie Lozano and Charlotte Lagarde approached jazz pianist Fred Hersch about making a documentary, they intended to capture the making of his ambitious new multimedia production, My Coma Dreams. What started as an investigation into the fantastical creations of Hersch’s unconscious mind turned into a sumptuous celebration of his entire musical world. An […]
Shifting Gears: Law Prof Breaks Cycling Records
Berkeley law professor Molly Shaffer Van Houweling started competitive cycling in her 30s, and has since become a bit of a cycle-path. Last September, at 43, she broke the women’s Union Cycliste Internationale World Hour record, having already established herself as five-time amateur world champion in the UCI time trial and road race events. And […]
Poking the Sleeping Giant: Quake Swarm Could Unleash San Andreas
The swarm of small temblors just off Bombay Beach in the Salton Sea on September 26 isn’t a sign that Palm Springs is about to become beachfront property, but it does point to the inevitability of the “Big One” hitting the South State, say seismologists. “The southern portion of the San Andreas Fault hasn’t ruptured […]
Message in a Bottle: Nearly Four Decades After Launch the Voyager Record Still Inspires
This Friday night the Greek Theatre will host a one-night-only performance of music and storytelling exploring the “sounds, ideas, and culture of California and the West today.” Called “The Golden State Record,” the evening’s program—a joint presentation by the folks at Pop-Up Magazine, California Sunday Magazine (not to be confused with this magazine), and festival […]
Fire Fight: FEMA Yanks Fuel Reduction Funds After Conservation Group Wages Legal Battle
Next month will mark the 25th anniversary of the Oakland Hills Fire, the epochal conflagration that started on October 19 and, driven by strong northeasterly winds, burned more than 1,500 acres over three days, killing 25 people and destroying some 2,500 homes and 400 apartments. Anyone who lived in the Bay Area at that time […]
The Prancing Professor: Glynda Hull and Her Dressage Horse, Celeste
Glynda Hull grew up in rural Mississippi and started riding with her father when she was 7. It was then that she began her Annie Oakley phase—which she never quite grew out of. She put riding on hold during graduate school, but started up again in the early 1990s, and soon began riding competitively. Despite […]
Dreamboat: Nonprofit Builds Tall Ship For Kid-Sailors
Back in the day—way back in the day—young people went to sea to seek fame and fortune, or at least escape the boredom and poverty of the crofter’s hut or the squalor of early factories. But while the commercial sailing fleet is long gone, it remains more than a vivid memory in the Bay Area, […]
A Day at the Races: Law Prof Jesse Choper Finds Thrills, Cheap Entertainment Playing the Ponies
Berkeley Law professor Jesse Choper first got into horse racing in 1969, when he and his friend’s father, a district attorney outside of New York, took a trip to the track. At first, Choper didn’t really get the appeal: “I never did understand how a person who worked really hard, I mean long hours, would […]
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