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All American children are guaranteed a free public education, but nobody pretends that education is “equal.” The quality of public schools varies widely, and education experts have struggled for decades to correct the inequities—seemingly with little success. But a recently released study suggests that the solution could be surprisingly straightforward. The study—by associate professor Rucker […]
Years ago, I never thought to myself, ‘Hey, I’ve gotta be the guy who writes about chronic fatigue syndrome.’ I mean, why would I? It just sort of happened. When research suggested in 2010 that the illness might be linked to a mouse retrovirus, I wrote a piece about it for The New York Times. […]
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 […]
Imagine a community center that’s not your typical chunk of cinderblock—instead it’s an architecturally avant garde space where neighbors gather to grow, cook and eat food. That’s the concept behind the breezy structure “Nest We Grow,” an experiment designed to connect a community’s social spaces and growing spaces. The Nest can be found in the […]
The recent rains have blunted the psychological impact of California’s four-year drought, washing down the streets, perking up the landscaping, and heightening anticipation for a stormy El Nino-driven winter. We know, however, that one wet year is highly unlikely to end water shortages. What we may not fully grasp is that the damage done to […]
Fathers and sons—not surprisingly—have things in common. Frequently, the most important are not so obvious. Similar experiences converge as life unfolds. Some, however, are fate driven. I was able to influence my son’s journey in two significant ways. First of all, we both went to Cal. Second, we both served in the military. Brad currently […]
Americans have not only embraced the Shultz dictum that happiness is a warm puppy: They’re applying it to warm rabbits, kangaroo rats, pot-bellied pigs, cockatiels and ferrets. And for that matter, to decidedly tepid ball pythons, Cuban rock iguanas and Chilean rose hair tarantulas. The issue here isn’t the type of beastie; it’s that animals […]
We’ve tried countless ways to cure our national obesity epidemic—from the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” evangelism to invasive bariatric surgery. The latest potential strategy to help people lose excess weight: fat implants. It may seem like a paradox, but it hinges on the kind of fat we’re talking about. Only one type of fat in […]
Off-cycle elections—such as the one we mostly didn’t vote in on Tuesday—are the steamed peas of the American political process. They are tolerated, but they draw minimal interest, attracting far fewer voters than quadrennial presidential elections and biennial congressional races. And the conventional wisdom is that this redounds to the benefit of Republicans, who tend […]
After Berkeley became the first city in the nation to pass an excise soda tax one year ago, opponents dismissed Berkeley as such an outlier that the victory was inconsequential. “Berkeley is not necessarily the trendsetter that they claim to be,” Roger Salazar, spokesman for the No Berkeley Beverage Tax campaign, was quoted saying. “They […]
Think of the San Francisco skyline. You’re probably imagining a series of gradual boxes punctuated with a single pointed pyramid. If you’re thinking more expansively, or perhaps you have regular access to a helicopter, you would include the bridges at the bay and the Golden Gate. If you’ve spent a great deal of time not […]
Passwords and humans are frenemies: We tolerate each other because we have to, but we seem to know that one will screw the other over sooner or later (as evidenced by the many security breaches of 2015). Managing our password portfolio is more maddening than ever, given that more than half of us have five […]
In the spring of 2014, Maddy Kerr was the only member of her family living in the Bay Area. She was nearing the end of her freshman year at UC Berkeley, on the brink of walking into an Intro to Film final exam, when her phone buzzed with a text from her dad. Steve Kerr […]
In 1975, two years before Tom Brady was born, another Golden Boy burst upon the football scene.
In 1976, Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner tapped Joan Didion to cover the Patty Hearst trial. What a match-up. What a saga. California royalty caught in surreal counterculture chaos, narrated by a star of the New Journalism, herself a daughter of the Golden West. Didion signed on, and announced that she wouldn’t be spending much […]
It’s affirmed in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence as an unalienable right: the pursuit of happiness. No wonder that Americans hold happiness in high regard; it’s practically a birthright. “Happiness is a goal of mine, but it also happens to be my day job,” says Brett Ford, who’s pursuing her Ph.D. in […]
The re-birth of Bowles Hall is so far proceeding on schedule and on budget. And might include a monkey tiki. The $40 million renovation of the iconic, 1929 dormitory has been moving forward at a rapid clip since UC Berkeley OK’d the project in July, transferring its ownership to a non-profit run by Bowles alumni. […]
In 1958, fresh from earning a Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry at UC Berkeley, Richard Peterson took a job with E. & J. Gallo winery in Modesto. He’d previously been wooed by Pillsbury, who at the time was experimenting with the novel idea of freezing dough for ready-to-bake biscuits, and were seeking out the brightest new […]
“Screw the system” was a prevailing theme of Friday’s talks at Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas. Several speakers indicted the status quo for inflicting criminal, economic and political injustice, and called for the dismantling and then reconstruction of those systems to create a fairer society. Take, for example, the forum “Criminal Justice 2,” where UC […]
