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As a science fiction motif, the Robot Apocalypse ranks right up there with the Zombie Apocalypse. And, it seems, itâs more likely: anyone who has browsed Ray Kurtzweilâs work on the Singularityâthe point at which computers achieve true intelligence, and discover their interests arenât necessarily congruent with our ownâmay find the meteoric pace of cybernetics […]
Thatâs one small step for man, one giant leap for the burgeoning field of image forensics. Thanks to a new technique developed by computer scientists at UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College, itâs now going to be that much trickier to convincingly doctor a photograph. Putting the unbending rules of physics and geometry to computer code, […]
The East Bay Community Law Centerâfounded in 1988 by Berkeley (Boalt) Law School studentsâgarnered some effusive kudos when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act last month. The center was instrumental in the passage of the bill, which strengthens consumer protections against coercive debt collection. As the law school reported, the center […]
Congratulations are due to Berkeley alumnus Jonn Herschend, MFA ’06, and the three other recipients of San Francisco Museum of Modern Artâs biennial SECA Award for local artists, announced today. In previous years, an exhibition of the winnersâ works would be mounted at the museum, complete with the usual wine-and-cheese reception. But this year, the museum […]
A few days ago, we posted a piece on breakthroughs in thin-film solar cells, noting the development could lead to wider applications of solar technology. Now, a new study from a team of Berkley researchers led by Dan Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy and the […]
Perhaps youâve seen the news: âHotter Weather Actually Makes Us Want to Kill Each Other.â Thatâs the snappy title that The Atlantic used to describe a new academic paper that looks at the relationship between climate change and human conflict. A joint effort between public policy and economics wonks at Berkeley and Princeton, the meta-study (or […]
As we reported earlier today, a forthcoming study, to be released on Monday, details the consequencesâboth good and badâof the Twin Tunnels project that would divert water from the Sacramento River to farms and cities to the south. Critics say that it addresses only the concerns of contractors and agriculture, and doesnât mention the rest of […]
Itâs hard to generate a great deal of excitement over water. The language that governs its development and disposition is wonky and snooze-inducing; and, hey, I just turned on the tap to wash my hands and water came out, so whatâs the problem? Well, plenty. Battles over California water having been going on since the […]
If youâre looking for a unifying theme behind the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden’s Summer Concert Series, good luck. Proudly hodge-podge in its curation, the summer-long line-up of acts playing the tree-shaded Redwood Grove amphitheater runs willy-nilly from old time R&B to Afropop to Indian roots music to “Tom Waitsâapproved Americana.” Sticking to the theme of […]
Cal Dining chefs Ida Shen Mary Ferrer made an appearance at the Gilroy Garlic Bowl last Friday and went head to head (Iron Chef style) with San Jose State and Fresno State in a nerve-wracking, garlic-infused recipe competition. They were given one hour to cook up two dishes (each containing at least six cloves of garlic) in front of a live audience, […]
In solar cell technology, thin films are the Holy Grail. Standard (crystalline silicon) solar cells are heavy, rigid and bulky; theyâre good for bolting to the roof of your house or using as components in vast arrays covering square miles of the Mojave, discomfiting endangered desert tortoises. But thatâs about it. When it comes to […]
Newsflash: The laws of physics remain in effect! For now, anyway. Thatâs according to a team of Berkeley physicists who decided to peek under the hood of the universe and double-check that everything is still chugging along as expected. Namely, the researchers wanted to see if the speed of light, posited by one Albert Einstein to […]
While a new Associated Press report claims 80 percent of Americans are teetering at the brink of poverty, a recent study from UC Berkeley and Harvard indicates that a childâs chances of rising out of poverty might may be linked to zip code. The Quality of Opportunity Project  examines the likelihood of upward mobility, from a […]
The sculptor, Walter De Maria, known for his simple, yet massive, witty, and disorienting environmental works, the most famous of which was âThe Lightning Field,â died this week in Los Angeles. He was the quintessential New York avant-garde conceptualist/minimalist â having participated in Happenings, played percussion with Lou Reed and John Cale in the […]
The econ-blogs and mainstream papers are all agog over the two candidates considered top contenders to replace Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chief, with many setting it up as a titanic battle of East and Westâcoasts, that is. In the Left Coast corner is Janet Yellen, Fed Vice Chair and Berkeley Professor Emeritus, representing right-brained […]
President Obama is messing with Texas over the state’s eagerness to change election procedures following the Supreme Court’s dumping of key provisions in the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Or rather his proxy, Attorney General Eric Holder, is doing the messinâ: Earlier this week, Holder announced he had asked a U.S. court to force Texas to get […]
For the past 35 years, the Gilroy Garlic Festival has been one of the most popular events in California for those looking to add some flavor to their summer. From gourmet garlic cuisine and garlic ice cream to the Miss Gilroy Garlic contest, the festival lives up to the cityâs nickname as the âGarlic Capital […]
There is some revisionist sentiment manifest on just what it means to be religious in America. In his recent book, After Cloven Tongues of Fire: Protestant Liberalism in American History, Berkeley history Professor David Hollinger maintains that the ecumenical, progressive impulse in American religion has been a much greater force in shaping the national credo […]
A new study from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Brookings Institution indicates that religionâparticularly hardcore fundamentalismâis losing ground with younger Americans, while secularism and more progressive spiritualism is on the rise. Those findings confirm the conclusions of an article we ran in 2011 that examined the growing popularity of non-denominational spiritualism, as well […]
