Posted by
Cassie Myers on Wednesday, December 02, 2009 04:33 pm
All these accolades are starting to get tiring. Third best university in the world, oodles of NLs, and now this: two Fulbright scholars from (you guessed it) our very own university.
Who are the two lucky ducks? read more »
Posted by
Cassie Myers on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 09:38 am
The “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” advice is so trite that we’re tempted to scream whenever we hear it mentioned. However, we will admit (yes, even snarky, jaded bloggers like ourselves) that empathy is a valuable character trait (and not just if you’re minoring in global poverty).
So you wanna know something weird? Some people may actually be more empathetic based on their genes. Researchers at Berkeley recently discovered that certain people with “a particular variation of the oxytocin receptor gene” nicknamed read more »
Posted by
Cassie Myers on Thursday, October 29, 2009 07:23 pm
Research universities may sound boring, but you never know exactly what those crazy guys will be up to. Perhaps they will be teaching Argentinian ants to hate each other, for example.
That’s right, you heard correctly. Researchers from UC Berkeley have just figured out that certain chemical cues will cause normally friendly ants to turn on each other. They isolated the chemicals that promote fighting behavior and the ants attacked. “‘The enemy chemicals read more »
Posted by
Diana Newby on Thursday, September 03, 2009 10:13 pm
So we’d already heard that we’re the bee’s knees (not that we needed telling)—we just weren’t sure to precisely what extent. But the grades are in, and it looks like UC Berkeley is truly scoring top marks: 100 spankin’ percent, to be exact.
Using a highly mysterious algorithm that we’re certain took several moons and a few gallons of orc’s blood to compute, Washington Monthly ranked read more »
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Tuesday, September 01, 2009 01:13 am
Just kidding. That’s not even kind of true. What is true, though, is that instead of focusing their energy (heh, heh, heh) on making the world’s biggest laser, Berkeley researchers have recently turned their attention to the other end of the size spectrum. And they have been successful in their endeavors–they just created “the world’s smallest semiconductor laser.”
Now, as usual, we won’t pretend to have any real understanding of how this nano-thing works, but apparently it has solid implications for the fields of optical computing, optics-based telecommunication and nanolasers that manipulate DNA. This means that related technology will be likely become much faster and that scientists will finally be able to develop a tiny army of super-mutants to take over the world.
Image Source: Fenchurch! under Creative Commons
World’s smallest semiconductor laser heralds new era in optical science [NewsCenter]
.!.
Reflections release
So, have you ever found yourself in the California Cental Valley and been overwhelmed by the feeling that you were surrounded by extinct sea creatures?
Yeah, neither have we. But apparently we were–according to UC Berkeley researchers, who have unearthed some fishy fossils in the area that seem to have belonged to some epic sea creatures, including a 40-foot shark.
read more »
Posted by
Jill Cowan on Thursday, November 06, 2008 08:20 pm
We all get butterflies in our tummies when we meet new people, but according to a study by UC Berkeley researchers, being less racist might help you become less socially awkward. Well, kind of.
The study found that if you mingle with people who aren’t of the same race as you a few times, you’re that much less likely to internally freak out the next time you encounter strangers. It’s also likely that your next group of friends will more closely resemble a United Colors of Benetton ad. read more »
Cal and Stanford have decided not to sell their souls to the demon of restricting research (also known as the government) and turned down quite a bit of money in doing so. The two universities decided that sharing their research was worth more than having it edited, reviewed, or barred from publication. Good choice.
A study that looked for “troublesome clauses” in research contracts among several universities found an increase since 2004. But to be fair to the government, they’re only trying to keep sensitive data from falling into terrorist hands.
But is the government overreacting? Almost certainly. After all, you don’t need to review, edit and prevent research from publication in order to fight terrorism—you just need to keep the researchers’ names anonymous.
Image Source: ahhhh under Creative Commons, modified by Evante Garza-Licudine
Top schools choosing academic freedom over government research restrictions [The Mercury News]
“Terrorism”–ha, how’s that for loaded language? We needed something to even the odds a bit with the onslaught of a revived animal rights movement here in Berkeley. “Stop Cal Vivisection” is an ongoing war cry amongst protesters nowadays. This sounds harmless enough, but their claims that “40,000 animals are caged and being tortured” is enough to raise eyebrows.
Is anyone up to spearheading a movement along the lines of “Stop ‘Stop Cal Vivisection?’”
read more »
Loading ...
Print This Post
