Jun 25, 2015 | Earth, Energy & Environment
The debate over the legalization of marijuana has focused primarily on questions of law, policy and health. But a new paper co-authored by UC Berkeley researchers shines a spotlight on the environment as an underappreciated victim of the plant’s growing popularity as...
Jun 25, 2015 | Life & Non-humans, Technology
Outfitting a robot with a rounded shell helps it scoot through clutter as easily as a cockroach, UC Berkeley researchers have found. Chen Li, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow, studied the maneuvering ability of cockroaches with rounded shells and saw that their simple...
May 21, 2015 | Physics & Mathematics, Technology
UC Berkeley researchers have developed algorithms that enable robots to learn motor tasks through trial and error using a process that more closely approximates the way humans learn, marking a major milestone in the field of artificial intelligence. They demonstrated...
May 21, 2015 | Brain & Behavior
For 90 years, the embalmed corpse of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin has been on public display in a mausoleum in Moscow’s Red Square, looking remarkably supple considering he died in 1924 at age 53. But ever since the Soviet Union collapsed a quarter-century...
Feb 9, 2015 | Physics & Mathematics
UC Berkeley scientists have found the mechanism by which titanium, prized for its high strength-to-weight ratio and natural resistance to corrosion, becomes brittle with just a few extra atoms of oxygen. The discovery, described in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal...
Jan 23, 2015 | Physics & Mathematics
University of California, Berkeley, scientists have proved a fundamental relationship between energy and time that sets a “quantum speed limit” on processes ranging from quantum computing and tunneling to optical switching. The energy-time uncertainty...
Jan 22, 2015 | Earth, Energy & Environment
Historical California vegetation data that more than once dodged the dumpster have now proved their true value, documenting that a changing forest structure seen in the Sierra Nevada has actually happened statewide over the past 90 years. A team of scientists from the...
Jan 16, 2015 | Brain & Behavior, Technology
An international group of scientists has recommended that the fateful Trinity nuclear test on July 16, 1945, be considered the dawn of a new geological age dubbed the Anthropocene – an era in which humans increasingly shape the planet. Scientists divide Earth history...
Jan 28, 2013 | Brain & Behavior
The connection between poor sleep, memory loss and brain deterioration as we grow older has been elusive. But for the first time, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a link between these hallmark maladies of old age. Their discovery opens...
