Latest UC Berkeley Stories

Emotional differences between the rich and poor, as depicted in such Charles Dickens classics as “A Christmas Carol” and “A Tale of Two Cities,” may have a scientific basis. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that people in the lower socio-economic classes are more physiologically attuned to suffering, and quicker to express compassion than their more affluent counterparts. By comparison, the UC Berkeley study found that individuals in the upper...

BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In the coming semesters, Berkeley won't have students tied to their dorm rooms or libraries before finals to access the latest chapter guide or practice test online. Students will experience more freedom studying around the 178-acre campus with expanded Wi-Fi and network coverage from AT&T*. With smartphones and tablets mobilizing the college experience, UC Berkeley, one of the world's premier public universities, and...

Astronomers from UC Berkeley have discovered the largest black holes to date -- two monstrous abyssal voids with masses equivalent to more than 10 billion suns, threatening to consume everything in its path within a region five times the size of our own solar system. The massive black holes are at the centers of two galaxies more than 300 million light years away. Such holes could be the gravitational foundations of galaxies and clues to the fates of violent quasars, the powerful...

UC Berkeley researchers have found that stress chemicals shut down and the brain processes emotional experiences during the REM dream phase of sleep They say time heals all wounds, and new research from the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the painful...

Low-temperature discharges generate oxygen, nitrogen radicals that kill microbes for week University of California, Berkeley, scientists have shown that ionized plasmas like those in neon lights and plasma TVs not only can sterilize water, but make it antimicrobial – able to kill bacteria – for as long as a week after treatment. Devices able to produce such plasmas are cheap, which means they could be life-savers in developing countries, disaster areas or on the battlefield where...

There’s definitely something to be said for first impressions. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests it can take just 20 seconds to detect whether a stranger is genetically inclined to being trustworthy, kind or compassionate. The findings reinforce that healthy humans are wired to recognize strangers who may help them out in a tough situation. They also pave the way for genetic therapies for people who are not innately sympathetic, researchers said....

Two new studies led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers spotlight the human health effects of exposure to smoke from open fires and dirty cookstoves, the primary source of cooking and heating for 43 percent, or some 3 billion members, of the world’s population. Women and young children in poverty are particularly vulnerable. In the first study, the researchers found a dramatic one-third reduction in severe pneumonia diagnoses among children in homes with smoke-reducing...

Scientists pinpoint the brain circuitry linked to making healthy or unhealthy choices What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed the exact locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior. UC Berkeley researchers have found how neural activity in the brain's...

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have turned a benign virus into an engineering tool for assembling structures that mimic collagen, one of the most important structural proteins in nature. The process they developed could eventually be used to manufacture materials with tunable optical, biomedical and mechanical properties. The researchers, led by Seung-Wuk Lee, UC Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National...

HERNDON, Va., Oct. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. today announced that it has donated $50,000 to both the Stanford Solar Car Project and the University of California, Berkeley's CalSol teams in order to help fund the teams' participation in the 2011 World Solar Challenge. The funds will help cover the costs of designing and building the solar vehicles, as well as the fees to enter the competition. The 2011 World Solar Challenge began on Oct. 16, 2011 in Darwin,...