Science & environment

a silvery Earth in the foreground with a bright white ball in the distance

Research

This rocky planet around a white dwarf resembles Earth — 8 billion years from now

Existence of Earth-like planet around dead sun offers hope for our planet's ultimate survival

man seated in office wearing jacket and tie

Milestones

Physicist Paul Richards, a pioneer in studies of the cosmic microwave background, dies at 90

UC Berkeley professor Randy Schekman looks into the camera with a still image of microscopic yeast cells behind him

Research

How looking closely led this cell biologist to world-changing breakthroughs

Coches manejan a través de esmog en un autopista de California

Mind & body

California ha mejorado la calidad del aire, pero persisten las desigualdades raciales/étnicas

Cars drive through smoggy air on a California highway

California has dramatically improved its air quality, but racial disparities persist

Four researchers walk across a grassy plateau with a view of moutains in the background.

UC Berkeley launches new center focused on environmental stewardship

outline sketches of grains: corn, wheat and rice

Agriculture accelerated human genome evolution to capture energy from starchy foods

a bearded man wearing goggles adjust equipment inside a fume hood

New process vaporizes plastic bags and bottles, yielding gases to make new, recycled plastics

an orange slice of bread and an orange liquid in a white bowl being topped with a drop of amber liquid from a pipette

Can fungi turn food waste into the next culinary sensation?

A black and white illustration depicts an artist’s imagining of an aquifer, showing a large underground mass sprouting a collection of small arms that reach for the roots of plants growing above.

Can an aquifer be injured? Scholar brings a disability lens to ecological repair

a ball of blue blobs with hundreds of orange hairs sticking out

Creature the size of a dust grain found hiding in California’s Mono Lake

A landscape with alternating grassy and forested patches.

Reforestation is more cost-effective than previously thought, study finds

a small white and black tube sits on pebbly red ground in the shade of the Insight lander on Mars

Rocks collected on Mars hold key to water and perhaps life on the planet. Bring them back to Earth.

A white squirrel with red eyes faces the camera with a nut in it’s paws.

How color shapes which animals we fear — and which we protect

the bridk-red planet Mars with white caps at poles

Scientists find oceans of water on Mars. It’s just too deep to tap.

Two individuals inspect a wooden structure in the middle of the weir.

Planning for climate resilience in California’s freshwater ecosystems

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