https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from University of California - Berkeley Two unrelated groups of nectar eaters, hummingbirds and sunbirds, have evolved different techniques to slurp the sweet liquid from flowers. The tongue suctioning employed by sunbirds is unique among vertebrates, according to recent research appearing in Current Biology. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-video-sunbirds-hummingbirds-dont.html Plants & Animals Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:10:01 EDT news695317621 Over one billion people worldwide are over 60, and the population is projected to more than double by 2050. But as more people live into their 60s, 70s, and 80s, health care systems across the globe may face new challenges as they attempt to manage associated increases in age-related disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-chip-technology-replicates-decades-human.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:40:04 EDT news694104481 For decades, ever since biologists recognized the potential environmental harms from climate change, they have worried that plants will not be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to a rapidly warming planet. But the pace of research to understand how species respond has been slow, typically based on single, stand-alone experiments by isolated research groups around the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-kind-tracks-evolution-response-climate.html Evolution Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:00:15 EDT news693666681 As bees and hummingbirds flit from flower to flower, greedily sipping nectar in exchange for pollination, the animals often get another treat: alcohol. In the first broad analysis of the alcohol content of flower nectars, University of California, Berkeley biologists found detectable alcohol in at least one flower of 26 of the 29 species of plants tested. While most samples had very low levels, almost certainly from yeast fermenting the sugars in the nectar, one contained 0.056% ethanol by weight: about 1/10 proof. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nectar-naturally-spiked-widespread-ethanol.html Plants & Animals Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:00:07 EDT news693662881 Lymph nodes, considered the command centers of our immune system, often get swollen and stiff when fighting infection. Now, a UC Berkeley-led team of researchers has discovered that this mechanical change may help instruct our immune system to fight disease. Their findings could lead to a new method for manufacturing immune cells that maximizes their cancer-cell killing abilities while reducing side effects. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-tuning-cells-cancer-power-hydrogel.html Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:40:03 EDT news692546882 Astronomers have for the first time seen the birth of a magnetar—a highly magnetized, spinning neutron star—and confirmed that it's the power source behind some of the brightest exploding stars in the cosmos. The finding corroborates a theory proposed by a UC Berkeley physicist 16 years ago and establishes a new phenomenon in exploding stars: supernovae with a "chirp" in their light curve that is caused by general relativity. A paper describing the phenomenon was published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-astronomers-capture-birth-magnetar-link.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:03 EDT news692445054 Wildfires in the northern boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia may be more damaging to the climate than previously thought, a new UC Berkeley-led study suggests. That's because these fires don't just burn through trees; they can also penetrate deep into the carbon-rich layers of soil underneath many boreal forests, releasing carbon that has been accumulating for hundreds or even thousands of years. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-underestimating-true-carbon-northern-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:00:05 EST news691342862 Aleksey Maro knows far more than he cares to know about the urination habits of chimpanzees. But if you want to measure the alcohol intake of chimps in a Ugandan rain forest, where a breathalyzer is impractical, collecting urine for analysis is your only choice. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-urine-alcohol-consumption-wild-african.html Plants & Animals Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:10:01 EST news691071121 Every winter, thousands of tourists travel to high-latitude regions like Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska hoping to see the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. Vincent Ledvina, an aurora guide and Ph.D. student in space physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, estimates he leads 1,000 people on aurora tours each year. Some ask Ledvina how the dazzling curtains of light are created, and he tells them that auroras occur when high-energy particles from space are funneled by Earth's magnetosphere into the polar atmosphere and collide with different molecules in the air. Ledvina says that more specific questions can be difficult to answer. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-cinema-mission-explore-auroras-earth.html Astronomy Tue, 24 Feb 2026 11:00:07 EST news691153142 After nearly 40 years of research on how Listeria bacteria manipulate our cells and battle our immune system to cause listeriosis, Daniel Portnoy and his colleagues have discovered a way to turn the bacteria into a potent booster of the immune system—and a potential weapon against cancer. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-basic-listeria-bacteria-unique-cancer.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 12 Feb 2026 19:20:03 EST news690125870 Using detailed surveys and machine learning computation, new research co-authored at UC Berkeley's Center for Effective Global Action finds that eradicating extreme poverty would be surprisingly affordable. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bold-extreme-poverty-worldwide.html Economics & Business Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:51:43 EST news689421062 In 2023, more than half of all suicide deaths in the United States involved firearms. "Red flag" laws—also called Extreme Risk Protection Orders or ERPOs—are designed to reduce these deaths by authorizing temporary firearm removal from individuals deemed at high risk of harming themselves or others. ERPO laws had been implemented in 21 states and the District of Columbia as of February 2025. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-laws-guns-distressed-individuals-suicides.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:30:01 EST news689002196 Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets around single stars, but few around binary stars—even though both types of stars are equally common. Physicists can now explain the dearth. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-tatooine-planets-rare-general-binary.html Astronomy Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:27:18 EST news688998421 At first glance, some scientific research can seem, well, impractical. When physicists began exploring the strange, subatomic world of quantum mechanics a century ago, they weren't trying to build better medical tools or high-speed internet. They were simply curious about how the universe worked at its most fundamental level. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-video-basic-science-foundation.html Other Sat, 17 Jan 2026 10:20:02 EST news687770250 For 21 years, between 1999 and 2020, millions of people worldwide loaned UC Berkeley scientists their computers to search for signs of advanced civilizations in our galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-enthusiasts-home-scientists-homing.html Astronomy Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:07:24 EST news687535621 On January 5, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. The curtailment drew sharp criticism from the nation's leading pediatric medical organizations and caused confusion among parents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-vaccine-parents-children.html Pediatrics Mon, 12 Jan 2026 09:18:26 EST news687431761 Many scholars have assumed nudges—a small push that encourages better choices—are always good for society. But UC Berkeley Economics professor Dmitry Taubinsky says it's not that simple. Instead, policies that create nudges to influence behavior should be tested with data and careful thinking to make sure they actually help. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-nudges-good-society-economics.html Social Sciences Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:00:20 EST news685350002 Are you a social savant who easily reads people's emotions? Or are you someone who leaves an interaction with an unclear understanding of another person's emotional state? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-room-brains-complicated-shortcut.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:30:07 EST news685121054 Among the more puzzling cosmic phenomena discovered over the past few decades are brief and very bright flashes of blue and ultraviolet light that gradually fade away, leaving behind faint X-ray and radio emissions. With slightly more than a dozen discovered so far, astronomers have debated whether they are produced by an unusual type of supernova or by interstellar gas falling into a black hole. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-powering-mysterious-bright-blue-cosmic.html Astronomy Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:05:10 EST news685116240 The Amazon rainforest is slowly transitioning to a new, hotter climate with more frequent and intense droughts—conditions that haven't been seen on Earth for tens of millions of years. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hypertropical-climate-emerging-amazon-exposing.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:00:25 EST news684583506 A new series in The Lancet led by a UC Berkeley professor equips policymakers and clinicians with a toolkit to break out of silos and make more informed health decisions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-biology-social-context-key-modern.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 05 Dec 2025 09:33:06 EST news684149558 Nina Beguš remembers being at an event 10 years ago where a group of engineers showcased new robots that could recognize human emotions and offer basic compliments. It was years before AI chatbots would become fixtures of daily online life. But Beguš, who was beginning her Ph.D. in comparative literature, could already envision what was coming. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-greek-myths-hollywood-ai-today.html Machine learning & AI Thu, 04 Dec 2025 11:43:02 EST news684070918 Americans who grow up in historically violent states may move to a safer state, but they remain far more likely to die violently, according to new research co-authored at the University of California, Berkeley. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-americans-migrate-violent-states-future.html Political science Tue, 02 Dec 2025 14:10:01 EST news683904729 When UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna first began studying how bacteria fight virus infections, she had no idea it would result in one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the century. Her curiosity-driven research on an obscure bacterial immune system called CRISPR eventually led to a revolutionary gene-editing tool—and earned her the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-university-policies-science-patenting-boosts.html Economics & Business Mon, 01 Dec 2025 16:45:20 EST news683829902 A University of California, Berkeley chemist has engineered a new technology that could make hydrogen-producing fuel cells last longer and hasten the arrival of cost-competitive, eco-friendly versions of the fuel source. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-green-hydrogen-electrode-membrane-electrolyzers.html Engineering Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:28:34 EST news683227681 Few workers face more scrutiny than professional athletes. Every movement is measured, every outcome quantified, and every performance evaluated against objective standards. So when UC Berkeley Haas researcher Tim Sels wondered how America's deepening political polarization was affecting workers' performance, he turned to one of the most comprehensive data sets on individual human performance: the PGA Tour. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-golf-lesson-political-polarization.html Economics & Business Wed, 19 Nov 2025 08:53:05 EST news682764782 A two-decade-long experiment in the Sierra Nevada found that regular prescribed burns promote carbon sequestration in live trees and plants, maintaining forests' long-term ability to store carbon while also reducing wildfire hazard. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-forest-carbon-big-resistant-trees.html Ecology Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:14:05 EST news682614841 Biologists thought that marine heat waves lowered urchin reproduction only at lethal temperatures. A new study shows reproductive shutdown even earlier. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-moderate-depress-sea-urchin-reproduction.html Plants & Animals Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:03:04 EST news682347781 Today's high-tech electronics and green energy technologies would not function without rare earth elements (REEs). These 17 metals possess unique properties essential to creating items like the phosphors that illuminate our mobile phone displays and the powerful magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines. But extracting these substances from raw materials is a dirty process that relies on toxic chemicals and leaves behind polluted waste. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-genetically-virus-smart-sponge-rare.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:43:47 EST news682267422 Jun Sunseri remembers his grandfather, Stanley, sharing stories about his service in World War II. A mechanic in the U.S. Army Air Forces, Stanley was deployed to North Africa and Italy, where he repaired bombers and fighter planes that flew across Europe. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-crowdsourcing-cameras-fallen-soldiers-home.html Archaeology Mon, 10 Nov 2025 12:34:05 EST news682000441