Research

Illustration of heart tissue in isochoric chamber

Cold-hearted science: Supercooling technique advances preservation of human tissue

09/22/21 — Berkeley researchers revive human heart tissue that had been supercooled at subfreezing temperatures for days, showing promise of technique that could be a game-changer for organ transplants and medical research.

Lessons from Hurricane Ida

09/21/21 — Adda Athanasopoulos-Zekkos, associate professor of civil engineering and co-leader of an NSF-funded geotechnical reconnaissance team that traveled to Louisiana, shares her observations about the impact of Hurricane Ida

NSF awards $12.75M to renew natural hazards simulation center

09/20/21 — The four-year grant to the SimCenter supports research to understand and quantify the effects of natural hazards on buildings, lifelines and communities.

Graduate student Tianshi Wang and Prof. Jaijeet Roychowdhury with their 2019 Bell Labs Prize

Engineers pursue novel way to tackle some of today’s hardest computations

09/07/21 — Bakar Fellows: Graduate student Tianshi Wang and EECS professor Jaijeet Roychowdhury invented a novel type of computer that rapidly and efficiently solves combinatorial optimization problems

San Francisco skyline seen through brown haze

New study shows how air pollution varies block by block

09/07/21 — Researchers used Google Street View cars to show that levels of air pollution vary not only by region, such as between urban and rural areas, but also by city street

With a damp TV, Berkeley engineers demonstrate the potential of a green energy harvester

09/06/21 — Researchers report that moisture-induced energy harvesting could be a potential new source of power, particularly in areas of naturally high humidity

Five new hires in the Climate Equity and Environmental Justice cluster

New faculty cluster to focus on climate change, environmental justice

09/02/21 — CNR: Five assistant professors, including civil and environmental engineering's Maya Carrasquillo, will bring their disparate perspectives to research on battling the “climate gap”

Stock photo of light shining through a window revealing smoke

How much wildfire smoke is infiltrating our homes?

09/01/21 — Environmental engineers used crowdsourced data to measure indoor air quality during California’s wildfires.

Frame capture from video about making plastics self-destruct

How to make plastic truly biodegradable

08/31/21 — Professor Ting Xu and her students have come up with a solution for the global problem of single-use plastics: embed enzymes so that the unwanted plastic can self-destruct with a little heat and water

Microbatteries that make sense

08/31/21 — Bakar Fellows: EECS professor Kristofer Pister's research shows how embedding batteries on a chip could enable wearable sensors

Sather Gate viewed through a flexed piece of transparent monolayer semiconductor material

LED material shines under strain

08/26/21 — Berkeley Lab: EECS professor Ali Javey's team has devised a simple tactic to increase the efficiency and brightness of LED devices

A driving force behind mixed-autonomy traffic

08/26/21 — Amazon Science: Alexandre Bayen's research, combining machine learning with big data, looks at how coordinated automation could improve traffic flow, boost efficiency and slash emissions

Using machine learning to detect early-stage cancers

08/16/21 — Berkeley researchers develop algorithm for method that identifies cancer from blood tests, well before first symptoms are present.

Researchers demonstrate new semiconductor device possibilities using black phosphorus

08/11/21 — Material's "magical" properties under stress and strain could help meet growing demand in optical communications and more

UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech and USC launch new National AI Research Institute

07/29/21 — NSF awards $20M for researchers to deploy AI to tackle massive optimization challenges

Animation of magnet pulling binary numbers

Berkeley scientists create world’s thinnest magnet

07/20/21 — Room-temperature 2D magnet could advance applications in computing and electronics

BRAVO research participant communicates through brain activity translated by a neural network.

From brain waves to words

07/19/21 UCSF — Neuroprosthesis breakthrough from joint Berkeley-UCSF bioengineering program restores words to man with paralysis

Peek inside flying bat’s brain uncovers clues to mammalian navigation

07/08/21 — Study by neuroscientists, bioengineers finds neural “GPS system” that tracks many mammals' present — and future — location

STEM tomography image of a 3D-grown 100-200-nanometer crystalline disc.

Crystal impurity is sheer perfection

06/29/21 Berkeley Lab — 3D-grown material designed by Berkeley researchers could speed up production of new technologies for smart buildings and robotics

Randy Katz and Steven Chu flanking the U.S. Capitol dome

Researching while Chinese American

06/25/21 — EECS professor Randy Katz, vice chancellor for research, and former Berkeley Lab director and U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu will take part in a livestreamed June 30 congressional roundtable on ethnic profiling of Chinese American scientists