Enhanced microscopic resolution for improved diagnostics
06/17/15 — Researchers in the Waller Lab aim to make diagnosing diseases easier by algorithmically boosting the power of ordinary optical devices.
Research
Power to the people
06/01/15 Berkeley Research — Computer science professor Eric Brewer and the students in his cross-departmental Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) program are tackling power shortages in Africa, blindness in India, and other challenges where technology can make a major impact in the developing world.
New ‘deep learning’ technique enables robot mastery of skills via trial and error
05/22/15 — 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.
Robots are really bad at folding towels
05/20/15 NPR — Seven years ago, Berkeley researcher Pieter Abbeel set out on a quest: to teach a robot how to fold laundry. This proved to be a remarkably difficult task - and the difficulty of the task illuminates some key things about the limits of machines. See story and hear four-minute podcast.
How smart is today’s artificial intelligence?
05/20/15 PBS News Hour — How far away are we from making intelligent machines that actually have minds of their own? Berkeley researchers Stuart Russell and Pieter Abbeel weigh in on this nine-minute PBS News Hour segment, along with Elon Musk and Google's Ray Kurzweil.
A way to brew morphine raises concerns over regulation
05/20/15 New York Times — A fermentation process that produces heroin's raw ingredient has stirred debate over whether the drug trafficking trade could benefit more than the pharmaceutical industry.
Discovery paves way for homebrewed drugs, prompts call for regulation
05/18/15 — Research led by Berkeley bioengineers has completed key steps needed to turn sugar-fed yeast into a microbial factory for producing therapeutic drugs. But because the work could lead to home-brewing of opiates and other controlled substances, the researchers warn that regulators and law enforcement need to pay attention, too.
Drug perks up old muscles and aging brains
05/13/15 — UC Berkeley bioengineers have discovered that a small-molecule drug simultaneously perks up old stem cells in the brains and muscles of mice, a finding that could lead to drug interventions for humans that would make aging tissues throughout the body act young again.
The skinny on skin
05/04/15 Inside Science — A study co-authored by materials science and engineering professor Robert Ritchie has shown, for the first time, that collagen explains the great durability of skin. The finding could help scientists develop better synthetic skin and improve the strength of man-made materials.
Fostering disruptive technologies
05/01/15 — The Bakar Fellows program supports faculty who are trying to translate research into commercialized technologies.
The graphene switch
05/01/15 — New research holds promise for controlling graphene's properties, potentially opening new applications for its use.
The many frontiers of synthetic biology
05/01/15 — Better drug delivery systems and provisioning deep space missions are among the new ideas emerging from synthetic biology research.
NASA Tensegrity robots
05/01/15 — These squishy robots are inspiring new ways of thinking about the form and function of automated systems.
‘Intelligent design’ — can it deliver?
04/28/15 Berkeley Research — Berkeley bioengineer David Schaffer uses a strategy known as directed evolution to find variations in a common virus that will allow it to effectively deliver drugs to target cells.
UC grad students deliver solutions, startups
04/24/15 University of California — Grad students from across the UC system will descend on Sacramento April 28 for Graduate Research Advocacy Day. Among them will be Berkeley civil engineering grad student André Carrel, who is studying how bus service reliability affects ridership.
The cyber-biophysical research frontier
04/16/15 — Cyber-biophysical systems, our newest research field, integrates sensing, computational and communications networks with human biology.
UN honors nanotech pioneer
04/13/15 UNESCO — Connie Chang-Hasnain, Whinnery Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, was awarded a medal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in recognition of her innovative nanotechnology research.
Electric vehicle batteries last longer than previously thought
03/30/15 Berkeley Lab — Scott Moura, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has co-authored a study with Berkeley Lab colleagues that may alleviate concerns over battery life in electric vehicles.
Synthetic coatings: Super surfaces
03/26/15 Nature — Characteristics adapted from lizards, ivy and other natural materials could help to engineer everyday objects with remarkable properties. Professor Phillip Messersmith, a Berkeley materials scientist and bioengineer, is studying mussel adhesive, which is ideal for securing objects underwater.
The waves of the future may bend around metamaterials
03/24/15 New York Times — In recent years, scientists have learned how to construct materials that bend light, radar, radio, even seismic waves in ways that do not naturally occur. A key pioneer of these metamaterials is Berkeley Engineering's Xiang Zhang, whose lab has created optical “superlenses” that may one day surpass the power of today's microscopes.