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Energy-generating wind turbines

Siebel Energy Institute launches with major Berkeley presence

08/03/15 — The Siebel Energy Institute, a global university consortium focused on smart energy, marked its debut Aug. 3 by announcing 24 research grants nearing $1 million. The winning proposals, many of them led by Berkeley Engineering faculty, will accelerate improved performance in modern energy systems.
Memory chip and circuit diagram

Small tilt in magnets makes them viable memory chips

08/03/15 — EECS researchers at Berkeley have discovered a new way to switch the polarization of nanomagnets, paving the way for high-density storage to move from hard disks onto integrated circuits. The development could lead to computers that turn on in an instant, operate with far greater speed and use significantly less power.
Artist’s rendering of photonic PCR on a chip

Bioengineers use light to turbocharge DNA diagnostics

07/31/15 — New technology developed by Berkeley bioengineers promises to make a workhorse lab tool cheaper, more portable and many times faster by turbocharging the thermal cycling of genetic samples with the switch of a light.
Robot from the science fiction fantasy film “Terminator Genisys.”

Musk, Hawking among experts to urge ban on military robots

07/31/15 New York Times — Thousands of artificial intelligence researchers and experts are calling for a worldwide ban on so-called autonomous weapons, warning that they could set off a revolution in weaponry comparable to gunpowder and nuclear arms. Signatories include EECS professor Stuart Russell, Apple co-founder (and Berkeley alum) Steve Wozniak, and dozens of other Berkeley Engineering faculty and students.
Syed Imran Ali

What are the ethics of humanitarian technology?

07/30/15 Engineering for Change — At this spring's Humanitarian Technology conference, Syed Imran Ali, a postdoctoral fellow in environmental engineering at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, questioned whether, in their zeal to help the world's financially and physically impoverished, engineers are acting in a manner that meets the professional obligation to “first, do no harm.”
Rendering of early Americans during the last Ice Age

Genes yield clues to arrival of first Americans

07/21/15 — Statistical models, including one created by EECS and statistics associate professor Yun Song, confirm that the original Americans crossed a land bridge from Siberia in a single wave no more than 23,000 years ago, at the height of the last Ice Age.
Diagram of smart cap using 3D-printed plastic with embedded electronics to wirelessly monitor the freshness of milk.

3D-printed ‘smart cap’ uses electronics to sense spoiled food

07/20/15 — UC Berkeley engineers, in collaboration with colleagues at Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University, have expanded the range of 3D printing technology to include electrical components, successfully printing a wireless “smart cap” for a milk carton that detects signs of spoilage using embedded sensors.
Panasonic exoskeleton

The exoskeletons are coming

07/16/15 MIT Technology Review — Workers could soon strap on a power-assist suit to maneuver heavy objects, as several companies are working toward commercially available exoskeletons, including Ekso Bionics, cofounded by Berkeley mechanical engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni.
Alice Agogino

Alice Agogino: ME trailblazer

07/15/15 Blum Center — When historians get around to investigating the trials and triumphs of women scientists in the late 20th century, they would do well to spend some time looking at the career of Alice Merner Agogino, a pioneer in mechanical engineering, development engineering and STEM gender equity.
Heart muscle cells (red) and connective tissue (green) grown from stem cells.

Researchers create model of early human heart development from stem cells

07/14/15 — Berkeley bioengineers, in collaboration with scientists at the Gladstone Institutes, have developed a template for growing beating cardiac tissue from stem cells, creating a system that could serve as a model for early heart development and a drug-screening tool to make pregnancies safer.
Process behind the Volta phone-charging rocking chair

Rock on: Student-designed chair generates energy to charge phone

07/13/15 California magazine — The Volta, a chair that harnesses the rocking motion of the sitter to generate energy, has won a National Maker Faire award for its inventors - four Berkeley undergrads taking part in the interdisciplinary Interactive Seating Design Competition sponsored by the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation.
Sonar image of the USS Independence

Radiation safety for sunken-ship archaeology

07/08/15 Berkeley Lab — Kai Vetter, professor of nuclear engineering and Berkeley Lab scientist, is helping researchers determine the radiation risk of exploring an underwater aircraft carrier scuttled off the Farallon Islands after World War II.
Grace O’Connell (right) and PhD graduate student Megan Pendleton in the lab

How to grow back the back

07/06/15 Berkeley Research — Grace O'Connell, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is exploring ways to grow human disc tissue – the spongy, protective material between vertebrae – in order to repair or replace damaged cartilage.