University of California, Berkeley, doctoral candidate Lawrence Wang, leader of the squirrel documentation project and his team refined efforts to produce the high quality cover images of the August 2021 issue of Science magazine. Their efforts produced some of the best high quality motion shots of fox squirrels showing off their stuff as they leap through the air.
Biologists like Robert Full at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown over the last few decades how animals like geckos, cockroaches and squirrels physically move and how their bodies and limbs help them in sticky situations — all of which have been applied to making more agile robots. But now they are tackling a harder problem: How do animals decide whether or not to take a leap? How do they assess their biomechanical abilities to know whether they can stick the landing?
A new book entitled “What, if Anything, are Species?” by IB Professor Brent Mishler explores this controversial topic in detail, based on 40 years of investigation. He concludes that species are nothing special; entities currently given that rank are simply clades like taxa at all other levels on the tree of life, smaller or larger than the traditional species level. He goes into the advantages of fully rankless classification, and of a multi-level approach to ecology and evolution.
Join IB graduate student Tara Lepore on Thursday, June 10th for another exciting "Grounds for Science" event in UC Berkeley's Science at Cal series. Register for this free event here.
The Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times Award is intended to honor UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and student instructors who in 2020 embraced the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and engaged in or supported excellent teaching. These instructors and staff used innovative methods and worked beyond their traditional roles to ensure that students remained engaged and supported, and were challenged to do meaningful work under extraordinary circumstances.
The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.
Congratulations to:
Dan Kim,
Claire Evensen
Daisy Horr
It was proclaimed on March 14th, 2017, also known as "Pi Day" and is Albert Einstein's birthday (and on every March 14th henceforth) that it is Marian Diamond Day in the City of Berkeley.
Professor Marian Diamond loved to bake pies, and was the first person to publish research on Einstein's brain. We honor her memory this upcoming Pi Day.
Congratulations to The Biology Scholars Program! Which just received the 2020 HEALTH EQUITY INNOVATION FUND grant from Genentech to support students during the pandemic and beyond.
Ream more about the program here!
Bill Clemens, who died peacefully of metastatic cancer at his home in Berkeley on Nov. 17 at the age of 88, became one of the most persuasive voices against the impact hypothesis. He represented many biologists and paleontologists who, seeing continual turnover of life in the fossil record, challenged the catastrophism of physicists like Luis Alvarez, geologists like his son, Walter, and, increasingly, the public, which found the impact hypothesis very compelling.
We applaud the combined responses of our students, staff, and faculty during these unbelievably challenging times and celebrate our amazing portfolio of research, education, and scientific progress for the common good.