News

An orange Garibaldi floats above a field of purple sea urchins, which have proliferated along the California coast and in boom years often decimate kelp forests. Understanding the causes of urchin boom and bust cycles can help biologists plan mitigation measures that preserve a balanced coastal ecosystem. Photo Credit: Ron McPeak, courtesy of the Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research Program

Biologists believed that urchin reproduction along the Pacific Coast would only be affected by marine heat waves at lethal ocean temperatures, a new study conducted by IB Assistant Professor Daniel Okamoto and other marine biologists at UC Berkeley suggests that this threshold of susceptibility, for urchins and other marine species, may be at lower temperatures than previously thought. Read the full article here.

Pictured is a microscopic level image of microorganisms.

The origins of ever-evolving life are never sufficiently explained; innovations in the complex origins of life are continually being expanded into new horizons. Join Wonderfest’s guest speaker, Distinguished IB Professor and Director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Dr. Charles Marshall, on November 18, 2025, as he explores the integral role of energy and information in the past, present, and future of life on Earth. Read the full article here.

Flows of tracer particles show the attractive force of a positively charged fruit fly. Parasitic nematodes use this static charge to leap onto the insects. Victor Ortega Jimenez/University of California, Berkeley

Assistant Professor Victor Ortega-Jiménez and his lab have discovered that jumping entomopathogenic nematodes can be electrostatically attracted by the natural electric fields of the flying insects, thus increasing the effectiveness attachment to distant hosts and likelihood of infection. Read more...