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February 4, 2020

First-of-its-kind hydrogel platform enables on-demand production of medicines and chemicals

a water-based gel that is used in molecular biology research

A team of chemical engineers has developed a new way to produce medicines and chemicals and preserve them using portable 鈥渂iofactories鈥� embedded in water-based gels known as hydrogels. The approach could help people in remote villages or on military missions, where the absence of pharmacies, doctor鈥檚 offices or even basic refrigeration makes it hard to access critical medicines and other small-molecule compounds. The team 鈥� led by Hal Alper, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas, and…

January 21, 2020

Mosquitoes are drawn to flowers as much as people 鈥� and now scientists know why

Despite their reputation as blood-suckers, mosquitoes actually spend most of their time drinking nectar from flowers. Scientists have identified the chemical cues in flowers that stimulate mosquitoes鈥� sense of smell and draw them in. Their findings show how cues from flowers can stimulate the mosquito brain as much as a warm-blooded host 鈥� information that could help develop less toxic repellents and better traps.

January 15, 2020

‘The blob,’ food supply squeeze to blame for largest seabird die-off

dead common murre

When nearly one million common murres died at sea and washed ashore from California to Alaska in 2015 and 2016, it was unprecedented. Scientists from the 91探花, the U.S. Geological Survey and others blame an unexpected squeeze on the ecosystem’s food supply, brought on by a severe and long-lasting marine heat wave known as “the blob.”

December 16, 2019

New study seeks to improve the way dentists measure children鈥檚 pain during appointments

Child in dentist chair during procedure

If you fear a trip to the dentist, you are among a majority of adults that report moderate to high levels of anxiety related to dental care, according to a review of research. And, if you鈥檙e afraid of getting into a dental chair, you are more likely to avoid going and are at risk of oral and overall health problems, such as worsened cardiovascular disease. Studies show that, of those adults with such fear, more than 70% say they started…

December 10, 2019

91探花scientist to lead NASA field study of East Coast snowstorms

professor in office

To better understand large, disruptive snowstorms, a 91探花 atmospheric scientist will lead a NASA field campaign this winter to fly through major snowstorms along the East Coast. The multi-institutional team will observe snow as it forms in clouds to help with satellite monitoring of snowfall and ultimately improve forecasts.

December 6, 2019

Astronomy fellowship demonstrates effective measures to dismantle bias, increase diversity in STEM

a person smiling and looking at the camera

Joyce Yen 鈥� director of the 91探花鈥檚 ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change, an NSF-funded body to promote female STEM faculty on campus 鈥� recently worked with the Heising-Simons Foundation to dismantle bias and promote diversity in a prominent grant that the Foundation awards to postdoctoral researchers in planetary science. In this Q&A, Yen shares the many, sometimes counterintuitive ways bias can work against goals toward greater diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM fields.

November 27, 2019

A method with roots in AI uncovers how humans make choices in groups and social media

Woman holding a smart phone

Using a mathematical framework with roots in artificial intelligence and robotics, 91探花researchers were able to uncover the process of how a person makes choices in groups. And, they also found they were able to predict a person鈥檚 choice more often than more traditional descriptive methods.

November 20, 2019

Emissions from electricity generation lead to disproportionate number of premature deaths for some racial groups

A coal power plant in West Virginia.

91探花researchers have found that air pollution from electricity generation emissions in 2014 led to about 16,000 premature deaths in the continental U.S. In many states, the majority of the health impacts came from emissions originating in other states.

November 12, 2019

New Weill Neurohub will unite UCSF, UC Berkeley, 91探花in race to find new treatments for brain diseases

An image of neurons under a microscope

With a $106 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and the 91探花 have launched the Weill Neurohub, an innovative research network that will forge and nurture new collaborations between neuroscientists and researchers working in an array of other disciplines 鈥� including engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry and mathematics 鈥� to speed the development of new therapies for diseases and disorders that affect the brain and nervous system.

Light-based ‘tractor beam’ assembles materials at the nanoscale

A diagram of an optical trap

Researchers at the 91探花 have developed a method that could make reproducible manufacturing at the nanoscale possible. The team adapted a light-based technology employed widely in biology 鈥� known as optical traps or optical tweezers 鈥� to operate in a water-free liquid environment of carbon-rich organic solvents, thereby enabling new potential applications.

New technique lets researchers map strain in next-gen solar cells

an image showing the surface of a solar cell, and which sections of the surface are susceptible to heat loss

Researchers from the 91探花 and the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in the Netherlands have developed a way to map strain in lead halide perovskite solar cells. Their approach shows that misorientation between microscopic perovskite crystals is the primary contributor to the buildup of strain within the solar cell, which creates small-scale defects in the grain structure, interrupts the transport of electrons within the solar cell, and ultimately leads to heat loss through a process known as non-radiative recombination.

October 15, 2019

UW’s Ashleigh Theberge receives Packard Fellowship for research on cell communication signals

Person looking at camera

Ashleigh Theberge, a 91探花 assistant professor of chemistry, has been named a 2019 Packard Fellow for her research on cell signaling. Every year since 1988, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has awarded Packard Fellowships in Science and Engineering to early-career scientists to pursue the types of innovative projects that often fall outside the purview of traditional sources of funding, such as research grants from government agencies. As one of 22 fellows for 2019, Theberge will receive $875,000…