The pursuit of Planet Nine -a hypothesized Neptune-like giant that some scientists believe may be cruising along a remote orbit in our solar system-can now go door-to-door. A new NASA-launched citizen science project seeks the public’s help in reviewing more than a million animations to identify moving space objects that could be new discoveries.
Category: UC Berkeley
Berkeley engineers join $24 million push for craniofacial repair therapies
Kevin Healy, professor of bioengineering and materials science and engineering, leads Berkeley’s role in a new craniofacial research center, C-DOCTOR. UC Berkeley is part of a California-based, six-university consortium that has been awarded $12 million by the National Institutes of Health to develop strategies for treating craniofacial defects, which affect millions of Americans.
CIA hacking claims: How worried should you be?
Allegations that the U.S. agency has hacked into smartphones, laptops, and internet-connected TVs to spy on people around the world are enough to make anyone paranoid. But security experts are urging tech consumers to keep calm and take a few simple precautions.
SETI Has Already Tried Listening to TRAPPIST-1 for Aliens
The Trappist-1 system has been featured in the news quite a bit lately. In May of 2016 , it appeared in the headlines after researchers announced the discovery of three exoplanets orbiting around the red dwarf star.
Billions at stake in battle over gene-editing patents
Much like a surgical scalpel, the technique allows the genome to be edited by clipping out a specific area of DNA and in some cases replacing it with new instructions The first skirmish was fought last week in what could be a long war over a revolutionary patent on gene-editing technology, with colossal amounts of money at stake. Facing off are the top international experts in the fast-growing field of gene-editing – pitting American scientist Feng Zhang, against the French-American duo of Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna.
Coders to the rescue for NASA’s Earth science data
On Feb. 11, the white stone buildings on UC Berkeley’s campus radiated with unfiltered sunshine. The sky was blue, the campanile was chiming.
NASA Funds 2 New Research Institutes to Help Humanity Explore Deep Space
NASA will spend up to $30 million over the next five years to set up and support two new institutes dedicated to helping humanity extend its footprint out into the solar system. The two Space Technology Research Institutes – each of which will receive up to $15 million of NASA funding over a five-year “period of performance” – will aim to develop new technologies in the fields of biomanufacturing and materials, agency officials said.
Gene Editing Patent Ruling Sways Fortune of Biotech Hopefuls
In a highly anticipated decision that could sway the fortunes of a handful of biotechnology companies, the federal patent office has turned back a challenge to patents covering a widely used method for editing genes. The office’s board of appeals ruled Wednesday that the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard can keep patents it had been awarded for a technique called CRISPR that lets scientists alter DNA within cells.
How UC-Berkeley’s CRISPR license could limit innovation
A smart biotech company could have a great idea for how to use gene editing to develop a new lifesaving therapy – but because of the way licensing deals have been cut by UC-Berkeley and Massachusetts’ Broad Institute, it would never get a chance to try it. That’s the assertion of intellectual property experts in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, who criticize the licensing landscape around the powerful new tool called CRISPR-Cas9, warning it could limit its promise.
Milo Yiannopoulos plans to return to Berkeley
Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos announced on Facebook Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 that he plans to return to Berkeley to speak, following violent protests earlier in the week that prompted UC Berkeley officials to cancel his speaking event at the campus. Controversial provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos announced Saturday morning via Facebook that he has plans to return to Berkeley, following violent demonstrations that prompted UC Berkeley to cancel his speaking event there earlier this week .
Astronomers have filmed 4 planets orbiting an alien solar system
Located about 129 light years from Earth in the direction of the Pegasus constellation is the relatively young star system of HR 8799 . Beginning in 2008, four orbiting exoplanets were discovered in this system which – alongside the exoplanet Formalhaut b – were the very first to be confirmed using the direct imaging technique.
Four Planet System Directly Imaged In Motion
Located about 129 light years from Earth in the direction of the Pegasus constellation is the relatively young star system of HR 8799 . Beginning in 2008, four orbiting exoplanets were discovered in this system which – alongside the exoplanet Formalhaut b – were the very first to be confirmed using the direct imaging technique.
Santa Clara University receives $100 million to build STEM facility
Santa Clara University plans to build an ambitious new science, technology, engineering and math hub, backed by a record $100 million gift from Susan and John A. Sobrato, an SCU alumnus and founder of one of Silicon Valley’s largest commercial development firms. The elegant new building, outfitted with state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment, could be a game-changer for the private, 165-year-old Jesuit university whose reputation was built on the liberal arts, creating a rare opportunity to link fast-moving technical fields with the school’s long-standing commitment to ethics.
Way found to reprogram mouse embryonic stem cells
This undated photo provided by animal clone scientist Zhou Qi of the Institute of Zoology in Beijing shows the mouse Xiao Xiao or “Tiny” from the induced pluripotent stem cells in its three-month old. Two teams of Chinese researchers have created live mice from IPS cells, answering a lingering question about the developmental potential of the cells, according to a press release published online by Nature on July 23, 2009.
Whatsapp bug allows viewing of encrypted messages
Whatsapp’s messaging app supposedly ensures strong end-to-end encryption, with the idea being that only the people involved in a conversation will ever be able to read the messages. But as it turns out, a programming bug – that Whatsapp has known about for some time and has not fixed – theoretically allows Whatsapp to snoop on any encrypted messages sent over the platform.
Scientists reprogram embryonic stem cells to expand their potential
Researchers from UC Berkeley have found a way to reprogram mouse embryonic stem cells so that they exhibit developmental characteristics resembling those of fertilized eggs, or zygotes. While typical embryonic stem cells are unable to make tissues like the placenta, which allow the embryo to communicate with the mother, blocking a microRNA unleashes the potential to make these extra-embryonic tissues .