Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 22h

🦠 UC Berkeley's Andrew Dillin is launching CURED, a new center that connects efforts across campus to discover cures for unmet, rare, and emerging diseases.
“We are decentralizing the normal path to clinical breakthrough.”
Read more: https://bit.ly/42CVDkK
#GlobalHealth #ResearchImpact #CURED

Andrew Dillin smiles in front of a lush green tree and wooden building. He has short brown hair, a gray beard and mustache, and is wearing a navy blue hoodie. The background shows curved tree branches and a pond surrounded by greenery.

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 2d

Juan Liu, a UC Berkeley paleontologist, assistant adjunct professor of integrative biology and assistant curator in the UC Museum of Paleontology, used fossilized ear bones to rewrite the history of freshwater fish! Learn how: https://bit.ly/4odOY8V 🐟

#Research @ucmpberkeley.bsky.social

An artist’s reconstruction of the Weberian apparatus in a 67 million-year-old fossil fish. Gold-colored bones at the center show the Weberian structure connecting the air bladder on the left to the inner ear on the right. The background shows fish lineages that evolved after the supercontinent Pangea broke up.

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 2d

UC Berkeley's Department of African American Studies has launched a three-year initiative on Black critical theory, founded by Professor Henry Washington, Jr., to explore new directions in the field. 📚

➡️ Read more here: https://bit.ly/47dK1am

#AfricanAmericanStudies
#BlackCriticalTheory

Henry Washington, Jr. rests his face on one hand against a light gray background. He wears round eyeglasses, a black turtleneck sweater, and a black wristwatch. His dark, shoulder-length hair is styled in locs, and he wears a silver ring on his finger.

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 3d

📚 Did you know? UC Berkeley students can now major in Korean studies! The program offers an interdisciplinary dive into Korea’s language, history, and culture, reflecting growing demand across campus. 🇰🇷✨

Read More Here ➟ https://bit.ly/42T9pzC

Side-by-side portraits of UC Berkeley professors Steven Lee (left) and Jinsoo An (right). Lee, wearing glasses and a gray polo, is speaking with hands gesturing in front of bookshelves. An, wearing glasses and a blue button-down shirt, stands in front of a bookshelf.

Reposted by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · 7d

Today, CA Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to create “quantum innovation zones” across the state, positioning the UC Berkeley campus as a leader in the race to establish California and the Bay Area as a center of an emerging economy. news.berkeley.edu/2025/10/03/g...

Gov. Newsom visits UC Berkeley to sign bill encouraging quantum innovation - Berkeley News

The bill helps cities establish 'quantum innovation zones' to attract and retain businesses built on quantum information science, an area expected to evolve into a trillion-dollar-plus industry.

news.berkeley.edu

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 4d

⚛️ Gov. Gavin Newsom visited UC Berkeley to sign Assembly Bill 940, creating “quantum innovation zones” to boost research, jobs, and California’s leadership in the trillion-dollar quantum economy.
Learn More: https://bit.ly/432FiG3
#UCBerkeley #Quantum #Research #Innovation

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, wearing a dark blue suit and tie, listens attentively to a researcher in a light pink shirt inside a UC Berkeley quantum computing lab. The two stand beside a curved computer monitor displaying code, with blue cables and illuminated equipment surrounding a large cylindrical quantum device glowing with blue light in the background.

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 7d

#FacultyFriday: UC Berkeley historian Susanna Elm studies the late Roman Empire to understand how its legacies of autocracy, slavery, gender, religion and medicine continue to shape the world today 🏛️

➡️ Read more: https://bit.ly/4nY2Unb

#UCBerkeley #History #RomanEmpire #Research

Susanna Elm, a woman with curly light brown hair, wearing a navy blue shirt, is smiling in front of a softly blurred indoor background with warm tones and a hint of flowers.

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 11d

🔬 Elena Conis, UC Berkeley professor of history and journalism, explores the history of vaccine hesitancy from smallpox to COVID-19. Learn how culture, politics & science are influencing policy and shaping attitudes. ➟ https://bit.ly/4gLicJT
#VaccineHistory #PublicHealth

Black and white portrait of Elena Conis, a professor of history and journalism at UC Berkeley. Elena is wearing a dark herringbone blazer, showing one earring, and a thin necklace.
Photo Credit: Brittany Hosea-Small

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 15d

🤩 Congratulations to Dacher Keltner, UC Berkeley psychologist, who recently received a lifetime achievement award from the Association for Psychological Science 🏆 Read more >> https://bit.ly/4nPcrwR

Video screenshot from Professor Keltner's Academic Review video about contributing to Pixar's Inside Out.

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 15d

🎧 In this insightful episode of #BerkeleyTalks, UC Berkeley philosopher Alva Noë argues that life and art are entangled. Learn how art changes us as humans, and makes us new >> https://bit.ly/42aCvu4

A woman looks at enlarged mounted photos of sparse rooms in a house on a gallery wall

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 17d

💡AI is revolutionizing weather prediction! Co-developed by #UCBerkeley professor William Boos, an AI-based weather model successfully predicted a delayed monsoon in India & enabled millions of farmers to adjust crop planting accordingly. ➡️ https://bit.ly/4nPXKd7

#ResearchWithResults

a man in a rice field looking at his mobile phone

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 18d

🌟 Congratulations to the 2025 L&S First-Year Pathways Course Enrichment Grant awardees! L&S Pathways helps students explore majors, fulfill breadth requirements, and discover new passions - all while making positive connections in small cohorts. Read more >> https://bit.ly/3Kidk2D

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 23d

🗓️ WEDNESDAY, OCT 8: Join us for a screening of The Last Class, the hit documentary capturing UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Robert Reich's last semester. Writer & comedian W. Kamau Bell will join Prof Reich for a conversation after the film.

🎟️ TICKETS ARE ONLINE >> https://bit.ly/4gxZ0PA

Event details for screening of The Last Class with photos of Robert Reich and W. Kamau Bell.

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Reposted by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · 23d

Despite initial doubts about whether it could work, immunotherapy is today considered one of the most promising fields within cancer research. We have the work of Allison and researchers like him to thank for it.

🔗 Learn more about world-changing Berkeley research at berkeley.edu/research-impact

Research With Results - University of California, Berkeley

berkeley.edu

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Reposted by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · 23d

Immunotherapy is a breakthrough for which researchers James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo shared a 2018 Nobel Prize, in large part thanks to work Allison did as director of UC Berkeley’s Cancer Research Laboratory.

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Reposted by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · 23d

Cancer is a personal disease. Nearly 2 in 5 people in the U.S. will develop cancer over the course of their lifetime, meaning almost everyone knows someone who has fought it.

Until the discovery of immunotherapy, cancer treatments were crude tools with painful side effects.

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 23d

Blind, neurodivergent, first-gen alum Ann Wai-Yee Kwong ’15 is reframing disability justice and creating space that is joyful, messy, healing & hopeful at UC Berkeley. Her leadership shows that true access requires cultural change.

Learn More 👉 https://bit.ly/42ygPrO

#DisabilityJustice ✊

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · 29d

#FacultyFriday: Meet UC Berkeley music professors Edmund Campion and Carmine-Emanuele Cella 🎶 After Campion retires as director of the Center for New Music and Associated Technologies (CNMAT) in 2027, Cella will assume the leadership role. Read more >> https://bit.ly/3K6DTaR

Headshots of Professor Edmund Campion at left and Professor Carmine-Emanuele Cella at right.

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Sep 11

😴 Chalk up another reason to get your sleep: @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social researchers find that the growth hormone released during sleep is critical not only for childhood growth but also for adult metabolism. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3JThWw1

A man sleeping in darkened room, with superimposed image of brain and molecular structure of growth hormone

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Sep 9

🎶 From Mexico City to @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social Professor Chris Batterman Cháirez has observed how music travels with migrants, shaping cultures and telling powerful stories. Learn about his research and new course: Music, Movement and Migration in Latin America ➡️ https://bit.ly/4p5Fs92

A close-up portrait of Chris-Batterman Cháirez with long brown hair, wearing a beige button-up shirt. He has a nose ring, cross earring, and a subtle tattoo on his chest. He is outdoors, with trees and glass structures blurred in the background, looking directly at the camera with a slight smile.

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Sep 8

Welcome to our new UC Berkeley Letters & Science faculty members! 🌟 Hailing from across the U.S. and the world, these brilliant scholars are bringing their expertise in Arts & Humanities, Bio Sci, Math & Physical Sci, and Social Sci research & education! https://bit.ly/3V43fZp

White campus building with sun shining through, with copy "Welcome to our new faculty at L&S"

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Aug 28

🎧 On this episode of #BerkeleyTalks, listen to Jennifer Doudna, #Nobel laureate and professor of molecular & cell biology and chemistry, discuss CRISPR and the future of gene editing. ➡️ https://bit.ly/3HWuOAG

Portrait of Jennifer Doudna wearing a blue shirt, black suit, standing inside a lab

Reposted by UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science

UC Berkeley @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social · Aug 28

In its newest ranking of America’s Top Colleges, Forbes placed UC Berkeley at #1 among public universities and #5 nationwide based on academic, financial and career outcomes for undergraduate students. news.berkeley.edu/2025/08/27/u...

UC Berkeley is the #1 public and #5 overall in latest Forbes rankings of undergraduate colleges - Berkeley News

The annual rankings focus on graduates' return on investment and career achievements, among other factors.

news.berkeley.edu

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UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Aug 26

#AlumniSpotlight! Meet Ruben Canedo, a trailblazer for educational justice 💙 💛 As UC Berkeley's director of strategic equity initiatives, he's striving to make sure students have the food, housing & essentials needed to succeed in school and life. https://bit.ly/47NYH0B

A man stands with his arms folded across his chest in front of a colorful mural of flowers with pointed leaves. He is smiling and wearing a rust-colored blazer, T-shirt, eyeglasses and has a beard and mustache.

UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science @berkeleyls.bsky.social · Aug 22

#FacultyFriday: Meet Stephanie Syjuco, a renowned artist and longtime Art Practice professor @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social. Her exhibition, "Present Tense (Roll Call)" at BAMPFA showcases Berkeley's history of radical education and protest.
Learn more >> https://bit.ly/3JrJWqi

A portrait of Stephanie Syjuco, a woman with long dark hair wearing a dark tank, and a close-up image of Stephanie Syjuco's "Present Tense (Roll Call)" exhibit.

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