Berkeley News

Two images side by side: on the left, two knights fight each other on horseback; on the right, the knight ask a woman for forgiveness after he killed her husband

Arts & culture

Why did medieval readers kiss, smudge and deface their books?

“What they were really touching was each other,” says French Professor Henry Ravenhall. “The book was just a conduit for whatever kind of social desire was needed to be expressed within that group.”

green blob representing CRISPR enzyme on a blue double helix of DNA

Campus news

Federal appeals court sends CRISPR-Cas9 patent case back to patent office for reconsideration

painting of a bright pink flamingo against a deep blue background, standing in water and creating little tornados

Research

Flamingos create water tornados to trap their prey

a man in a red hat and winter gear stands onboard the green deck of a ship with red railing in Antarctica. He is holding a camera and filming something, looking focused.

Arts & culture

In a tiny boat 7,800 miles from UC Berkeley, graduate students made a daring documentary

Spotlight: Commencement 2025

a young man wearing a green jacket puts his hands in his pockets and smiles in front of the Campanile

The key to success for this year’s University Medalist? Curiosity and collaboration

In turbulent times, 2025 University Medal finalists excelled through idealism, hard work

Emily Thompson, clad in a cap and gown, holds her 2-year-old, Caspian, also wearing a small gown, while her other kid, River, stands next to her. She's smiling widely.

After wilderness therapy, this graduate found her own path at UC Berkeley

Research

an orange star is stretched out to loop around a dark oval at the center of a pink swirling mass

Research

Not one, but two massive black holes are eating away at this galaxy

UC Berkeley astronomers found a stealth black hole that is a companion to the massive black hole in the galaxy’s core. One day, the two might merge and produce a ripple of gravitational waves.

David Wilson (left), dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, talks at a public discussion event with Janet Napolitano, former U.S. secretary of homeland security and current faculty director of the UC Berkeley Center for Security in Politics.

Politics & society

Napolitano: U.S. deportation push raises “profound” constitutional issues

a woman with dark hair and glasses wearing a blue and yellow feathered earring

Mind & body

Indigenous knowledge helps biotech find new drugs. This grad student wants those companies to give back.

A lone wolf walks through yellow grassland

Opinion

What we really need in the fight against extinction

Water pours from an outdoor faucet into a cupped hand.

Mind & body

Study finds stored drinking water can spread harmful bacteria

Arts & culture

Lewis Hamilton in a white suit, Angela Bassett in a blue suit wearing a black velvet hat, Zendaya in a white suit and matching wide-brimmed hat, Gigi Hadid in a gold dress, and Ayo Edebiri in a white and coral dress, all on a blue carpet

Did the Met Gala’s attendees live up to its Black dandy-inspired theme? UC Berkeley experts discuss

about a dozen covers of books in the 2025 summer reading list

This year’s UC Berkeley summer reading list theme? Generosity

More Arts & culture

Podcasts

Dense housing in San Francisco

Berkeley Talks: In 1970, one in five Americans moved every year. Now it’s one in 13. What changed?

Ann Johnson sits in her wheelchair with a cord plugged into a neuroprosthesis implant while she participates in a clinical trial helping to restore her ability to speak with a brain-computer interface

Berkeley Voices: A stroke left her ‘locked in.’ With the help of AI, she heard her voice again.

People

An image of the Pulitzer Prize medal shows the front and the back. The medal is gold, with the image of Ben Franklin on one side and on the back is someone operating a printing press.

Six UC Berkeley alumni named 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners

Malcolm Potts speaking

Dr. Malcolm Potts, gutsy global changemaker for reproductive health and women’s rights, dies at 90

Campus & community

Group portrait featuring (left to right): Julia Schaletzky, Smriti Mehta and Will Fithian, against the carved-stone backdrop of an elegant old campus building.

With right and left deeply divided, emerging UC Berkeley groups embrace the ‘vital center’

Workers building a stand and case to hold a large Diego Rivera mural at Doe Library.

Stunning Diego Rivera mural starts a new chapter at UC Berkeley’s Doe Library

More Campus & community