✴︎ The
Hypothesis
The Online Edition of the Berkeley Scientific Journal
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Could newly uncovered DNA-elements be key in fighting climate change?
by Bradley Vu Assimilating genetic information from their hosts, Borgs are here to (potentially) act as our saviors! No, unfortunately, you didn’t just stumble into a really good Star Trek fanfiction. The Borgs that excite the scientific community today are magnitudes smaller than what you may already know. Named after the spacefaring race of cyborgs…
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Captured: How Technology Changes Filmmaking
by Annalise Steinmann Despite how much the Nicole Kidman AMC advertisement is made fun of and how out of touch it is, within it lay a kernel of truth: we go to the movies to exist outside of our everyday lives, to enjoy ourselves, and to learn something new. This is the value of a…
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Mussel-Inspired Science: Sealing the Future of Fetal Surgery
by Shikha Kathrani In the world of medical science, the most innovative ideas often come from the most unexpected sources. For the UC Berkeley Professor of Bioengineering, Dr. Phillip Messersmith, inspiration strikes from mussels. By studying the adhesive properties of these sea creatures, Messersmith hopes to create a bio-inspired ‘glue’ that can seal delicate fetal…
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Never Trust a Physicist
by Alexander S. Hurlburt Unabashedly, I’m an NPR baby. Some of my earliest childhood memories can be traced back to the passenger seat of my dad’s metallic blue Jetta: listening to Radiolab on the drive home from school. I’m antsy and sweating and hungry. My only solace is Jad Abumrad’s soothing, semi-scientific narrative. Unsurprisingly, I’m…
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Living Machines of Tomorrow
Artificial intelligence and advanced biomedical research now have the capability to produce remarkable innovations in science. From the invention of the wheel to the creation of life itself, humanity has moved far into the future of tomorrow. Looking into the realm of nanotechnology, scientists have pioneered a novel generation of artificial living cells. Created not…
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Inconceivably Real, Infinitely Dear
Human Emotion from a Socio-Cultural Lens
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Ear-ly Bird Gets the Worm!
Think of a time when you had a tune or song stuck in your head. Was it catchy to the point it would continuously repeat? Did you feel the urge to hum or sing it? If so, you are not alone in experiencing what is called an “earworm.”
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Microplastics with Macro Effects on the Human Body
Pollution has caused adverse changes in the environment since the Industrial Revolution. Today, these human-made changes create a huge disturbance to life that directly impact our health.
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Classifications of the Modern Homo sapien
Once you reach the harbor gates in the game Disco Elysium, you will encounter a man called Measurehead. At this point in the story, your character has traipsed through the war-torn city of Revachol, come to terms with his alcohol-fueled amnesia, and observed the dead body he was apparently sent to investigate. Measurehead is simply…
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The Search for Life: Machine Learning Leads the Hunt for Alien Worlds
Eight planets in our solar system, billions of solar systems in the Milky Way, and hundreds of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. Life: one match found.
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Living in Death Denial
The unavoidable fact of life is that it will end—no single person has ever managed to circumnavigate this fate. The moment we first become aware of ourselves as being alive coincides with our first encounter with our own mortality. What happens after death is a mystery, and anxiety is a natural response to the unknown.…
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The God Particle
The God Particle By MJ Smith Astrophysics is often defined by Albert Einstein, scientist of unparalleled intellect who established a new rulebook of universal physics. Left within his legacy was a field of science that has consequently expanded, increasing the accuracy and quantity of astrophysical theories and creating an enigma for generations of physicists proving…