By Vicky Fong Seafood consumers are advised of the risks of mercury intake, but recent studies show that they should also be aware that their meals might come with a side order of plastic. So how does plastic end up in the oceans, get eaten by the fish, and make its way into our bodies?…

By Andrea He Cell phones are now a constant fixture in our lives that we cannot live without. However, the ways that cell phone radiation could harm our bodies are still not solidified, but new evidence from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the recent announcement from the California Department of Public Health regarding…

By Iris Yon. You’re not a California native unless you’ve constantly recited that the San Andreas faultline is overdue for a massive earthquake. And with major earthquakes climbing up from South America every week, now seems to be the time to take precautions seriously. In the span of two weeks, some of the strongest earthquakes in…

“We’re not selling transportation, we’re selling time” (“Hyperloop One”). The slogan of Hyperloop One encompasses the revolutionary, efficiency-centered attitude that both their organization and the world as a whole are adopting. Imagine taking a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under half an hour. For someone that lives in California, traveling that fast…

As scientists, we like to assign function to structure. With the human genome, however, this association becomes difficult. The human genome is 3 billion base pairs long, but only 1.5% of the genome actually codes for protein. Some unknown part of the noncoding 98.5% of the human genome is involved in gene regulation, but what…

  Whether you’re a dewy-eyed freshman, or a tenured professor, we all know UC Berkeley has been a world center of scientific innovation and discovery for decades—and we’re DARN proud of it. But in case you need a couple more reasons to take pride in being a Golden Bear, here are a couple noteworthy chemical…

Typically, we judge how “healthy” a food product is by looking at the nutritional label. However, the chemical composition of food (e.g. amount of fat, salt, or sugar) and its caloric content alone do not provide a complete picture of its dietary effects. Recent research [1] indicates that diet can alter the genetic composition and…

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a group of genetic disorders that mainly affect the bones. Characterized as “a hidden autosomal inheritance disorder,” this condition can lead to imperfect formation of the whole skeletal system. Some outcomes of having this disorder include – but are not limited to – fragile bones, short stature and other malefactions. Individuals…