UC Berkeley News

Sending data centers into space. Building them at the bottom of the ocean. Converting California fairgrounds — and San Francisco’s Cow Palace — into massive buildings filled with servers.. The explosive growth of AI technology is fueling massive demand for data centers, spurring some seemingly outlandish ideas about where to put these new facilities.

Isshin Shiraishi had no plans for a military education when he arrived at UC Berkeley. Now he’s preparing to serve as cadet commander of the Army ROTC battalion — and he’s made a commitment to service that few students can match. ROTC Cadet Isshin Shiraishi, facing the camera, kneels as cadet Platoon Leader Fernando Martinez briefs the team during a training exercise at the Big C in the Berkeley Hills.

When people think of ancient civilizations that paved the path toward modernity, the Greeks and Romans are often top of mind. But before Rome dominated the Mediterranean, another culture laid the foundation for the West: the Etruscans. Populating much of Italy some 2,500 years ago, the Etruscans gave rise to many innovations that are often erroneously credited to the Romans. The numbering system we call Roman numerals is derived from Etruscan counting.

Follow Berkeley Talks, a Berkeley News podcast that features lectures and conversations at UC Berkeley. See all Berkeley Talks. In the early hours of November 2007, Amadou Cisse, a 29-year-old University of Chicago chemistry graduate student, was walking home when Demetrius Warren, then 17, and Benjamin Williams, 21, approached him. According to trial testimony, Warren pointed a gun at Cisse while Williams attempted to grab his backpack. A struggle ensued, and Warren shot Cisse in the chest.

These five Berkeley leaders are bridging the gap between their research and real-life benefit. UC Berkeley Professor Markita Landry holds a test tube in her lab.

When UC Berkeley postdoctoral researchers Maya Zomer and Lucia Layritz first drove through burned portions of Mojave National Preserve in Southern California, the sight stunned them. “It looks like a pretty dystopian landscape,” Layritz said. More than a million Joshua trees had burned when the 43,000-acre Dome Fire tore through in 2020, with many plants blackening in the flames. Over time, the charcoal had chipped off, revealing wizened white stumps that appeared like skeletons.

What’s a healthy body without a healthy brain? Neurologists, neuroscientists and psychologists unite to find metrics for brain health and effective training to improve it. Dr. Mark D’Esposito (left) and Kevin Weiner discussing Weiner’s research on grooves and folds in the human brain and how they relate to cognitive function and a healthy brain.

Two mysterious human relatives left their genetic footprints in the modern human genome alongside the DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans, underscoring the fact that our ancestorsinterbred with many groups of hominins they encountered over millions of years of evolution.

Until the Panamanian isthmus formed about 2.8 million years ago, North and South America were isolated continents with unique groups of animals. A riot of marsupials — mammals with brood pouches — and sloths in the south contrasted with camels, horses, pronghorn antelopes and saber tooth cats in the north. Biologists thought that only after the isthmus formed did animals surge north and south, what biologists refer to as the Great American Biotic Interchange or GABI.

Approximately 14,000 first-year students and more than 5,000 transfer students have been offered a coveted seat in UC Berkeley’s fall 2026 class — and, as to be expected, their collective talents stretch far beyond their impressive academic accomplishments. These students include a world-class diver, a budding politician voted into local office at age 18, and an accomplished chef who has trained with cooks from Michelin-starred restaurants.